Shingle Staining Sweeps Building Industry

The newest and biggest thing that has cleveloped in the lumber industry in the past ten years, is the staining of wooden shingles.

We announced,in these columns many months ago that the staining of shingles would sweep the country. It is already doing so, and has'nt got well started yet.

In the past, shingles were stained almost exclusively after they had been nailed into place on the roof. This was done r,vith a brush, the shingles were only stained on the upper surface, of course, and there was little penetration. The average staining job was comparatively short lived.

Several years ago there rose in the northeast a firm that began staining shingles by immersion and saturation, and selling artistically stained shingles in that fashion. These people were alone in that game for several years. Last year the pre-staining of shingles before use broke out in many spots. Toclay it is a national conflagration.

They go at it already in various ways. 'fhis editorial does not presume to criticise or con'urencl any of those methods, but simply aims to inform our readers of the spread of the campaign.

There are many methocls. There are shingle producing concerns lr,'ho stain the shingles at the,ir own mills, just as they come from the dry kiln, putting the entire bundles into a whirling machine filled r,r'ith stain. They are then sold cotnmercially, in carload or less than carload lots. They claim for their method more thorough saturation than in any other way o,f staining, because the dry, hot shingles fresh from the kiln, will absorb so much of the stain.

Others install staining machines centrally in milling districts, buy their shingles, s,tain them in machines in transit, and sell them commercially in carloads or mixed with un. stained shingles, like the first mentioned people do.

Still others locate staining machines right in the consuming territories, where they ship in their shingles, stain them in machines, and sell them in any cluantity, giving and sp,cializing in local service.

Still others have located staitring machines in great shingle distributing centers, and make a deal with the shingle mills who serve those territories, by which thel' stain their shingles for them in transit for so much a thousand, and then re-ship them to buyer.

Then there are other methods of a more local character, that are springing up very fast. A staining plant is located in a city, and the lumber dealers can send their own shing-