Hardwood

“ Hardy and tenacious, they are the enemies of decay, and as articles of commercial utility will compare with any hardwood in the whole world. Numerous are the fortunes which have been made out of the umbrageous woods, and the one-time solemn sylvan scenes now resound with the jarring of saws and the sharp thud of many axes. Man has made many gaps in the woodland ranks, and the noble fronts have been serried by his onslaughts. ”

“ The fact that other ties are now being used emphasizes the fact that we are short on oak timber in the sections where this hardwood formerly was common.
The furniture industry uses hardwoods of superior grade and quality. The factories of this industry have moved from region to region as the supply of hardwoods became depleted. ”

“ But, you say, we must have warmth, too. Certainly, you must. But you would hardly think of leaving the wood floor in your bedroom and living-room bare, would you? No, you use rugs. Follow the same course, then, with your linoleum floors; and you will find them equally as comfortable as hardwood. In [Pg 37] fact, thickness for thickness, linoleum is a better non-conductor of heat than wood is.
Then, finally, you demand beauty and economy in your floors—and justly so. As for color harmony, hardwood has distinct limitations. Shades of brown and tan are about the only colors that are available. ”

“ There are many more kinds or species of these than of evergreens and their forms and characters are more varied. A few have recognized values as shade trees; many more are interesting or attractive in the park or on the lawn; others are never found outside the forest. By way of contrast with that of the conifers, the wood of deciduous trees is called hard, though many kinds are quite soft, and the trees themselves hardwoods. Hardwood lumber is often very beautiful, and is used for many purposes besides furniture, but the world could better get along without it than without soft woods. ”

“ Our supplies of this material will be exhausted in about twenty years if the present rate of cutting continues. We sell to foreign countries at least one-half of our cut of black walnut which will be exhausted in ten to twelve years unless present methods are reformed. Our supplies of hickory, ash and basswood will be used up in twenty to thirty years. We need all this hardwood lumber for future domestic purposes. However, the furniture factories of France, Spain and Italy are behind on orders. They need hardwood and much of our valuable hardwood timber is being shipped to Europe. ”

“ The value of the timber that we exported was larger than that of Russia because much of our timber that was sent abroad consisted of the best grades of material grown in this country. In the future, we shall have to compete in the softwood export business with Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the various states of southeastern Europe which sell lumber. In the hardwood business, we have only a limited number of rivals. With the exception of a small section of eastern Europe, our hardwood forests are the finest in the Temperate Zone. ”

“ Hardwoods—The broadleaf trees are hardwoods. Most, but not all, shed their foliage yearly. It is, therefore, incorrect to classify deciduous trees as hardwoods, since it is not true in all cases, any more than it is true that softwoods are evergreen. Live oaks and American holly are [5] evergreen, and yet are true hardwoods. In a test of hardness they stand near the top of the list.
There are more species of hardwoods than of softwoods in this country; but the actual quantity of softwood timber in the forests greatly exceeds the hardwoods. ”

“ Economically, also, the oak held the first place so long as Britannia ruled the waves from wooden walls, but in this ironclad era our Admiralty has little use for oak timber, and there is now no broad-leaved or "hardwood" tree that can be cultivated so profitably as the ash. ”

“ Throughout the South some 49 billion cubic feet of small, low-quality hardwoods are growing on southern pine sites [1] (Staff, For. Resour. Res. Work Unit 1976) . This material is usually wasted; if the site is prepared for regeneration to pine, the hardwoods there are destroyed. Research is underway to find economical methods of harvesting and utilizing these hardwoods. ”

“ Such variation is very largely the result of rate of growth.
Wide-ringed wood is often called "second-growth," because the growth of the young timber in open stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in the forest, and in the manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood material is preferred. This is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes. Here not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important. ”

“ There are also endless kinds of valuable hardwood, mahogany, rosewood, ebony, cedar and the like, which are especially tropical timber, and at the same time pine and oak exist in the mountain regions of the interior. ”

“ The first is typical of any dry thin-walled cells, as is usually the case in seasoned white pine and spruce, and in the early wood of hard pines, hemlock, and other species with decided contrast between the two portions of the growth ring. As a rule buckling of a tracheid begins at the bordered pits which form places of least resistance in the walls. In hardwoods such as oak, chestnut, ash, etc., buckling occurs only in the thinnest-walled elements, such as the vessels, and not in the true fibres. ”

“ There is scarcely a plant east of the Rocky Mountains, engaged in the manufacture of hardwood commodities, which does not use beech. In Michigan alone nearly 30,000,000 feet a year are demanded by box makers, and more than that much more by manufacturers of other commodities. It is widely employed for furniture, filing cabinets, vehicles, interior finish, agricultural implements, woodenware, and musical instruments. It is one of the heaviest and strongest of the common hardwoods, and gives long service when kept dry, but does not last well in damp situations. ”

“ Statistics giving comforting assurance of an abundant yield still at hand do not consider the effect upon wood industries of the substitution of timber of a few kinds only to fill a widely varying demand. The presence of hardwoods in the southern Appalachians and pine in the southern pine belt, in quantity sufficient to replace for some time the waning supply of spruce in the north woods, offers no substitute for the latter species in the manufacture of paper pulp. ”

“ They are closely allied to the walnut, and the wood is very like walnut in grain and color, though of a somewhat darker brown. It is one of the finest of American hardwoods in point of strength; in toughness it is superior to ash, rather coarse in texture, smooth and of straight grain, very heavy and strong as well as elastic and tenacious, but decays rapidly, especially the sapwood when exposed to damp and moisture, and is very liable to attack from worms and boring insects. ”

