Weyerhaeuser Hemlock Flooring Proving Popular with Trade

Again we have "something new under the sun."

This time it is Hemlock flooring.

And it is not new, exactly, either, for Hemlock flooring has been coming to California for several years and found. wide popularity among its users; yet it is not as well known as Fir flooring or the various species of hardwood flooring.

Many of the mills in Oregon and Washington are now manufacturing Hemlock flooring and many California dealerrs have bought some of this stock in recent years. Among the principal manufacturers of Hemlock flooring are the Weyerhaeuser mills at Everett, Wash. This product is distributed throughout California and Arizona by Charles R.

& Co.

The Weyerhaeuser flooring is end-matched and otherwise perfectly manufactured; it presents a most attractive appearance and procluces a beautiful, serviceable and durable floor. The species of Hemlock growing in the Northwest is one of the hardest of the softwoods and for a great mauy purposes Hemlock flooring is preferred, by a great many people, to hardwood flooring.

In the first place the Hemlock of the Northwest-now known to the trade as Pacific Coast Ilemlock-should not be confused with the old-fashioned Eastern Hemlock or just plain Hemlock which wood it closely resembles, but to which rt is highly superior. To the ordinary lumber dealer or wood consumer the word Hemlock signifies that species of Hemlock that abounds from Pennsylvania along the northern tier of states to Minnesota and which is known to the world as just plain Hemlock or Eastern Hemlock.

Pacific Coast Hemlock formerly was called Western Hemlock, but the name was changed a year or two ago because many Eastern people still confused it with the Middle Western species of Hemlock. To them Wisconsin and' Minnesota were t''West" and "'Western llemlock" meant, therefore, that it came from that part of the eountry. So the name "Pacific Coast Hemlock" was adopted because there could be no confusion about its geographical origin'

The wood of Pacific Coast Hemlock is moderately strong, of fine, even grain, rather light in color, light in weight and odorless when dry. It is soft enough to machine easily, yet hard and firm enough to wear rvell and take a good polish. ft eontains a relativley high percentage of moisture when green, but seasons readily under proper drying conditions without abnormal shrinkage.

The grain of Pacific Coast Hemlock is uniform and straight rlnd it has a fine texture. The gradual change in the character of the cells composing the spring and. summer wood and the compactness and strength of the tissues give it eIcellent v'.aring results. The wood fibers are long and tough. Knots, in most cases, are so diffused with the wood fiber that they are unlikely to affect its strength or fali out when the rvood. is dried. The green, fresh cut wood is gray-white in color, often tinged with red which changes to a yellowish trrown in air'seasoned lumber. The dry, dressed. stock is gray-white, except for the summer wood, which is distinctly brown with a slight trace of red. The spring wood, which composes the bulk of the structure, has very little color.

In protected situations Pacific Coast Hemlock does not ordinarily absorb moisture from the air in sufficient quantities to cause it to swell or warp, but it is less durable in contact with the soil than other woods used for these purposes, and is not recommended for use und.er these conditions.

When dry it takes paint, stain and enamel exceptionally well. It also is very receptive to glue, a very desirable quality in many cases. The merits of this wood. as a flooring have been recosnized amonE millmen for a considerable period of time and wherever used as a flooring it has demonstrated its value.

It remained, however, for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in its mills at Everett, -Wash., to produce from this Pacinc Coast Hemlock the very finest thing in softwood flooring imaginable. This is 1xB End Matched' Hemlock Flooring. It. is developed in the grades of No. 2 Clear and Better Edge Grain, No. 3 Mixed Grain. Their stocks show 70 per cent No. 2 Clear & Better Edge Grain, 18 per,cenl.No-. 2 Clear and Better Flat Grain, 10 per cent No' 3. Mixed Grain, with a very small percentage of No. 4 Mixed Grain. Liengths are 2 feet and longer, approximately ?0 per cent being 8 feet and longer, although in the No. 3 the proportion of lengths shorter than 8 feet is somewhat greater. t-ttt. shows i far higher ayerage length than is generally possible in hard.wood, as users of hardwood know that a high per' eentage of extremely long lengths is a rarity.

The stock from which this wonderful flooring is manufactured is carefully and thoroughly kiln dried, and the thoroughly dried strip is then sent to a special planing and matching machine of the type which is used by hardwood flooring manufacturers. The stock is fed through this Tachine on ed.ge instead of flat, as in the regular flooring machine, attd th" face working is accomplished by rapicl-ly revolving disk heads instead. of knives set in cylindgrs. the material comes into contact with the first revolving disk head., which takes oft all surplus wood down to approximately 1-64-inch of the actual finished thickness of the flooring, and leaving for the second disk heatl only the -final finlshing and smoothing. The proof of the better work accomplished is evidenced by the fact that, whereas stock manufactured on the regular machine shows knife marks, the flooring manufactured on this particular machine presents a perfect surface, absolutely free from knife marks, and carrying a high degree of polish.

Eitra care is given to the side matching and end matching of the flooring, and this work is accomplished with such exictitude that, given a good. sub-floor and careful attention in laying, an almost perfect floor may be obtained'