Hardwood: Growth Business Growing

A S THE SEERS have been forecasting for a A number of years, the world supply of hardwoods is growing tighter and this year is no exception. As stories further inside this Annual Hardwood Special Issue relate, the shortage of hardwoods will get worse before it gets better, if it ever gets better.

Yet despite supply problems, the hardwood business, in virtually all its many phases, is a growth business.

A brand new Bank of America report, presented in greater deail on page 10, notes that the prices of hardwoods will increase by an average of 13% per year for the next five years. Imports will increase worldwide 6% - 7% a year as well, until (at least) 1981.

Hardwood demand is anticipated to be so strong that the major producing countries in Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, will be unable to keep up with the demand. Even adding the tropical forests of Africa and Latin America is not expected to cope with the world's increasing appetite for hardwoods.

More and more the last few years in this country, the hardwood business has been an action area, drawing in new participants both at the wholesale and retail level. The North American Wholesale Lumber Association, for example, has been giving increased attention to the hardwood side of the business as an increasing number of their members have found it to be a profitable adjunct to their regular trade in softwoods.

Retailers have been helped by their wholesale suppliers to put a toe in the water and try hardwoods. In many cases the old bugaboo of the huge investment is being circumvented by a number of devices that allow the retailer to get into the hardwood business without getting a debt that looks like Uncle Sams.

If your're new to the world of hardwoods, and it is indeed a world business, don't worry about mastering its complexities. You couldn't if you tried. But the marvelously complex mix of hardwood species has innumberable niches, crannies, spots, areas and opportunities for the newcomer who wants to get into a growth area of the wood oroducts business.

KILN DRYI]UG OF HARDWOOD LUMBER

In order to minimize dimensional changes irr service, hardwood lumber used for most produc-ts must have moisture removed by placing it in i dry kiln with controlled humidity and heat for a period of time determined by the starting and the desired moisture content, the species, and thc thickness. Other advantages of kiln drying are the relieving of stresses and the killing of lnsects and organisms causing stain and decay.

Moisture content of wood is ordinarilv exDressed as the percentage of the wieght of water in th6 wood to the oven dry weight of the wood. Lumber with a moisture content above 30% is considered as green or partly air dried lumber. The moisture content of air dried lumber is generally from 15 to 30%. Dry kilns usually dry hardwood lumber to a moisture content of from 6% to lO%, and kiln dried lumber will gradually adjust to the humidity of its final location.

Kiln drying is a specialized technical process. Custom kiln drying is a contractual agreement between the kiln operator and the owner of the lumber. Shrinkage of hardwood lumber in kiln drying varies from about 5/o to 9ft, depending on species and initial dryness. Some degrade also occurs in kiln drying.

The Model State Resulation for the measurement of kjln dried lumber appEars on page 47 of this Rules Book, along with the specifications for grading kiln dried lumber under the Standard Kiln Dried Rule and the Special Kiln Dried Rule.