Forest Products Reseorch Society Leorns of New Wood Uses

I. J. CARR

llorv to merke economic use of an annual 100 million tons of lvoocl residlte, now left over in our lumlter and u'oodrvorking industries and as unmerchantable residue in our fcrrests, rvas the main concern of.493 registrants lt the recent ninth annual n.reeting of the Forest Products Research Society in Seattle.

Commerrting on this vast, unused resource, L. J. Carr, Sacramento, California, luml>erman and F'PRS immediare past president, said, "Today an averafie of only 35a/" oi the harvestecl tree gets to market." Moss B. Christian, ( hicago Nf ill & Lumber Co., Tallulah, La., nen, national president of FPRS, stated, "We are getting 50/c utilizztion of our forest cnt." High on the scale is the t.tlliza- tion of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co., Tacoura, rvhich processes some 70-75/o of the timber actuaily cut in their forests, according to their director of der-elopmeut, Clark C. Heri tage.

On one thing all experts were agreecl-IC0% utilization is still a matter of years off. Tu'o major obstacies: development of 'rvays to utilize rvastes at a profit ; at present, 90/o of the industry is composed of compar.ries too srnail individually to set up full-utilization programs.

Keynoting the opening technical session on Composition Board, Heritage cited a recent timber sale lt $70 per thousand bf on the stump. He said the harcl economic facts :,re that the industry must find uses for the more than 60/o of u'oocl now being rn'asted. Three principal classes of wood particle board are already makir-rg significatrt inroads into these residues. They are hardboards (used for surfacing, structure or in place of lumber anrl plyn.c.rod), chipcore (used principally for table tops, etc., in veneered furniture), ancl molded products (toilet seats, giftn'are, etc.).

A high point of the meeting u'as the :urn()r1r1cemer.rt by Francis H. Snyder, Brookfield, C--onn., corrsultant. of a potentially significant ne\\' r:rw nraterial produce<l from rvood rvaste, knorvn at present as "Denrlrol." :r solitl, clalk brou'n lignin derivative, already tested on a comrnercial scale, Snyder reported. It has sollre prol)erties of thermosetting phenolic resins, thus suggestir.rg a variety of irrdustrial uses:

1) as a phenolic resin for molding materials;

2) laminating varnishes;

3) hardboard lrinders; -{) phenolic resin palrers. Present results indicate 75 to 95r/r' sultstitu-

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