“ Among coniferous trees, white pine has yielded successively to yellow pine and Douglas fir, while the scene of greatest activity has shifted from the Northern forest to the Southern, and from there is rapidly shifting to the Pacific Coast. The total cut of coniferous lumber has increased steadily, but that of the hardwoods is falling off, and in 1906 it was 15% less than in 1899, while inferior hardwoods are gradually assuming more and more importance, and the scene of greatest activity has passed from the middle west to the south and the Appalachian region. ”

“ Competition has become so keen that buyers pay high prices. They must have the material to keep their plants running and to supply their trade.
The veneer industry provides furniture manufacturers, musical instrument factories, box makers and the automobile industry with high-grade material. The industry uses annually 780,000,000 board feet of first quality hardwood cut from virgin stands of timber. Red gum and white oak are the hardwoods most in demand. In the Lake States, a branch of the veneer industry which uses maple, birch and basswood is located. ”

“ Heart shake occurs in nearly all overmature timber, being more frequent in hardwoods (especially oak) than in conifers. In typical heart shake the centre of the hole shows indications of becoming hollow and radial clefts of varying size extend outward from the pith, being widest inward. It frequently affects only the butt log, but may extend to the entire hole and even the larger branches. It usually results from a shrinkage of the heartwood due probably to chemical changes in the wood. ”

“ Second, except the elder, the beech and the hornbeam are the only shade-bearers among our indigenous deciduous hardwoods—that is, the only broad-leaved trees—that will flourish under the shade and drip of other forest growths, thereby proving most useful for under-planting. ”

“ Handle makers and the manufacturers of buggy spokes prefer hickory sapwood, but use the red heartwood if it is the same weight as the sap.
Annual Rings—The trunks of both hardwoods and softwoods are made up of concentric rings. In most instances the eye easily detects them. They are more distinct in a freshly cut trunk than in weathered wood, though in a few instances weathering accentuates rather than obliterates them. A count of the rings gives the tree’s age in years, each ring being the growth of one year. ”

“ The broad-leaved trees give us our hardwoods, used extensively for furniture, the interior finish of buildings, and for the manufacture of tools, farming implements, wagons, carriages, sleighs, etc. To a great extent it was the availability of these strong, tough, hard, and durable woods which has made American tools and implements of 229 such a high grade of excellence that they are in demand in every civilized country. ”

“ The large, nearly mature leaf is divided into triangular pieces, each piece containing at its point a bit of the leaf-base (top of the leaf-stalk) . This kind of cutting is shown in Fig. 263. [373] This base is sometimes split (as at o) by gardeners to hasten the formation of roots. Only the tip of the cutting is stuck into the sand; otherwise it is treated like other softwood cuttings.
The Hardwood Cutting.
Many plants grow readily from cuttings of ripe or dormant wood. The willows cast their branchlets in snow and wind, and these, falling in pleasant places propagate their kind ”

“ Many places may be filled by pieces too small for the sawmill. Sometimes a diminutive trunk contains material of extraordinary hardness, or it may be polished to a rare smoothness, or the colors may be exquisite. Numerous commodities can be successfully manufactured from blocks or billets which are only a few inches in diameter and a foot or two in length. This is particularly true of some of the rare hardwoods of Florida and southern Texas where tropical species have extended their ranges northward over the borders of the United States. ”

“ MELLSTOCK-LANE
To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself; the ash hisses amid its quiverings; the beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall. And winter, which modifies the note of such trees as shed their leaves, does not destroy its individuality. ”

“ Somehow, the feeling roused by these things loosened my tongue.
“This is an old hard-wood forest,” I began. “Much of the white oak, hickory, ash, maple, is virgin timber. These trees have reached maturity; many are dead at the tops; all of them should have been cut long ago. They make too dense a shade for the seedlings to survive. Look at that bunch of sapling maples. See how they reach up, trying to get to the light. They haven't a branch low down and the tops are thin. Yet maple is one of our hardiest trees. Growth has been suppressed. ”

“ Structure explains why oak is heavier, stronger, and tougher than pine; why it is harder to saw and plane, and why it is so much more difficult to season without injury. From its less porous structure alone it is evident that a piece of young and thrifty oak is stronger than the porous wood of an old or stunted tree, or that a Georgia or long-leaf pine excels white pine in weight and strength.
Keeping especially in mind the arrangement and direction of the fibres of wood, it is clear at once why knots and "cross-grain" interfere with the strength of timber. ”

“ As a rule heart-wood is more valuable for timber, being harder, heavier, and drier than sap-wood. In woods like hickory and ash, however, which are used for purposes that require pliability, as in baskets, or elasticity as in handles of rakes and hoes, sap-wood is more valuable than heart-wood.
In a transverse section of a conifer, for example Douglas spruce, Fig. 8, the wood is seen to lie in concentric rings, the outer part of the ring being darker in color than the inner part. In reality each of these rings is a section of an irregular hollow cone, each cone enveloping its inner neighbor. ”

“ Hardness—In some woods hardness is considered an advantage, but not in others. If sugar maple were as soft as white pine, it would not be the great floor material it is; and if white pine were as hard as maple, pattern makers would not want it, door and sash manufacturers would get along with less, and it would not be the leading packing box material in so wide a region.
It is generally the summer growth in the annual rings which makes a wood hard. The summerwood is dense. A given bulk of it contains more actual wood substance and less air and water than the springwood. ”

“ For the same reason, summerwood gives weight, and a relationship between hardness and weight holds generally. It may be added that strength goes with weight and hardness, but it is not a rule without apparent exceptions.
Some woods possess twice or three times the hardness of others. Among some of the hardest in the United States are hickory, sugar maple, mesquite, the Florida ironwoods, Osage orange, locust, persimmon, [13] and the best oak and elm. Among the softest species are buckeye, basswood, cedar, redwood, some of the pines, spruce, hemlock, and chestnut. ”