White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-01-21
FARMERS SAVE BY
uslR0 SHORT LENGTHS

UObNU OuVut b6WU mo
The Nations annual building bill
for small and medium wooden dwell
lings and barns and other wooden
farm structures is approximately two /
billions of dillars, according to the re-
port of the ub-committee on Con-
struction of the National Committee
on Wooden Utilization of which Sec.
rotary of Commerce Herbert Hoover
is the Chairman. The major portion
of this construction is on. farms and
the cost, the committee claims, could
be reduced by tens Of millions of dol
lars if the consumer would abandon
the habit of buying long length lumber
exclusively and then cutting one-fift!l
or more Of it up into Smarter lengths
called for by the plans. This is due to
the fact that many of the sawrnills Of
the country offer these short lengths
which are of equal quality with the
longer lengths for from is to IS per
cent below the price OF the latter.
they are able to market, however only
at,5ut one-fourth of what average tim
Der would produce if fully utilized.
The report of the construction sub
committee makes careful survey and
anylsis Of plans for nine types Of small
and medium dwellings, one, one and
onc-half and two stories high, and OF
IS other farm structures including
barns, milk houses, grain storage
buildings, and hog and poultry struct-
ures. Many of these plans were from
agricultural engineering sources in the
u. S. Department of Agriculture and
from the engineering department OF
number of state agricultural colleges,
and lumber bills were furnished with
them. The tabulations analyze these
and show what percentages OF the
total lumber were specified in lengths
of 1864, and 8 feet. Commercial
lengths vary by even feet only on
long lumber, but by odd and even
feet from feet down). On these bills
considerable long lumber had been
specified to be cut into short lengths
at the job; and new lumber bills were
figured which listed all the short
pieces of the plans in the short COM
mercial lengths that would cut them.
The right half Of the tabulation lists
these permissible percentages OF
shorts, separated BY lengths from
to 7 feet; and on dwellings further
divided into framing material, common
boards and trim, and subdividing by
specific uses.
| The original lumber bills specified
/ the common boards Ger sheathing and
sl5-floors) only by board feet and not
by specific lengths; and in the finished
material specified the window and
door trim by cut lengths, so that an
a.ysis of use of short material for
, comparison with the revised bills was
ussful only on the ten kinds of franz
, inc material. This averaged 1873 per
cent of the total lumber specified in
7-foot and shorter for the dwellings,
as against 1889 per cent of 'permis-
sible" use indicated by the revised
lumber bills. The new bills showed,
also a permissible use Of 26.l3 per
cent, Of the short lengths in the boards
used for sheathing and sub-floors, and
of 51.49 per cent in the finished lum-
Der. 9s
The tabulation of barns and other
farm st'actures showed an even
larger opportunity for use Of short
lengths, which the original bills fell
far short of specifying.
i Because the commercial lengths arc
not the exact lengths required there
is USUALLY one waste end cut off from
each piece; and there are more, SUCH
waste ends in thousand feet Of short
lumber than Of long, because there are
more pieces. On the other hand, the
waste end of the long board may be
| anything Try to feet and is / foot or
/ compensates. Anot.-.er theoretical ar
current is that short stock takes more
handsaw cuts than long, but this SEEMS
! to infer that because long boards
trimmed on the main saw trimmer a.
great speed are no good for use with
out retrimming, the short lengths will
come that way, also. As a matter of
fact nearly every short piece will have
at least one end trimmed by cutoff
saw instead Of at the green lumber
trimmer, and if it is dressed or fur
ther worked this trim occurs after
10th seasoning and working: and such
ends will generally be good for use
in farming CT any other unexposed
ioinery.
The Construction Subcommittee OF
the National COMMITTEES on Wood
Utilization consists of. 29 members,
IA of whom are either architects or
engineers, the balance consisting oi
representatives Of number Of great
national organizations, including the
American Society Of Agricultural
! Engineers. Conies Of the Report can
BE- secured from the Superintendent of
Public Documents, Washington, d. c.
(.THE MARKETING OF SHORT
LENGTH LUMBER" 20 pages, 10
illustrations, tables. Single copies
10 cents.)
"She Bends to Fight"
A ten-year-old girl came to one Of