SPLINTERS

MARCH 14, 1987, ISSUE 16

ISSUES HAMMERED OUT AT MARCH MEETING!

For those who missed it, the tour of the Stanley plant in Shelbyville was a real blast! We were given the red carpet treatment by the Stanley people and had the opportunity to see every aspect of the very interesting “striking tool” production. If you’re like me, you weren’t aware that the Shelbyville plant makes hammers, chisels, mallets, “crow bars” of all sizes for Stanley. From the Wal—Mart special to the gold plated award hammers, They roll out of the plant 24 hours a day, 6 days a week— I think they said that more than 65,000 hammers a week are produced (that’s a lot of sore thumbs)! We were able to see it all: forging, grinding, polishing, painting, heat treating, to packaging. Quite a tour. Boredom and monotony are obviously the two major foes in the production process. Oh, in case you’re wandering, they didn’t. pass out any free samples! Thanks to Tom Baskin for setting up the very interesting tour.

ALL YOU EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT BAND SAWS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK

Bill Shirley, our master machinist and all around good woodworker has agreed to give us a rundown on bandsaws at the April 21st Meeting. .Bill actually builds bandsaws and has many tips on the, care, feeding and adjusting of these very useful tools. Even if .you don’t own a bandsaw now you’ll find Bills’ discussion to be good background when you start looking around for one— particularly if you look at used machines.

TREATED WOOD CAN TREAT YOU BAD

Summer approaches and our last newsletter made your conscience twinge and now you re headed to the store with lots of dollars-to get some sawing material. Since your project wilt set on the ground you’ve settled on treated lumber for the base..:

With your bill of materials and checkbook clutched in your hand, you head for the local “lumbery”. Sure they have treated lumber, they also have treatment for lumber which, the can says will prevent rot for years under certain conditions. As you read closer you see the conditions are equal to storing your finished project in Yuma, Arizona at least two feet off the ground and cover it during rain storms! So you gaze up at the prices of treated lumber, mentally scale your project back by a third and place your order. After a wait of about 2 years the yard clerk or “retail lumber specialist” toddles off to the back of the yard to find the treated lumber. Based on the price, you’re sure it must be kept in a guarded, locked vault! Finally you get to the pile of ugly green lumber and the specialist loads all eight boards on your truck. You comment that it seems much heavier than the kiln dried lumber you bought last week and the specialist responds with a technical explanation “yup” , as he idly pulls off all the little stickers on the end of the boards. Now you have all the information you need to start the job, so home you drag.

Does that sound like an experience you’ve had? Many of us work with treated wood for the first time and are amazed at what we find. First of all those tags the specialist tore off in the lumber yard give (in microscopic print) the conditions under which the wood is to be used, the length of time it should remain serviceable, and the manner in which the wood was treated. Lets look at the methods of treatment first:

All pre-treated wood available from a retail market is pressure treated. The neighbor down the street may sell “treated lumber” but it’s probably creosote dipped or brushed. You should only be interested in pressure

treated lumber — it’s put under a vacuum, most moisture is drawn out and the chemical is then put into the vacuum chamber. The result is a fairly uniform treatment of the lumber, and there is a good barrier between the outside world and the inner, untreated part (rarely is there enough vacuum or pressure to get all of the wood) . Now, how about the chemicals?

Some labels note that the wood has been salt treated and is guaranteed for 20 years if not in contact with the ground. What the manufacturer is saying is that if you use that lumber as skids, runners, or poles that rest on the ground it will probably not last 20 years — it will only last until the salt washes out! It takes a chemical with a bit of staying power to stand up to continued water and biological attack — that’s where the green wood comes in!

On labels which appear on green tinted wood you may not find the disclaimer concerning contact with the ground. The green is a copper salt that is used in the treatment chemical which acts like copper paint on the bottom of a boat -- it lets off a bit of copper very slowly which poisons the bugs and germs in the area of the copper. Unfortunately it can cause we humans some problems as well so we have to be careful using it. Wear gloves, keep it out of your eyes, and be careful not to set food on the raw wood it probably won’t do any serious harm but can give you a tummy ache or some wooziness. The real hazard with the treated wood which is green is that some of the earlier treatment methods used arsenic as an ingredient. No, not enough to poison the neighbors’ pet dog, but enough that when we activated cooling towers using such wood, we kept very close tabs on the maximum concentration allowed by the EPA.

So, what’s the bottom line? Read the little labels on the end of the treated lumber, make sure your use matches the guarantee. Second, the chemicals used in the treatment process can be somewhat toxic, use gloves and some normal caution. Third and lastly, I wouldn’t use treated lumber where a toddler might use the lumber for teething.

LIST OF UPCOMING CRAFT SHOWS

APRIL 25,26

FALLS MILL. BELVIDERE

JOHN & JANE LOVETT PHONE 469—7161

RT. 1 BOX 44 BELVIDERE.TN. 37306

FEE $20.00 SPACE 12 X 12

MAY 23,24,25

MARSHALL CITY ART GUILD

P.O.BOX 194 LEWISBURG. TN. 37091

HELD AT HENRY HORTON STATE PARK

PHONE 364-2222 BOOTH FEE $25.~00

MAY 30,31

TULLAHOME FINE ARTS & CRAFT FESTIVAL

SOUTH JACKSON CIVIC CENTER. 400 SOUTH JACKSON STREET

CONTACT. TULLAHOME FINE ARTS CENTER

401 S. JACKSON STREET. TULLAHOMA. TN. 37386

SPACE 12 X 12 FEE $40.00

JUNE 6

DOWNTOWN STREET FESTIVAL. TULLAHOMA. TN. APPLY TO TULLAHOMA MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION

JULY 4,5

LYNCHBURG FRONTIER DAYS

LYNCHBURG CITY PARK FIRST COME: FIRST GETS SPACE

SET UP ANY TIME $6.00 PER DAY

MORE DATES NEXT ISSUE. THIS LIST WAS COMPILED BY JACK TOWNSEND. IF YOU

HAVE ANY OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS OR CRAFT SHOWS LET JACK KNOW AND HE WILL SEE

THAT THEY SHOW UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE. THANKS. JACK

FOR SALE SHOPSMITH MARK V—PRO-ALL ATTACHMENTS—ASKING $1500-HAVE $2000 INVESTED. CONTACT PETE LARA 435-4902. 311 CRESTWOOD DRIVE

TULLAHOMA. TN. 37366