I\eu,, West Coast Grading Rules

By H.V. Simpson Executiae V ice Presid.ent

lY est Coast Lumberme.n' s Association next 60 days West Coast lumber will be graded under a new rule- profound in only one respect. An attempt has been made to write a rule readily understand. It is not a technical document decipherable only by mains the top grade in boards, and SELECT STRUCTURAL the top grade in dimension. fl becomes CONSTRUCTION. f2 becomes STANDARD.

It is expected that within the Rule f 15.

The change from Rule f 14 is which the purchaser of lumber can professional graders.

The actual change in the grades themselves is minor. You can expect to get in each grade just about what you have been getting in the past. We have made some refinements, of course, which n'e feel improve the marketabiiity of the product. More about these in a mornent.

The principal-and basic-change is from grade numbers to grade names. But it is not nearly as complicated as it sounds. There are only four things to rernember.

Jf3 becomes UTILITY

Jf4 becomes ECONOMY.

It is reasonable to ask, since the change is so slight, rvhy bother at all?

Because we believe we can no longer continue practices which make the merchandising of lumber less orderly and .less responsible than the merchandising of other building products. Let me cluickly say that the irresponsible merchandiser is only a fractional minority. Most lumbermen choose to, and do, sell the grades they buy. But even they are hampered by the reluctance of the consumer to purchase a "third grade" product for a home which he visualizes as "first grade" in every respect.

It is the numbers rvhich cause the trouble.

The demand for grade-stamping is steadily increasing. The demand is coming from retail dealers, government agencies, builders and many others.

A number of areas have already refused to accept anything but grade-stamped lumber. Several others are considering a similar prohibition. This trend has the endorsernent of West Coast lumber manufacturers. We merely feel that a useful product should not l>e penalized because it is identified by a number.

Thirty years ago the National Lumber Manufacturers Association adopted a resolution supporting universal grade-stamping. The Southern Pine Association and the West Coast Lumbermen's Association have gone similarly on record. But every effort during the past thirty years to substantially extend the grade-stamping of lumber has failed because the public would not accept $2 or fi3,or fi4.

The NLMA, American Lumber Standards, WCLA's Board of Directors, the FHA, all say, "Let's gradestamp the lumber." Today the tide of demand is stronger than it has ever been before. And this time-with names instead of numbers to sell-every advocate of responsible lumber merchandising has a chance to make it work.

The change to names applies only to the present #1, #2, ,fi 3 and f4 grades of boards. and 7'and thicker dimension. planks and timbers. SELECT MERCHANTABLE re-

The lettering system-"B&Btr.," "C" and "f"-1g6nint in effect on finish, flooring, casing and other clear items. The only change in this category is that "C&Btr." becomes the top grade of flat grain clears. This, of course, is merely in line rvith current practice. Vertical grain clears continue to be designated "B&Btr.," "C" and "D."

The name of the Bureau has been changed to West Coast Lumber Inspection Bu1s2rl-lyhich is somervhat less cumbersome than West Coast Bureau of Lumber Grades and Inspection.

The format of Rule $15 has been changed. We have tried to make it more readable and more understandable. Key paragraphs should be easier to find and easier to remember.

The fiber stress value of the present 1450f grade (f 1) has been increased to 1500f, and the fiber stress value of the 11@f grade (ftZ) has been increased to 1200f. In both cases the quality of the product has been improved.

The old rules permitted a full-length skip in ft2 dimension-u'hich probably caused more difficulty than any other single provision in the rules. FHA, for instance, regarded a full-length skip an intentional scant sawing.

The universal feeling of the industry was that this situation should be cleaned up, and that as a matter of good merchandising it should be handled at the manufacturing end. Consequently, Rule f l5 provides that STANDARD (the old ft2) may have hit-and-miss skips on the edge, but may not be skipped full length.

The STANDARD Joists ,and Planks grade (2x6 and wider) becomes a little better all around, as a matter of fact. As was mentioned a moment ago, the fiber stress value has been upped from 1100f to 1200f. And a medium grain requirement has been included.

The thickness of boards and finish items has been reduced from 25/32" to r/0". Fifty percent of such material it %" at the present time. There is more value in 25/37'material than is needed. The official change merely recognizes current practice. Those who .ivish to buy 25/32" boards may still buy them, of course, and have them grade-stamped.

Rule S15 rvill have a standard provision on material 6" in rvidth- 5f" instead of 5 5/8" as at present. This applies already in the larger sizes-7f", 9%", ll%'. The nelv provision simply makes the practice uniform. It is, of course, in accordance with American Lumber Standards.

There are numerous other changes of lesser importance, but little or nothing to make the lumber you specify and receive under Rule S15 much different in (Continued on Page 41)

A friend isagift that you give to yourself, That's one of my old true songs, So I put you down with the best of them, For you're where the best belongs. Of all the gifts I have given to me, Most trusted, tried, and true, Is the one I oftenest think about, It's the gift to myself of you.-Anon.

Great principles do *Jt -".lrnue from generation to generation. They must O"_O.la alive.-Dr. Geo. S. Benson.

If a word our orators let fall save what pertains to peace, I'll raise a storm of words and rain a very tempest of abuse upon them.-Aristophanes ,. #

Strong men demand freedom, while weaklings whimper for security.-Alexander Hamilton.

!t/oe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn. -Will Durant.

>Frt*

Let us leave hurry to slaves.-Emerson. ***

Somebody said that it couldn't be done, so I didn't even try.-Sign on the desk of ? "k."n.j".

A true judge should be as impartial as a traffic light. -Clipt.

