ALSC Overturns lvz" Sizes

The American Lumber Standards Committee, at a March 23 meeting in Chicago, has agreed that the ll/rtt stand,ards voted by Western Wood Products Association are not acceptable; that they would agree on a new set of green-based standards introduced by LASCs Wayne Gardner; and that they would not allow inclusion of nonstandard sizes in any rules book put out by a rules writing agency.

The proposed new standards that AISC agreed upon are generally based on leaving plesent green sizes as they are and equating dry sizes down.

That would be the IE/a', green by the present widths. The only exceptions would be in the nominal l/' and, I4' sizes. These would increase l/l€' to I 19/16" and t3 9/r('.

The new dry sizes would be:

I 9/16 x 2t/2 x 312

9/16 x 1t/a

I 9/16 x L3r/+

The vote is seen as a tremendous victory for the southern California association, who has long fought the lVz" dry size. Accord- ing to Gardner, these new sizes will not appreciably upset their local building code. It will also retain their profitable market for resawn boards sold for sheathing, some. thing that would have been lost under the Il2" dry proposals.

The proposal, introduced by Lumber Association of Southern California's Gardner, was approved l7-2. Another vote tby the same count agreed to send the proposal with the amendments as adopted to the Department of Commerce for further processing. This will involve the department satisfying itself that the sizes are acceptable to them. Then the formality of returning the proposal back to AISC for a confirming vote. In the past Commerce has made minor changes in ALSC proposals. If confirmed by ALSC, the department would send the proposed new standards to an acceptor list for a final vote. Past experience, however, has shown that it has seldom been that simple.

The committee sharply rebuffed, by a vote of 15-1, a proposal ,by Al Agather, St. Regis Paper Co. and a former ALSC chair' man, to adopt the sizes agreed on by the Western Wood Products Association at their March rneeting in San Francisco. (See WWPA conoentian story on page I2).

The committee also agreed, ,by a 9-8 vote, to uphold an earlier appeal by the Southern Pine Association prohibiting any rules writ' ing agency from including non-standard sizes in their rules book. There was some discussion at the meeting that this might be held as being in restraint of trade.

Observers noted that several of the regional associations have included, or plan to include, sizes that are not standard under ALSC and that this might trigger further intra-industry feuding.

Earlier in the meeting, which wtut chaired by Earl McGowin, an l1-8 voto okayed a proposal by Aaron Jones of Seneca Sawmills in Eugene, Oregono that forbids rules writing agencies from including working stresses in their rules book for any material grown outside of its rules writing area.

NBMDA Sees Proftt Increqse

The nation's wholesale building material distributors expect an 8.77 percent sales increase this year wer l9i5 in ryite of a soft trend in residential construction.

According to a recent survey by the Na' tional Building Material Distributors As' sociation (NBMDA), it is a boost of 1.34 percent in sales over the 7964-65 period.

to more and more California dealers and distributors. For year around supplies of dimension lumber and precision-trimmed studs, depend on D & R and these 4 Oregon and Washington mills:

Old Growth Flr Dlmenslon from F.S.P. Lumber Co., Port Orford, Oregon

Hemlock Sluds from Warrenton Lumber Co., Warrenton, Oregon

Hemtock Dlmension from Westport Lumber Co., Westport, Oregon

Douglas Fir Studs from $hephgrd & Desher Lumber Co., Longvlew, Wash.

CLM's Ole Mqy Retires

Ole Man for nearly fifteen years the friendly face of CaliJornia Lwnber Merchant in southern California, retired ftom the st"f, of the magazine at the end of March.

Ole. who is 65 but doesn't look it, says he just plain got sick of fighting the freeway every morning. (Can't say we blame him).

He and his attractive wife. Millie. are now basking in the sun on a cruise ship bound for Panama. Their itinerary includes stop - overs in Acapulco and Mazatlan. Upon his return, Ole, whom we suspect will be as active in retirernent as he was in business, will

SMltlNetY anticipating the joys of retirement, Ole May accepts a retirement check from GLM's Al Bell (righ0 at ceremony honoring Ole's years of service. do some freelancine along with the Boyi Club work he plans.

Few people have made more friends, or have been better known than Ole has in the Southland's lumber industry. We will mict the daily visits, but he has promised to stop by often and say hello and keep us posted. W'e'll pass the good word on to you.

From all of us, Good luck to you, Ole !

Wilseyville's the Winner

The American Forest Products Corporation's Wilseyville opera' tion established the best 1965 sawmill safety record among the corporation's ll sawmill installations.

Final figures showed total man hours worked at the mill to be 125,M3 with no lost time injuries during the entire year.

This mill, under the direction of J. D. Conger, resident manager, cut more than 28 million b.f. last year.

Now, over 5,000,000 feet of dimension lumber and studs monthly . manufactured especially for Southern California construction needs.

Art Neth would appreciate an opportunity to tell you how you and your customers will benefit from using dependable D & R dimension and studs. You can reach him by calling 872-1280 or 78i!-05t14.

American Forest Products Corporation has for the last 16 years conducted this competition among its manufacturing facilities to promote a higher degree of safety for workers.

Durq Steel qnd Nedco Merge

Arnold Familian, the president of Nedco, Inc., has announced the merger o{ Nedco, Inc. of Los Angeles and Dura Steel Products Company, Santa Fe Springs, under the Dura Steel corporate name.

Harry Brown will serve the new corPoration as president, Arnold Familian as vice-president and Norman Dasher as vicepresident in charge of operations.

Dura Steel makes and distributes bathroom cabinets, bathroom accessories, apartment house main boxes, shower cabinets, kitchen ventilating hoods and ventilating fans.

"Dynomics of Selling" Scheduled

The Lumber Merchants Association,of Northern California will hold its third and fourth "Dynamics of Selling" programs May 16-17 at San Luis Obispo, and May 19-20 at San Rafael. Devel' oped specifically to increase the sales ability of all lumber dealer employeeg this program provides numerous ways of making sales more profitable for all concerned. For further information contact LMA headquarte$ at 4.546 El Camino Real, Los Altos.

Loke Tohoe is the site this yeor