lllerchandfslng Callfornla Redwood for Dealers ls Fall-tlne ,lob for the C, R, e,

(lYritten Especially for The CALIFORNIA LUMBER ilIIIRCHANT by the California Redwood Atsociation)

The major objective of the California Redwood Association is to merchandise tl-re product of its member mills through a planned program of public relations, promotion, research, grading and inspection. While much attention has been given to increasing shipments to areas east of the Rocky Mountains, the west in general-and California in particular-is still the greatest market for California Redwood as a lumber product of natural beauty and lasting durability.

Increasing attention has been given to carrying the message to the specifiers, architects, merchandisers and users of lumber and wood products of using the proper grade of redwood for the job which it can do best. Toward this end, the research and promotion divisions of the California Redwood Association have produced detailed data sheets which are assembled in Data Book binders for use by sales forces of members companies. Selections of these data sheets are made up into "files" for architects, retailers, farmers and

Why not build it yourself . .

farm advisors, industrial arts instructors, industrial specifiers, builders, interior designers, landscape architects and furniture manufacturers to assist them in making their decision on where to use redwood for a particular job.

Among the new and revised data sheets which have been produced by the association in 1955 are:Yard Grades, Durability, Insulation, Sweet's Insert, Siding Application, Board and Batten Siding, Shiplap Siding, Bevel Siding, Anzac Siding, Tongue and Groove Siding, Garden Ideas (booklet and individual data sheets), Tank Maintenance, Air Cooling Equipment, Exterior Finishes (with revised supplement of finishes rvhich meet CRA's minimum durability standards), Maintenance of Exterior Finishes, and an information index on dealer services rvhich are available.

Mats Available to Dealers

An attractive series of free advertising mats in one and two-column sizes, with shaded line drawings, has been made available to lumber dealers to promote the sale of Garden Redwood through pointing up its uses in the garden, for fences and for outdoor furniture.

"Silent salesmen" in the form of envelope stuffers-in full color-have been made available to retailers under the titles "Fences," "Garden and Patio Ideas" and "CRA Redwood Paneling."

"Redwood News," .ivhich is edited by the Caiifornia Redq'ood Association, rvith layout by Robert Washbish and production by Taylor & Taylor of San Francisco, carries feature articles in carefully selected photographs, architectural drawings, and a minimum of succinct writing to carry the story of California Redrvood and its many uses to a mailing list of some 35,000 architects, dealers, designers, industrial engineers, specifiers and users of wood and wood products. It is published quarterly and has won certificates of merit inits field.

cALIFOSNTA REDWOOD ASSOCTATION garden furniture with California Redwood. Doesn't take a millionaire, either-shop-grade Redwood is surprisingly inexpensive. We've got the plans and the lumber-come in and get details.

It doesn't take a master craftsman to turn out attractive, durable

A striking exhibit of the use of California Redr,vood, "San Francisco Bay Region Architecture: A Current Report," in large-dimension photographs, planned and executed jointly by the California Redwood Association, the Smithsonian Institution and the Northern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, is currently on a tour of principal art galleries and museums throughout the United States and Canada. Included are examples of home, school, cl,urch, civic and commercial structures. Wherever it is seen, increased saies of redwood will result and dealers will benefit.

Continuing research and development by the research and technical division of the CRA are being pointed toward answering the problems of how best to manufacture, season, grade, package, deliver and utilize this lumber product so that it will give the best possible service.

Field representatives of the association are "on the road" constantly as ambassadors of the redwood industry. They visit with individuals and groups of architects, specifiers and users of California redwood to bring a better understanding of the proper uses of the grades which will best do the job.

In line with assisting the retailer to sell the construction grades of California Redwood, new grade stamps have been made available to member companies and those subscribing to the CRA grading and inspection service, changing the former "No. 3 Common" grade to "Merchantable." This is a further development of the change from number grades to name grades in 1946.

The research and inspection division of CRA continues to carry on definitive research on exterior finishes to retain the natural beauty of California Redwood. Sorne Zl9 finishes have been tested to date. Those which have successfully passed the preliminary tests are being tested under seven varying climatic conditions throughout the United States.

The results of these tests are made available to retailers, specifiers and users of California Redwood through current lists of finishes which meet the minimum durability requirements of the association.

In cooperation, with the Forest Products Laboratory of the University of California, experiments are going forward under the direction of Dr. Fred E. Dickinson, recently arrived from teaching and research assignments at the University of Michigan and Yale, in the basic properties of redwood extractives and the properties of the wood itself toward improvement of manufacture, application and finish.

To Promote Garden Redwood for Dealers

Beginning in February of.1956, a well-planned promotion of California Garden Redwood will be inaugurated with retailer display cards, free advertising mats, a series of articles on the use of redwood in the garden for building editors of Sunday supplements and trade magazines, display ads, a pictorial Garden Book for distribution through the retailers, detailed data sheets on the many uses of Garden redwood in outdoor living, and a special spring issue of "Redwood News" featuring "Redwood in the Garden."

Planning is progressing rapidly for a spring preview of a new traveling exhibit of redwood as it is used by the landscape architect. This will feature a photographic display of outstanding examples as selected by members of the California Association of Landscape Architects and the California Redwood Association. The exhibit will tour the United States and Canada under the auspices of the Traveling Exhibition Service of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C.

In 1956, as in every year since its founding, the California Redr,vood Association will serve the redwood industry in telling the story of California Redwood, its grades and proper uses, to retailers, specifiers, and users.

Son Diego Counry Building Goins

Escondido, Calif.-Eleven unincorporated towns in inland northern San Diego county showed construction increases in September over last year. The 9-months figure for the whole north county area was $10,529,217, compared to $7,893,243 in the like 1954 period.