Watson Plywood Holds Open House Tour

FrOUR HUNDRED lriendly customers. r compelitors. guests and wives dined. drank and danced at the {ormal opening of the new Watson Plywood, Inc. import sales offices and prefinishing plant in Torrance, on July 9.

Dalt' V'atson, the president, opened the doors and provided an elcgant bar and bufiet with dancing to a five piece orchestra until midnight.

Assistine Watson as host was Frank S:atson, vice piesident, in charge of West Coast sales; John Eells. sales manager for Eastern markets; Bob Sherratt. manager of lumber sales; Mal Hill and Bob Blacksher. Bay Area sales representatives; Art S'oodcock, comptroller; Paul Pellerin. plant manager; and Ilhett Watson, warehoust' supen'isor.

Guests enjoyt'd a tour o{ the finc offict's, all of which are paneled with the finest prefinished domestic and exotic foreien hardwoods in conservalive modern d"i or. lmpressive was a small gymnasium and sauna bath attacht'd to Dale Watson's office.

Equally impressive was the new prefinishing equipment in operation. Guests traveled along the 200 ft. automatic line and viewed the component machines from the groover and striper by Multiscore; the two

Time Saver sanders and polishers; the coating equipment by Roto Finishing Sy-"tems to the very advanced drying ovens b1' the Allspray Company. The line. designctl and engineered by Bill Trader of the Allspray Company, presented a picture o{ industrial efficiency and capability.

"This is the finest equipped prefinished line I have been associated with," said Paul Pellerin. plant manager. "It's flexibility sives us a widc latitude in finishcs and colors. There arc st'r'eral things we can do with this equipment that is beyond the r:apacity of our competition."

Samples of the finishes on test run panels \{,.ere on display which showed a bright hardness and a high sheen as well as attractive colors. Finishing material is supplied by Reliancc Universal.

John Eells. just returned to California after seven yt:ars in New York as man' ager of the import-cxport department and director of architectural services with United States Plywood, was very enthusi' astic about the Watson Plywood program.

"[.e plan to market a complete line of (Continued on Page 74) is not the way to choose building materials. The efficient, economical way is to go to a specialist-an Ind'epend'ed-who has freedom of choice in recommending the best for your particular job. That's us! . .

PREFINISH UNE at Waf son Plywood is a marvel of modern efficiency. Line's flexibility allows a wide variety of finishes and colors.

47 yearc experience in serving Southern California builders and home-owners.

Superior, time-saving service on Forntica and. tbe best in soltuood and bmd.uood Ply' uood.s, Monkeypod. Plyutood.s, and' Masonite Brand Hardboard..

Privqte Forest [<rnd Opened

When the gates to 260,000 acres of private forest land in three northwestern California counties swing open to public use this month, it will be under a uniform program labeled Redwood Industry Recreation Areas.

The name has been announced by California Redwood Association, representing the nine participating landowners.

No charge will be made this year for recreational use of the two dozen separate areas spread for 105 miles between Crescent City and the Navarro River near Ukiah. Daily hunting permits will be required by two of the lumber company sponsors.

The R.I.R.A. program is part of the Redwood Region Park and Recreation Plan. It is designed to ofier active recreational opportunities to the public as a complement to the 110,000 acres of state coast redwood parks. The plan also calls for state acquisition of 8,000 acres of outstanding redwood groves now held by private owners.

The R.LR.A. program will begin in August.

lumber Bill of $37 Poid After 69 Yeqrs

A bill for $37.16 was paid at the W. H. Saylor and Son lumber yard in Pottstown, Pa. recently.

The payment of a bill is usually a very ordinary operation, but this one wasn't.

It was a 69 year old bill.

Fingering the well preserved slip of paper dated 1896 at the lumber yard offiee, Robert Saylor explained that the bill was received along with a eheck for the amount scratched on the paper with an old hand dipped pen.

An area resident found the piece of paper among his efiects. It was his father's bill and had been misplaced for the past 69 years. "I don't have'any idea of what type lumber was soldo but I'm sure it wouldn't cost $37.16 today," said Saylor.

In fact, if the lumber firm had pressed the matter, the bill itself would have been much larger today. According to bank officials, a bill for $37 would be boosted to $155.25 by a 6 percent interest rate over a period of 69 years.

ooGetting payment for old bills is fairly common with an established business like ours," said Saylor, whose grandfather sold the materials in 1896.

66In facto we?ve had two people pay bills from the l92os during the past yearrtt he eaid.

The yellowed bill is clear evidence that things were quite difierent in 1896. In the lower left hand corner of the slip is this note of information about the Savlor firm:

"Telephone No. 48."

Pqcific Cement being Purchosed

Lone Star Cement Corporation of New York, plans to acquire Pacific Cement & Aggregates of San Fraricisco, it has been announced by the two companies.

Boards of directors have approved the plan and it will be submitted to shareholders for their approval at meetings to be called.

Last year Lone Star had sales of $126 million and a net income of $13.9 million. Pacific Cement had sales of $32 million and a net income of $2 million.

Jomes Overcqsl Retiring

James B. Overcast has announced his reii:: tirement after nearly four decades with i^ , Strable Lumber Company in Oakland. Clarr ence Dame, {ormer salesmanager of Strable, will replace Overcast as general manager oI the 6O vear old firm.

A native of Alabama, Overcast cut his teeth in the long leaf forests of the South-

.east and began his long association with

Strable in 1928, as a tally clerk and grader.

Jim (as he prefers to be called) moved up through the Strable organization and in 1937, was made salesmanager. In 1949, Jim replaced Bert Bryan as general manager, a position he held until his retirement last month. Active in industry and community affairs, he is a past president of Oakland Hoo-Hoo Club 39 and the Oakland Executive Club, and a current merpber of the Oakland Rotary Club.

