Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-09

vXTAS HING N, D. c., May.-Hav-
Nv ing perfected methods by which bits
of wood can be put together so that
the whole is as strong unbroken piece;
having made wood almost as resistant to
moisture as iron; and having learned how
to season green wood in a few weeks, the
experts of the United States forest service
are setting out to do what seems to the
layman the impossible-that is, to make
wood flreproof.
These remarkable studies in the use and
properties of wood are being carried out at
the forest products laboratory of the forest
service, which is located at Madison, Wis,
and does it's work in conjunction with the
University of Wisconsin, In view OF the
work which this laboratory has done in the
past few years and is now doing, it is not
stretching probabilities to predict that within
a few years it may be possible to build a
wooden house, for less than wooden houses
cost now, which will be at least as hreproof
as a stone house and will rival stone house
in lasting qualities
The forest products laboratory has been
at work for many years, but it was the war
that brought it opportunity and fame, and
especially war in the air. Many of the
achievements of the laboratory in connec-
ton with the airplane program are now well
known. How it learned to season in from
twenty to forty days spruce timber which
had formerly required from one to two years
for proper drying; how it learned to coat
airplane propellers with an aluminium leaf
finish so that they are almost as moisture
proof as metal; how it made waterproof
glue as strong as wood itself; how it solved
the gunstock problem; how it revolutionized
the packing methods used by the quarter
| master corps, and how it saved the Elmer
gency Fleet corporation millions, which would
otherwise have been paid for patented wood
preservatives, by working out preservatives
better than any of them, are all more or less
matters of history.
1t is not so we'll known that nearly all of
the discoveries made by the laboratory un-
der the pressure of wartime necessity can
be equally we'll applied to peace-time pur-
poses, and are now being developed to that
end. The work of the laboratory promises
to multiply both the number of things for
which wood may be used, and the amount
of use which may be gotten out of given
amount of wood.
The use of illuminated" wood as the ex-
perts call that made by putting together
small pieces, is one of the most interesting
things worked out at the laboratory, and
| one which promises much in the way OF
| economy and development in the use OF
wood. The basis of this process is glue
which is waterproof, and which makes it
| possible to stick pieces of wood together SO
| that the fabricated timber has as great shear
| ing strength as piece of clear timber This
method makes it possible to manufacture
| walnut gunstOCks out of scraps and bits OF
| wood which would otherwise, perhaps, be
| wasted Heretofore, glued wood has been
| used only for inside work, where changes
| of temperature and moisture are slight. From
now on, glued wood can be used in outside
construction work, such as houses and
bridges.
The experts say further that this discovery
will make it possible to use much smaller
timbers than have been used heretofore 1t
will no longer be necessary to wait fifty
years for stand of oak timber to reach
/ saw-long size. This will make returns from
forest lands much larger and more rapid.
This new method of fabricating wood is
also expected to make possible the use of