Log (lumber)

“ No log residence is complete without furniture for storing clothes. A combination chest and buffet suitable for log cabins can be made from well-seasoned lodgepole or eastern pine, tamarack, or birch (fig. 42) . The ends, doors, shelves, and drawer fronts should be cut from No. 2 tongue-and-groove commercial pine lumber.
Settee
A settee can be made from well-seasoned pine or birch (fig. 43) . Join the corner poles to the slab frame and rail with mortise-and-tenon joints; then anchor the joints by means of 3⁄8- by 6 -inch lag screws. ”

“ If you turn away from the sawmill and wander alongside the river, you will see a perfect multitude of logs, thousands of them, held together inside a boom of logs, chained or ironed together, like a huge flock of sheep penned within a sheepfold. These immense masses of timber are floated down the streams in spring, when the snows, melting, flood the rivers with swift, eddying, and often turbulent freshets. Occasionally it happens that the stream grows so swift and violent that it causes the logs to burst the boom or log-linked enclosure within which they are confined. ”

“ Great logs cross our track, and we dare not look aloft, for fear of seeing increased danger. A creeper runs up the trunk of a large tree, and out on a limb, descends to another large tree, and turns itself round the butt as if done by hand; then it wound its way up to perform the same effort again, while the branches or roots were all pulling like so many braces, until the limb was broken from the tree. As it drops to the ground, there is a thick moss ready to grasp it, and the log is soon covered out of sight and rots. ”

“ Four of them, holding their peaveys across their bodies, jumped lightly from one floating log to another in the zigzag to shore. When they stepped on a small log they re-leaped immediately, leaving a swirl of foam where the little timber had sunk under them; when they encountered one larger, they hesitated for a barely perceptible instant. Thus their progression was of fascinating and graceful irregularity. The other two ran the length of their footing, and, overleaping an open of water, landed heavily and firmly on the very ends of two small floating logs. ”

“ Logs are rolled into the upper end, the descent or dip often being very steep; the log passes on with lightning-like velocity, quite burying itself in the snow and leaves below. From the roughness of the surfaces, the friction is very great, causing the bark and smoke to fly plentifully.
At other times, when the descent is more gradual and not too steep, and when there is not a sufficient quantity to pay the expense of a sluice-way, we fell a large tree, sometimes the Hemlock, trim out the top, and cut the largest limbs off a foot, more or less, from the trunk. ”

“ At Grammont and in the neighbourhood of that town, where the Yule log is called Kersmismot, it is customary to set fire to the remainder of the gin at the moment when the log is reduced to ashes. Elsewhere a piece of the log is kept and put under the bed to protect the house against thunder and lightning. The charcoal of the log which burned during Christmas Night, if pounded up and mixed with water, is a cure for consumption. In the country of Limburg the log burns several nights, and the pounded charcoal is kept as a preventive (so they say) , of toothache."641
[The Yule log in France.] ”

“ Then other men piled them by means of long steel chains and horses, just as they would have skidded them in the woods. Only now the logs mounted up and up until the skidways were thirty or forty feet high. Eventually the pile of logs would fill the banking ground utterly, burying the landing under a nearly continuous carpet of timber as thick as a two-story house is tall. The work is dangerous. A saw log containing six hundred board feet weighs about one ton. This is the weight of an ordinary iron safe. When one of them rolls or falls from even a moderate height, its force is irresistible. ”

“ Often, where the pressure is direct, a few blows only are given with the ax, when the log snaps in an instant with a loud report, followed suddenly by the violent motion of the "jam;" and, ere our bold river-driver is jerked half way to the top of the cliff, scores of logs, in wildest confusion, rush beneath his feet while he yet dangles in air, above the rushing, tumbling mass. ”

