from small landowners and laborers. The cutting is generally done during the rainy season when other farm activities are at a standstill. To change the species may very well change the economic picture regarding the method of production.

Tie production in the United States is also generally independent of regular sawmill operations. Many tie producers find it economically worth while to use portable sawmills. The ties are generally cut from small diameter trees not suited for economical lumber production. Hence the mill can be smaller and lighter and use a smaller diameter saw than one employed for cutting lumber. A mill cutting ties consists only of a circular head saw with its husk, frame, and carriage, usually a trim saw, and occasionally an edger. The power may be obtained from a tractor also used for bringing logs to the mill, or by an independent motor or steam engine. Such an outfit can be moved about from site to site at little expense. No roof is provided over the mill unless it is used at one stand for several months.

Although the principal product of such a mill is ties, there are important byproducts of side lumber, cut from the sides of squared timber in cutting to tie size. As this lumber is cut from near the exterior of the log it will generally be of upper grade stock and command a fair price.

The capital investment and overhead in a mill of this type is small compared to that of a regular sawmill operation, since ties are seasoned at the treating plant and need not be held for long periods, but can be delivered and paid for soon after cutting.

No data are available regarding the value of tie material of substitute species. Roble ties about 15 x 25 centimeters x 2.75 meters sell for 16 pesos delivered to the railroad yards. Roble lumber has a value log run of about 700 pesos per thousand board feet at the railroad yard. Ulmo, a good tie material, has a log run value of 500 pesos per thousand board feet. At the same relative value, an Ulmo tie would bring about 11.75 pesos delivered. To be profitable costs of production at a tie mill would have to be much lower than typical sawmill production costs. Assuming that the Ulmo tie is sold after delivery for 12 pesos, the cost to the operator should not exceed 11 pesos. This would mean that the cost per thousand board feet would not exceed 245 pesos, assuming that the tie contains 45 board feet. The costs at the mill might be expressed as follows:

Delivery by truck at 4.5 pesos per km., per thousand board feet for a distance of 10 km. would raise the total delivered cost to 250 pesos per thousand board feet in tie material. No allowance has been provided in this estimate for stumpage. A tie mill would be profitable only if selling prices would go considerably higher than 12 pesos. There seems to be no immediate prospect of this, but if the present home production of ties should cease, or wages and prices rise sufficiently, the described operation would be a small but useful adjunct to the existing forest industry.

Briquettes

The successful utilization of sawdust, shavings, spent tanbark, chemical bark, and chips in the manufacture of fuel in the form of briquettes requires (1) a large and continuous supply of suitable raw materials, (2) low production costs, and (3) a ready sale for the finished product at fair prices. Because of bulkiness and the low value of the materials used, the briquette stock must be obtained locally and the principal market must be preferably in the region of production. The production methods used are described in the Appendix, page 235.

Briquetting of wood waste has been successfully carried on in several European countries for many years. During the past 30 to 40 years briquetting operations have been conducted more or less sporadically in the United States, but only recently with any apparent degree of financial success since other forms of fuel are relatively cheap and wood briquettes usually cannot be sold in competition with them.

In Chile, where coal is scarce, fuel oil lacking, and all types of fuel are expensive, briquettes might find a ready market, particularly in the larger cities. One difficulty might be a suitable binder; another would be a sufficiently large and continuous supply of suitable raw material, since most of the woodworking plants are comparatively small and the volume of sawdust shavings and waste from any one plant would hardly be sufficient. It might be possible in some places, as

Plate 17-A. In contrast to other wood-using industries, Chile's plywood mills are modern and well-managed. This log is being cut for figure.

Santiago, to obtain a sufficient supply for economic operation by concentrating the waste from two or more plants. Manufacture in or close to a large consuming center would have the advantage of eliminating long distance shipment, which is impractical, as previously mentioned, because of the bulkiness and low value of the product. In any event, the possibility of briquetting mill waste and other manufacturing refuse as the basis for a subsidiary industry is worth further investigation.

VENEER AND PLYWOOD

Chile has a well established and flourishing plywood industry, with three companies producing rotary cut veneer and one company producing sliced, figured veneer. It is a new industry (plywood was formerly imported) and has attained its present growth since 1940. In fact, two of the mills have not reached planned capacity because they lack some necessary equipment that cannot be obtained under present world conditions. Most of the output of the rotary plants is 3-ply stock in standard size panels in 4, 5, and 6 millimeter thicknesses, all bonded with casein glue. This stock is made principally to fill a need for a general utility material, where large surfaces and coverage are more important than figure or species. Over 50 percent of the output is exported, principally to Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, though domestic consumption is increasing rapidly. In contrast to other wood-working industries.

the plants producing rotary veneer are well laid out as to production line methods, using labor saving devices and equipment and having reasonably adequate work space for the various operations (plate 17-A). Two companies use heated platens in the glue presses and the moisture added in the gluing operation is dried out during the pressing operation. The other company uses the cold press method, holding the plywood in clamps after pressing until the glue sets.

Figured veneer is produced by a company operating two small light-weight slicers. The machines are too light for the service, but by adding considerable hand work an acceptable product is obtained. This plant sells it product worked up into figured veneer and glued panels, the latter often worked out in matched veneers.

