Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-11-13
/CARE IN MAKING SPOOLS.
White Birch From Which They Are
| Made Must be Sawed Before Warm
Weather,

Few persons realize the great care nee
essary in the production of timber for the
manufacture of the common spool sold in
the stores on which thread is wound.
The various steps involved in it's manu-
facture are all most intricate -,
The green logs are brought to the mill
during the fall or winter in four foot
lengths, and are first sawed lengthwise
into bars or squares These bars are
made four feet long whenever possible
and are square in cross sections OF Varl-
Gus sizes. deDendlng on the size or the
spool desired.
| THE bars must be all sawed off before
the first of June, preferably before the
| first of MAY in order to prevent staining
Round logs with the bark on begin &c
stain as soon as warm weather sets in
usually about the middle of May.
| BY the middle of June three fot bolts
| are usually stained throughout their en-
| tire length. by the first of August foui
foot bolts are entirely stained. Soon after
this white streaks begin to appear in the
wood and it loses strength. Whole stems
| left in the wood stain for only two OF
three feet at both ends. but the rest OF
the material is not so clean and white as
when winter sawed during the first sea
son. Best results are obtained by saving
! the wood while it is frozen.
With clear white birch of the best quail
ity. practically free from large knots ant
red heart. two cords of round logs ylelt
! 600 board feet of spool bars. With the
ordinary run of material, however, i
takes from two and one-half to three
cords to make 900 feet of bars. ENcep
| tionally poor material, practically culled
| has been known to run six cords to the
| Thousand feet of bars.
| The saving of the logs into such s'nal
| bars makes much sawduSt waste. ant
| half a cord of sawdust waste has actual!
come from single cord of bolts.
Immediately after saving the greer
bars are stacked in open piles out OF
doors. but under cover. The air has free
access to them, and they are usually sea
soned for several months.
When it is desired to use them they are
put into a dry kiln to complete the sea
| soning. 1t is essential that seasonnss
should be thorough since the slightest
| change in the size of the spool after man
ufacture makes it Impossible Tor tne deli
cately adjusted machines now IN inc
cotton mills to wind the thread upon 1t.
The manufacture of the kiln dried bars
into spools differs slightly in various
mills, though the general process Is IN. .
same The bars are first cut into SNORT
| nirces the exact length of the spool de-
! sired, and these are then put through a
| lathe which turns out the spool. In many
cases these lathes are entirely automatlc
| The best of them work with great speeo
| and accuracy and turn out spoons dl liie
rate of one q second.
At this stage the spools are rouSh ano
must be smoothed off SO that me 'hiedo
| NAV not be cut and broken IN the VINO
| ing The smoothing is done by rolling for
| half an hour or more together with sew
eral balls of wax and parafine in large
| hollow cylinder. This is the general pro
cess Nv which the ordinary sewing spools
are made. and they are then sorted, culled
and shipped. 1880.
The very large spools. however ,.. 1f!a
he made in three pieces. A cylindrical
niece several inches long and threaded at
each end serves as the body of this spool
and screwed on to the body piece and
glued. The spool is then completed. by
being turned on lathe and is smoothed
The largest of these. three-piece spools
holds y. 600 yards of the thread and be-
tween them and the smallest thu. that n holds si
he graduation in size and shape