'k**

God grant me grace and endurance to cheerfully bear what I cannot change; courage to fight for what I can help to change; wisdom to know the difference.-Eliot Wadsworth. ,***

My petitions to heaven are that the things that make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes.-Abigail Adams to John.

He that helps a child, helps humanity with an immediateness which no other help given to a human creature in any other stage of human life can possibly improve upon.Phelps Brous. +**

The only road, the sure road, to success and to unquestioned credit and a sound and permanent condition, is the exact and punctual fulfillment of every pecuniary obligation, public and private, according to the letter and spirit. -Hayes. ***

Strive to be excessively natural. No one ever acquired fame by affectation. All true greatness is marked by sim-

BY JACK DIONNE

plicity. You must sit by the fireside of the heart. Above the clouds it is too cold. ***

Laugh and be merry, for that is healing to those about you in despair. Be humble, and human, and tender. Be selfless and patient, with a forgiveness that permits you to hold your head high. (Anon.)

On Voltaire's funeral carriage were the words: He gave the human mind a great emphasis. He prepared us for freedom.

,6*t6

In Russia the Commies are frequently underfed. In the U.S. they're underground.

God could not be everywhere, so fle made mothers. -W. C. Brann.

There are a million ways to be wrong, but only one way to be right.-Aristotle.

The history of liberty ; ; iistory of the limitation of governmental power; not the increase of it.-Woodrow Wilson. *{tcF

In a free country there is much clamor, but little suffering. In a despotic state there is little complaint, but much suffering.-Caruot. ***

Winston Churchill is NOT a punctual man. When he goes to catch a train he always gives the train an even break.-Mrs. Churchill. I ***

If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.-T. Jefferson.***

There is a famous story about the pastor of a colored church asking all those who wanted to go to heaven to please stand, and one brother remained seated. The preacher said-"Brothah Johnson, don't you want to go to heaven?" Antl he said: "Yassuh, but not wid no excursion."

Life is easier than you think. All that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.-Kathleen Norris.

In 1950 this column quoted Dwight Eisenhower: We are flogging to death the horse (capitalism) that has carried us closer to our goals than we have ever been before.

Leon Trotsky wrote: The Chinese have no capacity for sustained mass indignation. As Communists they are hopeless.

{.{.*

Looks like the notorious Commie who was murdered years ago in Mexico made a mighty bad guess about those murdering chinks.

{<**

With regard to future life, Bruce Barton, great thinker and writer as well as business man, said: A God with enough imagination to create oceans and solar systems and sexes and seasons and poets and mountains and mothers and martyrs-such a God can be trusted to make the hereafter just and satisfying and full of interest. I leave it to Him.

*{<* i.**

Shakespeare wrote: Man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he is most assured, performs such antics before high heaven as .to make the angels u'eep.

Elbert Hubbard, or" ol ; :*, scholarly men of the era, said that the world has produced but five educated men: Pericles, Aristotle, Leonardo, Sir Isaac Newton and Humboldt.

H. G. Wells, famous British historian, was asked who were the men whose lives had most affected humanity and therefore were the greatest men in history, and he named six: Jesus, Buddha, Asoka, Aristotle, Roger Bacon and Abraham Lincoln.

About 30 years ago Doctor Will Durant was asked to name the ten greatest THINKERS of history, which he did in a writing of considerable length and detail, and he named, in the following order: Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, Aquinas, Francis Bacon, Newton, Darwin, Kant and Voltaire. In each case he explained his choice.

Scholars will note with more than passing interest that one name appeared on all three of those lists-Aristotle; a mighty thinker, and scholar, and doer. Newton appears in two. As they say in street jargon.: "They don't make them kind no more."

November Construcfion Puts I955ts First

Monrhs Aheqd of All | 954

Record construction in November put the 1955 total to that date ahead of the high set for the entire year 1954. The $3.6 billion figure for the month brought the 1l-months 1955 total to $38.9 billion, 91.3 billion above the l9S4 12months total, the Departments of Commerce and Labor jointly reported.

The agencies predicted 1955's total construction figure would reach 942 billion and make 1955 the ninth straight year when a new high was reached each year. November's outlay took a 9/o seasonal decline from October but r,vas still a record for the month and 7/o ahead of November 1954. Residential building continued to reflect the recent decline in housing starts.

'We're independent. Because we're independent it adds to your net. We're not courting the idea of forgetting our top suppliers, oui good mill sources or our friends in the industry, but we are independent enough so that we-aren't forced to push any one manufacturer's brand. To give you better service, we exercise a freedom of choice in buying and selling. Being independent, we cho=ose the .besl and offer you the tops in many difierent lines. To make thb best buy materials that are screened, tested and assembled for quick deliverv deal with an independent distributor. Let us show you how to double your pro6ts.

FAST SERVICE ON: the best in plvwood Simpson board Formica Misonite Brand products Acoustical Tile.

California Panel and Veneer Companv 955 South Alameda Street Los Angelei, California TRinity 00t7 Mnnrsrn

TF TT'S ROCKPORT YOU KNOW IT'S RTGHT

Our deqler friends qre lhe "Whoos-Hoo" of lumber merchqnfs-best iir nhe business. They know, their trode knows qnd we know thot Rockport Redwood is olwoys right-olwoys well up to grlqde. Dependoble quolity. And nothing surpqsses Rockport's Certified Dry Redwood Bevel Siding ond Finish. *

Rounds Lomber Company is exclusive dislributor for Rockport Redwood ond soles qgent for olrrer Ieoding Redwood mifls. Rounds ofso represents producers ol top quality Douglas Fir, White Fir, Ponderoso Pine and