Show chemists strengthen low grade lumber promise profitable new field for farmers treated wood almost hard as metal by BARROW LYONS washington correspondent the alchemy of modern chemistry suddenly has prepared a new field of profit for farmers by the use of relatively inexpensive equipment and by the application of certain cheap chemicals ordinary soft woods can be transformed into material of almost any desired hardness and color not only does docs this multiply the uses for which wood may be used in building and furniture manufacture but opens possibilities tor for its use under conditions of pressure humidity and moisture that formerly only metals and plastics could satisfy also the decorative value of many woods can be vastly enhanced and fast growing species of trees use of which was formerly limited can now be grown like crops to replace the slower growing varieties these facts were revealed recently by dr J F T berliner of the ammonia department of E 1 I du pont font de nemours and company who recently told a group of scientists and writers about the development of the chemical called the reagent which transforms the inner structure of wood into new substances the chemicals used in this process cost only 3 cents to cents per board foot treated although the cost of equipment and labor will add to that figure in producing the new product for the average veneer the cost of chemicals used amounts to less than two tenths of a cent per square foot this development assumes unusual significance in view of recent efforts of the department of agriculture to bring about a new realization of the potential importance of the woodlot farmer john F preston U S soil conservation service estimated a few weeks ago that the income to farmers from farm woodlands could be increased to a year or more the discovery of the du pont font chemists may considerably raise this estimate income from woodlot farmers are interested in woodlands not only as sources of income with which to pay taxes buy seed 9 4 top compressed treated wood becomes becomes very hard and dense the three balsa blocks in the picture were all originally the same si size ze but ut the second an and third from the left have been subjected to he heavy avy pressure the thinnest at the right is now harder than any known w wood and 10 times as heavy as the original balsa balsa is one of the softest and lightest woods known below remarkable resistance of treated wood to warping is shown by this test the result of which is pictured two strips of veneer one treated and one untreated were placed on wet towel the huntr untreated bated strip curled up while the impregnated remained flat shoes clothes and put up buildings mr preston said but also as means of building up wood reserves to create an income balance wheel we might call it an ever normal farm forestry has long served such a purpose in european countries originally there were million acres of forest land in this country but 60 per cent of this was c converted into farms and farms now occupy fully half of the land area of the united states the move now is to reconvert much of this cleared land to farm woodlands on farms today acres mostly abandoned fields and gul lies are suitable only tor for defores tation of this large acreage only 15 per cent is in the south sixty sixt per cent is in the central region between iowa and missouri on the 4 I 1 west and new jersey and new york on the east three and one halt half million acres are considered desirable for shelter belts the soil conservation district program under which the farmers themselves decide what lands are suitable for woodlands today offers a practical opportunity for giving the dh pont font process a real tryout by means of the process wood can be made for the manufacture of doors windows and drawers that will not swell and stick or contract and become loose wood can be made strong enough to substitute for even steel in certain machinery parts in a few days woods harder than ebony which take a century to grow can be made at small expense poplar becomes harder than hard maple which in turn can be made k t impregnating apparatus in the du pont font experimental laboratories is rather simple the wood is placed in the horizontal cylinder the overhead tank contains the solution of which flows down and impregnates the fibers of the wood A vacuum is first created in the cylinder then pressure harder than the hardest tropical woods the compressive strength of wood is so increased and other properties imparted that in fact a new material is created which can be called transmuted wood by this process near at hand species of woods that grow on your own woodlot can be made as useful as the costlier scarcer varieties many of which are imported from distant lands wont warp or shrink furniture made from the transmuted wood can be shipped throughout the world to humid tropics or dry areas with assurance that it will not warp swell or shrink A built in finish is imparted so that scratches may be removed by simply smoothing and rubbing by mixing dyes with the impregnating chemicals light colored pine may be given the color of cherry mahogany or ebony or the wood may be made green purple or any bright color throughout veneers venters sufficiently treated become self bonding requiring no adhesive to be formed into ply woods since heat and pressure fuse the product into a hard dense substance even sawdust shavings and similar wood wastes may be into articles with dyes incorporated pronounced meth il ol urea is compounded by adding urea to di both materials are white and soluble in water they are produced tr from orn ammonia carbon dioxide and methanol wh ich are synthesized from coal air and water urea results from the reaction of ammonia and carbon dioxide formaldehyde which is derived from methanol condenses with urea to form di these chemicals are being produced cheaply on a large scale but are under allocation by the war production board small quantities for investigation and preliminary tests however can be obtained without formal allocation after the war large quantities can be obtained the equipment required may be quite simple in fact most of the apparatus now used in impregnating wood with various substances such as creosote and flame proofing chemicals can be adapted with minor alterations because of shorter treating periods however smaller scale equipment can be used an ingenious mechanic who understood the principles of the new process could rig up equipment from elements on hand in most plants the chemi chemists ats declare equipment simple all that is required is a chamber capable of withstanding the feces two pieces of wood one impregnated with and the other untreated were exposed to the flame of an alcohol burner the untreated wood soon took flame while th the e impregnated merely chars at right is shown a lc Ile of hardness two blocks of wood one treated the other untreated but otherwise exactly the same came were squeezed with a C clamp to the same extent untreated wood shows a deep depression while treated wood was scarcely dented sary vacuum and pressure in which the wood is placed A steam jet ejector is an effective simple means of producing the vacuum the chamber should be equipped with a pressure door or removable head and with a source of vacuum and of pressure A tank for preparing the solution an auxiliary overflow tank and means for drying the wood are also needed mild steel equipment may be used the chemicals are no more corrosive than water and are neither flammable nor poisonous to prevent rusting it is desirable to apply a waterproof finish to the exposed surfaces of the equipment this type of equipment could be set up and operated in almost any lumber handling concern throughout the country A chemical change takes place in the actual fibers of the wood under treatment in solution enters the wood structure in the course of drying it gradually reacts with itself and with the components of the wood first to form insoluble but fusible products given sufficient time or heat the reaction Is is i completed and an infusible product results if the wood is subjected to sufficient heat and pressure while the resin is still in the fusible stage the resin will melt flow and allow the wood to compress this treatment converts the resin to the final infusible fo form rm maintaining the wood tn r in the dime dimension naon resulting from the press thus treated wood may be compressed to produce a stable extremely hard dense product with a consolidated closed surface requiring no filling sanding or polishing it is possible to apply moderate pressures sufficient to compress and consolidate only the surface or outer zone of the treated wood to produce a hard finish if polished or embossed platens are used these finishes can be reproduced on the surface of the wood As far as is now known the treatment does not have any adverse effect on the gluing and finishing characteristics of the wood flame resistance is improved and the wood is also more resistant to fungi rot and pest infestation fe but from experiments made in du pont font laboratories it appears certa certain in that a process has been developed which will give new value to the trees standing on every farm woodlot that should give an impetus to reforestation of many marginal farms bringing back a woodland 41 ja treated wood swell while wet or shrink when dry in this test two dowels of exactly the same diameter were fitted with br brass ass rings that would just slip off then the dowels were soaked for about 24 h hours ours it was found that the ring on the treated dowel would slip off as a S e easily a as before but the untreated dowel was so s wollen swollen that the ripe could not be removed cover to the soil that will conserve rainfall and lessen the dan danger ger of floods the scientists who perfected this process say there ar are e in the united states some afif fifty ty species of tree now used tor for industrial purposes and nea nearly ri y io 1000 0 0 types for which no practical use has been found largely because of their softness with this new magic applied to the very soft woods all can now be added to the resources which will help to make a victorious postwar america something like the dream which the technicians have envisaged L I 1 A V A 11 1 |