WE ARE TEXAS LUMBER SELLING SPECIALISTS

Irrmber Producdon in tfre Terar Territory ir shrinking r"pidly.

Texas is the fastest growing Consumer of weEtern lumber.

Perhaps we can help you sell your stock in this territory. Write us.

Are yor getting your ehare of thir growing replacement?

WE ARE WHOLESALERS. CAPITAL AND SURPLUS $I,OOO,OOO A GENERATION OF SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS BEHIND US.

W. H. NORRIS LBR. CO. HOUSTON, TEXAS eighteen and twenty foot in dry stock. It is not satisfactory to furnish part of the lumber dry and part green.

(Continued from Page 64.)

This air-dried or kiln-dried lumber which we did buy was not, of course, bone dry. It is not desirable that it should be bone dry. Presumably a moisture content of anywhere f.rom l5/o to l8/o or possibly up to as high as 2O/o, on leaving the mill, is satisfactory. It should be dried sufficiently so that it can be piled solidly into the bins on arrival here, and also dry enough so that no further appreciable shrinking in size will take place. Even if it were dried down to as low as l0/o moisture content, the lumber would absorb moisture from the atmosphere here in the spring and winter which would probably bring it up to t1/o, or more. Please notice that no excess handling charges would be involved in bringing in this kind of dry lumber from the car into our yard and piling directly into the storage bins for resale.

Now let us go to the more common method of buying green Douglas Fir, for shipment direct from the saw.

This stock would arrive in Fresno possibly in a box car, but more likely in a gondola or flat car. When it left the mill it was at least bright and clean and theoretically full size. On the way down from Oregon the car would probably go through various kinds of weather for a period ranging from eight days to fourteen days. During that time, it would come in contact with rain and sun and smoke and cinders and when it reached Fresno all of the outer courses and edges exposed to the atmosphere would be in a beautiful black and air checked condition. As yet the sappy pieces in the car would hardly have time to take on mould and commence to turn black.

It has not been our policy for several years to p,tt r,tifr lumber solidly into the storage bins. We would either stick it up on an outside bearing and let it dry for sometime or we would stick it on the truck bed orwagon bed at time car was unloaded and then dump it in the yard under cover on some trestles and let it stand for a week or so before piling away into the bins. Even then it would not be sufficiently dried to avoid turning black.

Remember that nearly ail of this 2 in. Common lumber is from the so-called "side-cut." This results from squaring up the log and inasmuch as most of this type of lumber comes from either Red Fir Logs or Bastard Fir Logs of a moderate size, sap wood is liable to predominate. Doubtless these sappy pieces will contain a moisture content of. 4O/o or more. Piled solid it doesn't take long for mould and fermentation to set in.

Even after we have dried the material as above outlined, the result has not been satisfactory. There would be considerable downfall in the shape of degrade and there would also be a pronounced variation in shrinkage. No two of the

G. R. BLEECKER SPENTDING VACATION IN EAST

G. R. Bleecker, San Franciscq California representative for the Eagle Lumber Co., has left for the east on a month's vacation where he will visit with relatives at Marmora, Canada. This will be his first trip home for several years and he anticipates a very enjoyable vacation visiting with his relatives and old friends.

Floyd Dernier Returns From Northern Trip

Floyd Dernier, Lumbermen's Service Association, Los Angeles, has returned from a three weeks' trip calling on the retail lumber trade in the Sacramento Valley, Sah Joaquin Valley, Coast Counties and Bay D'istrict territory. He reports a very successful trip.

pieces would shrink exactly alike. A 2x6 might reach our hands lfu in. thick by 5/a in. in size. After even partial drying there would be considerable variation from these sizes. This you will appreciate is quite serious in floor joists and in studdings where the lumber should be accurately sized.

It unquestionably costs us more money to handle this green lumber than it would dry lumber. Also, after we have spent our time and money doing this handling the finished product would not be as satisfactory to either us or the consumer as the lumber which reached our hands drv in the 6rst place.

To me the desirability of dry lumber is so apparent, that the repetition of the above arguments seems entirely superfluous. It looks so simple that it seems as if the manufacturer should have appreciated it many years ago.

The operators of the Mountain Pine Mills here in the San Joaquin Valley have bgen aware of the desirability of dry lumber for many years and have been in a position to supply it to us. In fact, the two features of dryness and plump sizing have been of great sales value to the Mountain Pine Mills and they have now quite thoroughly sold the idea of their product throughout this district of California. For ordinary house construction Douglas Fir has almost lost out in this territory. The local Mountain Pine is doing the work very satisfactorily and by reason of its dryness a great deal of the trouble of shrinkage in houses has been obviated. There is no use in telling you that green lumber put into a house will eventually cause it to shrink with a consequent opening up of millwork and cracking of plaster. It has gotten so that many of the architects despair of getting the proper kind of lumber in the proper condition for their jobs, and consequently they are turning to other materials which are sold and even guaranteed under well known trade names.

I have written more than I intended on this subject. You can whittle it down as you see fit. The sum and substance of it is that we prefer dry lumber for two reasons.

First, because I feel that only dry lumber should enter into a house or other permanent structure.

Second, because dry lumber is more economical and satisfactory for a dealer io handle and will permit the carrying of smaller stock.

There are legitimate places where green lumber can be used. For instance, form lumber in pouring concrete structures. Here there is no particular advantage in having lumber dry. Doubtless there are many other places where green lumber can be used just as well or even perhaps a little bit better than dry lumber. But green lumber should not be used in any permanent structure where its eventual shrinkage or tendency to develop dry rot will militate against the value cjr life of the structure involved.

FREDERTCK Kl,ApptSlsr"rrrTs THE pAcrFrc

Mr. Frederick Klapproth and daughter Dale Klapproth, from.Chicago, were recent visitors in San Francisco. They spent some little time motoring in Southern California before going to San Francisco, Mr. Klapproth was formerly vice president and general manager of the Chicago Box & Crating Co., and was president of the Chicago HOO-HOO Club during 1926.

E. M. TILDEN ON ALASKAN TRIP

Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Tilden left Oakland Tune 8th for Alaska. They went by train to Seattle and fiom there by boat via the inside passage. Mr. Tilden is president of the Tilden Lumber Co.. Berkeley, The Tilden Lumber & Mill Co., Oakland and the Pacific Tank & Pipe Co., Oakland.