The western pines are so well suited for many exacting industrial requirements that they have gained a reputation as "specialty woods." Fully half of the ponderosa pine and sugar pine and about a third of the Idaho white pine production is absorbed by industries. Many of these industries utilize principally the "cutting" types of lumberthat is, lumber which has a few large knots or knotholes with valuable

Figure 21.-A complex Idaho white pine pattern. Patternmakers have long recognized the value of these pines for this purpose.

clear cuttings between. This industrial consumption is helpful to the construction user because it provides a market for material more suitable to other uses than to building construction. It is also more economical for the industrial user; for clear cuttings from the shop or box grades of lumber are naturally cheaper than if they were obtained from long boards of the select grades.

Matches.-Practically all the wooden matches made in the United States are of one wood-Idaho white pine. This soft, even-textured, straight-grained pine best meets the requirements for this purpose.

Each match is small, scarcely more than a splinter; yet the match industry alone uses normally nearly 100 million board feet of white pine annually, or more than a dozen freight-car loads each day.

Boxes and crates. The largest industrial use of the lower grades of western pines is for boxes and crates, mostly for the shipment of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are shipped in such immense quantities that containers for them require more than 2

Figure 22.-The large butterfly valves used at Boulder Dam were cast from patterns made from sugar pine.

million board feet of soft-pine lumber every day in the year. As most of these perishable foods are shipped long distances, the container (as well as the grading, packing, and transportation) must be of the best if the contents are to reach consumers in perfect condition. Western-pine shipping containers are gradually being adopted by many growers in other parts of the United States, and even in several foreign countries.

This

Foundry patterns. Foundry pattern-making requires a more careful selection of lumber than does almost any other softwood use. selection is important because practically every metal casting must

first be made in wood, just as a sculptor painstakingly shapes his clay before a statue can be poured in bronze. Sugar pine, Idaho white pine, and northern white pine are the only softwoods used in volume for patterns. These woods are utilized because they can be easily and accurately fashioned, retain their shape in service, are light in weight, and take nails, screws, or glue readily.

Miscellaneous items.-The western pines are used for toys, A-B-C blocks, drawing boards, window-shade slats and rollers, Venetianblind slats, card tables, ironing boards, and hundreds of other articles which require a soft, light, relatively nonresinous wood which is easily worked, nails and glues well, holds its shape, and does not split or

Figure 25.-The five-thousand-odd windows in the giant Furniture Mart Building in Chicago, Ill., were constructed of Idaho white pine lumber.

sliver. The blanks for many of these products are cut by the lumber manufacturers and bundled for shipment to the fabricator. Often entire carloads are shipped containing several hundred thousand small pieces, each of which is carefully seasoned and cut to just the right size. Since many western-pine sawmills also operate box factories, or even completely equipped millwork plants, they are especially well able to handle this type of business.

ORGANIZATION OF THE WESTERN PINE INDUSTRY

Nearly all of the more important western pine sawmills belong to the Western Pine Association. The association membership includes about 85 percent of the region's production. At least 95 percent of the shipments into the general market come from member mills, as most of the nonmembers cut for local retail trade or for nearby box factories.

WESTERN PINE ASSOCIATION

OFFICIAL GRADE, TRADE AND SPECIES MARKS

The official marks of the Western Pine Association on lumber manufactured in the pine region of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington include four essential elements, as enumerated below:

1. Association mark.-The symbol indicates that a piece bearing this mark is graded under the standard grading rules of the Western Pine Association, and among the Association's member mills authorized to use this įmark, it signifies Association supervised grading, standard sizes, and seasoned stock. Non-member mill stocks, when the

WPA) shipment is graded by an Association inspector, may carry this mark. The symbol is registered in the U. S.

Patent Office, and may be used only when authorized by the Association.

2. Mill identification.-Each member mill of the Western Pine Association is given a permanent mill number for lumber marking purposes. The mill source of marked lumber may be identified in this manner or by the company's name or brand. The name of a company using an Association mill number is not disclosed by the Association. Any inquiries of this character are referred to the company in question. Association reinspection is available at all times to consumer, distributor and manufacturer, upon request, subject to conditions stated in the printed grading rule book of the Western Pine Association.

3. Grade name.-This element of the mark shows the standard grade name, as defined in the Association's Standard Grading Rules, applying to the piece so marked.

4. Species marks.-The kind of wood is positively identified by the species mark or by its common name.

-denotes that the piece is Ponderosa Pine.

IWP

-is the Idaho White Pine species mark.

-identifies Sugar Pine.

PINE

These marks are registered. Other woods covered by the Grading Rules are identified by appropriate marks, usually showing the full species name or recognized abbreviation.

Lumber Inspector's Certificate.-When a Lumber Inspector's Certificate, issued by the Western Pine Association, is required on a shipment of lumber and the official grade marks are not used, the stock is identified by an imprint of the Association mark and the number of the shipping mill, as shown in the example.

Western Pine Association member mills will grademark stock they ship, when requested by the buyer.

Figure 26.