The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1942-12-03
Uses of Lumber
By Army. Navy
Are Unlimited

and lumber mills are maintaining
vital war front today-a front
which is supplying the American
Army with badly-needed weapons,
housing and transportation For
that is what lumber means TO
Americas fighting men.
The uses to which the modern
American Army puts lumber are
many and varied And new uses
are being added each day as wood
replaces metals which are unavail-
able in sufficient quantities.
Ninety per cent of the lumber
output of the United States today
goes to the Army and the Navy.
For every man in the Army, 1850 to
1850 board feet of lumber are need
ed for the various kinds of can
torment construction ranging from
barracks to chapels. Most of this
lumber is Douglas fir, Ponderosa
pine and yellow pine.
The furnishings of Army build
ings are mostly made of wood The
soldier sits on wooden chairs. A
recent Army order for 100000
wooden folding chairs saved 1000
tons of steel.
The locker box at the foot of his
bunk in which the soldier keeps
his belongings is wood. So are most
Of the hunks. Army orders for q
100000 double-decker hunks have
saved $4,000 tons of steel
In warehouses, timber trusses and
connectors are being used in place
of steel. the timber connectors alone
have saved 100000 tons of struc-
tural steel Tent poles and pilings,
water tanks and pipes. rifle racks,
tool handles. frames. sideboards and
platforms for tents are among the
many things made of wood.
The shoe soldier wears has a
wooden core that has saved the
Army $50 tons of rubber in outfit
ting its AZ million men. # the
soldier thas Garand rifle, the
stock contains five board feet of
wood. When he sits down to eat, it
it at wooden mess table 10 feet
long, two inches thick and four
feet wide.
It is estimated that nine billion
board feet per year 60 into Army
and Navy boxes and crates of var
/ Dus kinds. This includes indirect
use in shipments from subcontrac-
tors to contractors and from con-
tractors to the Army and Navy.
When the Amy moves, it uses
thousands of 212 ton trucks which
have atwood bodies. Each truck
requires 1000 feet of lumber cut
its use will save 275,000 tons Of
steel annually Next to packing and
cantonment construction, wood for
vehicles is the Army's biggest lum-
Der item.
Each trailer used for transport
ing equipment has from 1900 to
1000 feet of lumber.
The Army Air Force is big user
of lumber. The spars, frame, skin
covering, cross banding, surface
covering pilots seat, and non-struc-
tural parts of training planes are
made of wood Observation planes
and Alto bomber trainers contain
about the same amount Of lumber
as training planes. There are 10000
board feet Of lumber in every coz
Commando cargo plane.
In May. 1941, the Germans lowed
elders behind transport planes and
dropped more than 1000 soldiers
with equipment on Crete The Unit
ed States Army is building gliders
which can carry one to Is persons
and are three-fourths wood.
All in all, the Army has more
than 800 uses for lumber. 1t goes
into the many types of boats used
by the Army-the assault boats,
tugs, launches, lighters, barges,
rescue and ambulance boats, cargo
vessels and shallow draft boats. 1t
is used for stretchers, splints, tank
traps, paddles, telephone poles,
dummy cannon and planes, tobog-
Egans, etc.
The estimated lumber require
ments for 1912 are 38 billion board
feet, 90 per cent of this going to
the Army and Navy. Lumber pro-
duction in 1912 has been at the
rate of 80 billion feet, leaving a
shortage of six billion feet. 1t would
take two freight trains stretching
from Seattle to New York and one
freight train stretching from Sc
, attic to Chicago to accommodate
six billion board feet of lumber.