The Bozeman courier., 1927-01-14
HOW To CUT BILL
ON farm LUMBER
Buy Short Lengths of Good
Quality and Save From
Is to 35 Per Cent

The nations annual building bill
for small and medium wooden dwell
lings and barns and other wooden |
farm structures is approximately two |
billions of dollars, according to the |
report of the subcommittee on con-
struction of the National Committee |
on Wood Utilization of which Secre- |
! tary of Commerce Herbert Hoover is |
chairman. The major portion of this |
construction is on farms and the cost, |
the committee claims, could be re-
duced by tens Of millions of dollars
if the consumer would abandon the
habit of buying long length lumber
exclusively and then cutting one-fifth
or more of it up into short lengths
called for by the plans. This is due
to the fact that many of the saw
mills of the country offer these short
lengths, which are of equal quality
with the longer lengths, for from Is
to 35 per cent below the price of the
latter. They are able to market,
however, about one-fourth of what
average timber would produce if full
ly utilized.
The report of the construction sub
committee makes a careful survey
and analysis of plans for nine types
of small and medium dwellings, one,
one and one-half and two stories high,
and Of 35 other farm structures in
cluding barns, milk houses, grain
storage buildings, and hog and poul-
try structures. Many of these plans
were from agricultural engineering
sources in the United States depart
ment of agriculture and from the en-
gineering departments of a number
of state agricultural colleges, and
lumber bills were furnished with
them. The tabulations analyze these
and show what percentages of the to-
tai lumber were specified in lengths
of z, 6, s., 4 and feet. CONNER
{ cial 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
I the short pieces Of the plans in the
SshOrt commercial lengths that would
cut them. The right half of the tab
ulation lists these permissible" per-
centages of shorts, separated by
lengths from 1 to z feet; and on
- dwellings further dividing into franz
;. ing material, common boards and
e trim, and subdividing by specific
- uses.
= The original lumber bills specified
= y the common boards (fOr sheathing
= and sub-floors) only by board feet
: and not by specific lengths; and ir
the finished material specified the
b" window and door trim by cut lengths
so that analysis of use of short ma.
terial for comparison with the revised
bills was useful only on the ten kind.
of framing material. This averaged
1873 per cent of the total lumber spec
- flied in 7-foot and shorter for tn,
dwellings, as against 1859 per cen
of permissible" use indicated by tn,
revised lumber bills. The new bill
showed, also, a permissible use G
26.13 per cent of the short lengths il
SL the boards used for sheathing an,
sub-floors, and of 51.49 per cent il
the finish lumber.
Because the commercial lengths ar
ga not the exact lengths required ther
l. is usually one waste end cut off fror
n. each piece; and there are more sue
,st waste ends in a thousand feet Q
rv short lumber than of long, becaus
m there are more pieces. On the othe
hand, the waste end of the lon
-s board may be anything up to 2 fee
10 and is 1 foot or less on the shol
"a "a board, which largely compensate
IA Another theoretical argument is ths
~ ~ short stock takes more handsaw cut
~ than long, but this seems to inft
~ that because long boards trimmed {
the main saw trimmer at great spec
lad are not good for use without retrin
ma ming, the short lengths will con
ng that way, also. AS a matter of fac
u.s. nearly every short piece will have
Cne least one end trimmed by a cut-o
OUT saw instead of at the green lumb
tne trimmer, and if it is dressed or fu
/ ther worked this trim occurs aft
both seasoning and working; al
and such ends will generally be good
'int use in framing or any other une
3d. posed joinery.
ops The construction subcommittee
ing the National Committee on Wo
BPS. Utilization consists Of 29' membe
lax IA Of whom are either architects
engineers, the balance consisting
of representatives of a number of gre
was national organizations, including I
,on- American Society of Agricultural +
,nal gineers. Copies Of the report can
ONE secured. from the Superintendent
y in Public Documents, Washington, D.
p in