Uses in Chile

Plywood is used very largely in the furniture industry, the wide surfaces available making it particularly suitable for the style of furniture so popular in Chile at present. It is being used in school and office furniture, store fixtures, window displays, and case goods. The construction industry has found uses for it in many places such as wall and ceiling surfacing material to replace plaster or matched wood wall lining, wall panels and wainscots, stair panels, kitchen and bathroom cases, built-in utility furniture, partitions in offices and stores, and to surface flush panel doors. Plywood is also used in the ceilings of autobuses, in trucks and streetcars, and in a great variety of minor products.

In many places plywood replaces solid wood, while in others it merely covers a solid or lattice wood core to furnish a smooth finish surface. In buildings it also replaces plaster. In some other uses, particularly in bedroom furniture, it probably competes with steel and brass. The continued use of plywood for these various purposes depends somewhat upon its continued popularity with the public, with architects, furniture designers, and new and at the present time unknown competitive materials that may be developed.

Markets for Plywood

Use requirements set up two definite markets for plywood (1) utility plywood for boxes and containers, general construction, and other services where strength, large surfaces, and economy are important and where figure and appearance are of secondary value and (2) plain and fancy plywood for decorative uses in furniture, store fixtures, interior finish, and novelties where the figure of the wood is important and shows in the finished product.

At the present time it is estimated that about 75 percent of the plywood sold in Chile is used by the furniture trade where the demand is usually for a decorative rather than a utility type. Even in this market, however, the heavy demand is for C grade, essentially a utility grade, because of the price differential, and because many defects can be cut out in working the panels down to required sizes and shapes for the ultimate product. It would appear that up to the present time the market for utility plywood as such has not developed appreciably in Chile, at least not in keeping with this market in the United States and Europe. Such a market will develop if ways and means are found to lower prices, so that utility plywood can compete with other materials and find new uses.

The 4 to 6 mm. 3-ply stock, the principal output at present in Chile and practically the only thicknesses stocked by dealers, does not have the strength and stiffness required for many purposes where plywood with suitable properties could be used. Officials of various Chilean

industries contacted expressed their need for thicker and stronger material than they had been able to obtain. In consequence many are adapting the plywood obtainable to their needs through the use of various expedients, or using material other than plywood where suitable plywood would be better adapted to their requirements. Thicker types of plywood should also find a wide application in the construction of kitchen cases and cabinets, small doors, partitions, door panels, etc.

Plywood makes excellent form material in concrete construction and is widely used for the purpose in the United States. Contractors estimate at least 3 re-uses, frequently get 6 to 10, and in some cases have obtained up to 30. Plywood for concrete forms is generally 5-ply 5/8 or 3/4 inch thick, glued with soybean glue fortified with casein. Should prefabricated construction be developed in Chile, plywood of the proper thicknesses is the obvious material for use in floor, wall, and ceiling panels. The casein glued stock is suitable for all unexposed surfaces and for exteriors if covered with weather boarding or other suitable materials.

The hot pressed types of plywood, using a synthetic resin adhesive, are suited for uses where a maximum amount of resistance to moisture is required. Such material is suited to exterior wall covering material, boat construction, airplane construction, vehicles, autobuses, signboards, barrel staves and headings, etc. The market for this type of plywood has been expanding rapidly in recent years in the United States and it should enjoy a good market in Chile. Special types of hot presses, somewhat similar to those now used by some of the local producers for pressing and drying casein glued plywood, are required to set the resin glue. Custom-made panels, built to meet the requirements of the purchaser, offer another field for expansion of the plywood and veneer industry. However, a comparison of prices, tables 29, 30, and 31, indicates that unless plywood prices in Chile can be materially reduced or protected by tariff in the postwar period, domestic plywood cannot compete with imported plywood in the utility grades and even in plainer types of the decorative grades. At existing prices there is also a serious question whether Chilean plywood can retain its present export market after the war in competition with lower priced foreign plywood. Nearly 65 percent of the plywood produced in 1943 and an estimated 50 percent in 1944 was exported. Some portion of this export market is utility plywood and in this field the competitive plywood will have a distinct price advantage. That portion which is used where decorative or hardwood plywoods are required will not find the price differential quite so marked and may be able to meet the competition, particularly where the 4 mm. thickness is acceptable. However, the species used in the plywood being exported at present, particularly Araucaria Pine and Coigue, are not comparable with the species commonly used in the higher priced decorative grades of plywood, hence the competition will be chiefly with the lower priced hardwoods where price competition will be

keen.

1See grade specifications in Appendix, pages 240 and 241.

The thicknesses of plywood as made in the United States and Chile are not directly comparable. Very little plywood is made in the United States less than 1/4-inch thick and the price for the thinner types is about the same as for the 1/4-inch material. The A grade 6 mm. Chilean plywood sells for a higher price than a similar thickness of A grade United States plywood, but for less than the figured grades intended for cabinet work and fancy furniture. The B grades are also much higher than the comparable United States grades excepting the figured grades. The 4 mm. thickness would compare fairly well in A and B grades with the thicker 1/4-inch hardwood plywood made in the United States. The Chilean C grade is essentially utility grade and is far out of line with the comparable United States grades.