Like Overcast, Clarence Dame began his career with Strable as a clerk and srader in 1937. He spent the war years in tiie Air Force and in 1945" returned to Strable in outside sales. He was named salesmanager and plywood buyer in 1949, when Overcast moved up to general manager of the firm.

Replacing Dame as salesmanager is Ralph Meyer, another Strable "young-oldtimer". A native of the Bay Area and a U. C. Forestry graduate ol 1949, Ralph joined Strable in 1950 and was in outside sales and sales coordination until his present appointment.

Bowes to Colifornio-Pocific

Kenneth L. Bowes, who for many years operated his own northern California lirmber business, has been appointed sales representative for California-Pacific Sales Corp. to cover his old territory, from Redding to Bakersfield.

Bowes, who knows almost every lumber dealer from the Oregon border through the San Joaquin Valley, will make his headquarters in Sacramento at 2427 Marconi Avenue. He recently spent six months at California-Pacific's distribution yard in Los Angeles.

M'oderq Chip Focility

Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. has announced a $100,000 wood chip facility will go into operation at Madera in October.

Wood chips from sawmills in the Sierras will be gather'ed at the new facility and reloaded directly into railroad cars for shipment to Fibreboard's mill near Antioch where they will be converted into linerboard or paperboard.

The company said it is also spending $,100,000 for wood chip converting equipment at several sawmills.

We have erected many of these buildings over a period of years to the complete satisfaction of our customers. This is just one of the many types of industrial buildings we have to offer.

Plywood Monufqcfurers Meet

The o'three M's" of manufacturing marketing and money vied for the attention of a record number of plywood manufacturers gathered in Salem, Oregon, June 14, for the 29th annual meeting of the American Plywood Association.

More than 400 executives of plywood companies heard proposals for changes in the U. S. Commercial Standards for softwood plywood, listened to advice from the two nationally recognized marketing specialists on how to win more customers and learned the latest information on a series of problems in association operation, each involving money.

Interspersed in the full agenda of the one-day meeting was a report on cooperative research by the director of the Federal Forest Products Laboratory.

The first item discussed was in connection with the standards. The manufacturers heard proposals that plywood panels be made with a specific end use in mind under revisions to the U. S. Commercial Standards.

Bentley's committee suggested that plywood specifications be tailored to the needs of the ultimate.use of the panel rather than having specications that try to serve multiple markets with one grade of plywood. An exarnple of this is the industry's Ply-Scord (or C-D) panel which is used to serve both the sheathing market, where inner-ply strength properties are of little concern, and the more sophisticated engineering markets which make inner-ply strength important. Changes of specifications would permit separation o{ such grades to eliminate wasteful use of high-grade material in lower grade panels.

Another proposal is to diminish the present standards' emphasis on wood species in favor of specifications primarily based on performance.

The proposals, if acted upon, will be the first complete revision of plywood standards since 1960. Favorable action by the industry and the U. S. Department of Commerce will mean the production of one plywood standard from the three that exist now for Douglas fir, Western softwoods and Southern pine.

Dr. Theodore Levitt, management consultant and member of the Harvard Business School faculty urged all to discover what the customers want and then give it to them. He also said it was important for industry to determine its customer's problems and then help solve them.

Association President C. L. Morey, of the St. Regis Paper Company in Tacoma, Wash., discussed problems facing the industry all involving substantial sums of money, o Prompt delivery by our trucks

The first problem affecting association finances, Morey said, is the $300,000 from the trade group's reserves tied up in litigation with the U. S. Internal Revenue Service. The association's tax exempt status was revoked by L R. S. last Japuary and the $300,000 is a deposit on allegedly-due back taxes.

Large diversifted stocks of foreign and domestic hardwoods-our yard.

Immediate service on "will calls" o Complete milling facilities o New, modern dry kilns o Centrally located o Competitively priced

Wilderness Guidelines Sought

Proposed regulations and guidelines for the administration of national forest units of the National Wilderness Preservation System have been issued by the Forest Service, with comments requested from organizations and individuals "interested in the use, protection and administration of national forest wilderness areas" before final adoption of the proposed regulations. The Forest Service has requested comments bv October l.

The sixty-four page draft regulations und -a.rrrul would cover the administration of more than nine million acres of national forest lands in 54 areas which were included in the Wilderness System by the Wilderness Act oI 1964.

According to Forest Service Chief Edward P. Cliff, modifications are needed in existing regulations so they will "conform to the Wilderness Act." The proposed regulations are available from the Chief, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture" Washington, D.C., 20050.

Plywood's Foreign Soles

A 65 percent increase in plywood exports was chalked up in 1964, according to Arthur H. Jones, director of an industry-supported promotion directed principally to Japan and Germany. Jones, director of market research and economic services for the Arnerican Plywood Association, said sales to western Europe rose 280 percent in 1964, compared to 1963. He added this was only a fraction of one percext of total industry production, but was "a satis{ac,tory beginning for a product that is virtually unknown in countries outside North America."

Moior Plywood Merger

Carolina Pacific Plywood, Inc., of Medford, Ore., has taken over the Josephine Plywood Corp. of Grants Pass and its veneer mill in Happy Camp, Calif.

B. D. Mitchel, president of Carolina Pacific, said it was a $2 million transaction. Both Happy Camp and Grants Pass operations have been idle. He said the Huppy Camp mill would be reopened in Ausust.

Increqse In Mill Products

Manufacturers' shipments of sawmill and planing mill products in 1963 were valued at $2.8 billion, according to a preliminary report of the 1963 Census of Manufacturers just issued by the Bureau of the Census.

The figure represented an increase of six percent over the total for 1958, last previous year of the census.

$4.00 $7.00