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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1960)
V V 16 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medfofd, Or. A Thursday, April 7, 160 Bulk of World's Pencil Stock Comes From Area Tree Farms Central Point - Southern Oregon and northern Cali fornia produce the bulk of the world's mpply of wood for that basic tool of modern civ-iiization-the pencil. About three quarters of the world supply of pencil stock comes from this region, ac cording to Bernard Parent, manager for Gulf Red Cedar company, Central Point Parent's firm, which has its main manufacturing plant at Stockton, alone makes about a third nf the world s pencil stock. Some 60 per cent of the logs the Central Point mill turns into pencil material comes from forest industry Tree Farms, where timber is grown as renewable crop, in the Medford-KUmath Falls area. More than half of the com pany's output is shipped to foreign nations. To Iron Curtain Nation Some of the firm's pencil stock even goes to such Iron Curtain countries as Czecho slovakia, which apparently prefers to buy Oregon wood rather than timber from Rus sian sources since the U.S. re moved pencil slats from its list of strategic materials. "You can buy a better pen cil today for a nickel than you could at any price when I went to school," Parent ob serves. "The skills of scores of different craftsmen and materials from all over the world go into the finished product." The pencils which make up the No. 1 writing tool for mil lions of Americans and others begin as stately incense cedars in the forests of southern Ore gon and the northern tip of California. Incense cedar is the preferred species among East Coast pencil manufac turers today because of its soft, even texture and its mar velously . straight, knot-free grain. While it is soft enough to whittle easily, it is strong enough not to break In your pocket. The wood has little pitch and resin. Until it was discovered in the 1920s that the West Coast's incense cedar had all these properties, however, the only acceptable pencil wood for many years previous was red cedar from the South. Today almost all pencils are made of incense cedar-except those for the United States Senate, which still insists on southern red cedar as a tra dition. The main difference in appearance of the two woods lies in their color, and since people have historically be come accustomed to the red dish hue of the southern spe cies in their pencils the manu facturers cater to this tradi tional public fancy by dying the west's lighter-colored in cense cedar red. Paraffin is also cooked into the wood to keep the pencil from "frizzing up" when it is sharpened. Parent puts between 15 to 20 million board feet of logs through his mill each year, cutting them into cants as the first step in the pencil making process. He figures that it takes roughly 2.8 board feet to make a gross of pencils. An average three-foot diameter log may thus produce about 33,000 pencils. At the firm's Stockton mill, the cants are milled again to make slats, and each slat is grooved to make eight pencil "halves." With the lead in place between slats and ad hesive applied, the individual pencils are then cut out of the slats. Each pencil may receive up to IS coats of paint, says the Central Point mill manager. The "rubber" eraser" which goes on next actually has little rubber in it, according to Par ent. Its main ingredient is a rubber-like product called "factice," made by reacting rape seed oil from the Dutch East Indies with sulphur chloride. It also contains pum ice from Italy and is colored with cadmium sulphide. The wooden pencil is still State Will Auction Vehicles on Friday Salem IUPD The state will conduct its first public auction of state vehicles in Portland this year on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the State Liquor Con trol Commission facilities In southeast Portland. A total of 67 vehicles will go on the auction block in cluding 40 sedans, two station wagons, nine dump trucks, three scoopmobiles and 25 other commercial vehicles. the most widely used writing instrument, having an estimat ed 10 to 1 sales ratio over all other writing devices. More than 1.5 billion wood pencils are used each year in the United States-an average of about nine apiece for every man, woman and child. Invented in France some 150 years ago, the common place pencil is today respon sible for Jobs and income for many an Oregon tree farmer and forest industry wage earner. yw!J' frjf J "':'"'f I ; ..st -rift-if, mi ? S ft t in tin i.J APPLIANCE CLEARANCE DEMONSTRATORS . . . TRADE-INS I ea. Kenmore Electric Dryer 95.00 I ea. Kenmore Electric Dryer 1 129 I ea. Combination Wash-Dryer," 250 J ea. Kenmore Auto. Washer 210 I ea. Kenmore Wringer Washer 88 I ea. Silverione 24 T.V. 249.00 I ea. Silverione Portable TV V9 89.00 3 ea. Portable Radio-Hi Fi cmb. 44 fea. I960 Model Port. TV .JSy, 99.00 I New Upright Vacuum 35.00 I Electrolux Tank 5.00 I M. Wards Tank 9.95 I Lewyt Tank 15,00 I Kenmore Sew. Mach. as is 15.00 I Kenmore Portable Machine 35.00 I Singer Sewing Machine 5.00 "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money Men SEARS OPIN Monday 1 frld. Central SP J-teol Til P.M. 101 I. JACKSON III Madferd ShoB.ina ILLUSTRATE STEPS Illustrating steps in pencil making, Bernard Parent, manager of Gulf Red Cedar company, Cen tral Point, shows section of incense cedar cant, at right, 1 which has been sawed to make pencil "slats." At left are ) slats that have been grooved to make pencil halves. With I lead In place, two slats will be glued together, then cut into i eight pencils. (AFPI Photo) IAJT 2 DAYS! FRIDAY - SATURDAY S T O C K I N 'PENCIL WASHED A "Paul Bunyon Pencil" Is washed down as It goes into the mill at Gulf Red Cedar company, Central Point, where it will be cut Into stock for an esti mated 33,000 pencils. The company figures it mills about a a third of the world's supply of pencil stock. Some 60 per cent of the logs for the Central Point mill come from forest industry Tree Farms where timber is grown as a renewable crop. (AFPI Photo) e if m annual h; lp I N JUST WEAR A SMILE f V A ( J 1 ; r .. . ; ' ' v.- 1 1 rw 1.1 SAVE UP TO 90c ON EVERY BOX WITHOUT SEAMSi Sandal Foot Now 1 .40 pr. Demi-Toe Sheer Now 1 .25 pr. Reinforced Sheer Now 1.15 pr. WITH SEAMS: Tissue Dress Sheer Now 1 .40 pr. Walking Sheer Now 1.15 pr. Reg. 1.65 3 pr. 4.05 Reg. 1.50 3 pr. 3.60 Reg. 1.35 3 pr. 3.30 Reg. 1 .65 3 pr. 4.05 Reg. 1.35 3 pr. 3.30 Want to feel like a woman? It's simple when the sil houette is sheath and your Great Jantzen is in truly feminine puff-puff matelasse. From seashore to sea shore you'll like the wonderful things Jantzen does for a body. Sizes 10-16. 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