A Merchant Book Review

Hardwood People

Gage McKinney

(Published by author: P.O. Box 6772, San Jose, Ca. 95150, illustrated, $12 including postage and handling)

Hardwood People by Gage McKinney is a history of the hardwood lumber industry on the Pacific Coast being published this month with the support of the Los Angeles Hardwood Lumberman's Club.

The 7O-page booklet is the most complete history of the West Coast industry ever. It preserves the stories of the original hardwood firms on the coast and includes ten pages of historic photographs.

According to the introduction to the booklet, written by Ken Tinckler of the hardwood club, this history is an expression of the respect and affection that members of the industrv have for one another, associates and competitors alike.

The booklet tells the stories of such prominent industry leaders as Captain Robert Dollar, the first man to ship hardwoods across the Pacific; Bob Osgood and Roy Barto, two pioneers in the Philippine mahogany trade; Paul Penberthy, founder of one of California's most successful hardwood operations; and many others.

Many hardwood people were interviewed during the years McKinney spent researching his history, including the late Leroy Stanton, Sr., the grand old man of the hardwood industry, and Donald F. White, the only Westerner to serve as president of the National Hardwood Lumber Association.

McKinney is a contributing editor to The Merchant and Building Products Digest and a past president of the Los Angeles Hardwood Lumberman's Club. He was the author of the chapter on Imported Hardwoods for the Encyclopedio of American Forest and Conservation History published by Macmillan Publishing Company in 1983.

Hardware Week This Month

Jerry Barton, president and chairman of Belknap, Inc., Louisville, Ky., one of the nation's leading independent hardware wholesalers, will present the keynote address at the 1984 Hardware Industry Week/National Hardware Show, Aug. 12-16 at Chicago's McCormick Place and McCormick Place West.

A series of nine seminars will include participation by the Portable Power Equipment Manufacturers Association, Hand Tools Institute, Home Center Institute, National Building Materials Distributors Association, National Lawn & Garden Distributors Association, National Retail Hardware Association, National Wholesale Hardware Association and Southern Wholesale Hardware Association.

Hardwood Exports Up

Hardwood lumber exports continue to climb steadily, rising 3490 in volume last year. Softwood plywood exports rose270/o and softwood lumber exports were up 790, according to the American Forest Institute.