Redwood Inspection Service Grading Team

THE Redwood Inspection Service is an r agency set up to create and maintain grading standards for redwood lumber.

Operating out of its main office in Eurekq chief inspector Ralph Talvola and five supervisors of grading make spot checks of member companies to insure that they maintain redwood lumber standards within a five percent range.

In addition to this main function. the supervisors also work closely with mill graders to train them in the proper identification of the difterent grades of redwood lumber. This new practical training has replaced the old method of teaching grading in the classroom. In this capacity, Talvola has changed the title of his men from "inspectors" to t'grading supervisors" since they perform far more than a simple "inspection" service. Each spring, at the Redwood Region Junior Loggog Conference, the RIS supervisors conduct a seminar and grading contest lor high school forestry students.

The RIS is subscribed to by 40 redwood mills, a few of which manufacture only shakes and shingles. RIS supervisors make random, but regular checks of all of the member mills to see that grading is up to standard and, of course, they are available on-call fora particularly difficult grading problem. Woiking in tire Eureka area are Ralph Talvola, Erio J. Giuntini and Paul Jarvela. Cecil A. Smith lives and works in Cloverdale; Ronald C. Monsen in Fort Bragg; and Paul Pond in Rio Dell.

Harry Merlo of Rockport Redwood Company was recently re-elected to the presidency and is now serving his third term. Under his guidance, the organization participated actively in the national study of uniform grades and sizes, securing a preferential position for redwood based on its phenomenally low shrinkage.

Study committees,' including one composed of redwood users, are constantly reviewing the adaptability of redwood grades, sizes, and standard patterns. Their recommendations to the board help determine redwood's adaptability to current uses and new markets. The committee is just one of many of Merlo's innovations aimed at constant modernization of rules and methods for greater efficiency.

At the beginning of this past September, the RIS moved to its new Eureka office on 630 J Street. Architect William Van Fleet was retained to remodel it. The interior was panelled entirely in redwood with a wall of curly grain redwood in Talvola's office.

Currently, the officers of the RIS are: Harry A. Merlo, president; John L. Robins, vice president; and Philip T. Farnsworth, secretary-treasurer and manager. Other members of the board of directors are: Julian N. Cheatham, Russell H. Ells, James F. Franke, C. Russell Johnson, L. W. Ley, Howard A. Libbey, Stanwood A. Murphy, and Darrell H. Schroeder.