“ Small-sized logs save much labor in chopping, sawing, rolling, and “snaking” to camp; besides all this, logs of small diameter look best for a house of small dimensions.
Therefore, in selecting the material for your proposed house, choose only such trees as are best suited to the strength of the builders. There is no rule which fixes the diameter of a log or pole, so a log-house is a log-house, no matter whether the diameter of the log from which it is built be four inches or four feet. When a log is hauled by men, horses, or oxen, through the woods, it is called “snaking.” ”

“ The logs should be at least six inches through. Soft wood is preferable, as it is easier to handle; the four ground logs or sills, at least, should be of cedar, chestnut, or other wood that does not rot. Lay two of the fourteen-foot logs on the ground, at the places for the long sides, and seven feet apart. Then across them, at the end, lay two short ones, eleven feet apart. This leaves about a foot projecting from each log. Roll the last two into their resting places, and flatten them till they sit firmly. It is of prime importance that each log rest immovably on the one below. ”

“ A rotten log of a particular kind of tree has first to be found, the inside of which is in an extremely dry and powdery condition, while the outside is still fairly hard. Some of the top of the topmost side of the recumbent log having been cut away at a suitable place, and most of the inside removed, a very hard and pointed bit of wood is rapidly rotated against the inner shell of the log where the powdery stuff is likely to ignite, and this soon begins to smoke, the fire being then nursed much in the same way as with the fire generated by the flint and steel. ”

“ Three days later a cloud-burst filled the river to the brim; it came at night and swept the river clean of Cardigan's clear logs, An army of Juggernauts, they swept down on the boiling torrent to tidewater, reaching the bay shortly after the tide had commenced to ebb.
Now, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and a log-boom is a chaplet of a small logs, linked end to end by means of short chains; hence when the vanguard of logs on the lip of that flood reached the log-boom, the impetus of the charge was too great to be resisted. ”

“ The front of the northland tilt is faced in with small logs set on end, as shown in the unfinished one (Fig. 189) ; this makes a substantial, warm winter camp. If the logs fit close together on the roof they may be calked with moss and dry grass. If the cracks are too wide on account of the unevenness of the log, cover them first with grass, fine brush, or browse and over all place a coating of sod or mud and you will have a house fit for a king to live in. ”

“ The logging operations in some parts of the Black Forest are unique. On the steep slopes the large logs, scaling from 600 to 1,000 board feet, are let down to the roads by means of a long rope one end of which is wound a few times around a near-by standing tree and then fastened to the large end of the log, by a strong ringed spike. ”

“ He selects not, as you would predict, a dry and resinous log, but a decayed and crumbling one, seeming to give the preference to old oak-logs that are partly blended with the soil. If a log to his taste cannot be found, he sets up his altar on a rock, which becomes resonant beneath his fervent blows. ”

“ Should it be necessary to make fire when the timber has been saturated by continued rains the native cuts down the log on which he intends to operate until he has got beyond the saturated portion, then he cuts a groove to take the place of the sun crack, and the rubber is split from the heart of a smaller log to ensure dryness. ”

“ One end of the log or stake is thrust in the ground, the other stands upright in the water; the logs are fastened together by means of thin twigs and made tight with reeds, mud and earth, in such a way that one side presents a nearly vertical, firm wall to the stream, while the other side is sloped. ”

“ They soon learned not to pass any fair-sized stone without turning it over to look for the insects beneath, and also that it is useless to go on turning the same stone over and over again to keep looking at the ‘other side.’ Every fallen log had to be carefully inspected, the bark ripped off where it was rotten to get at the beetles and grubs and wood-lice underneath, and, if it were not too heavy, the log itself should be rolled over. ”

“ The log hesitated as it approached the sand-bar, as if cautiously smelling with its big, rooty nose; but at last it swung round broadside, and sleepily allowed the current to put it to bed upon the sand. As a tree, this log had lived on the banks of the Mississippi or one of its tributaries, in Minnesota. While standing it had for a time served as a woodpecker home. In one of the larger excavations made by these birds, I found some white pine cones and other seeds from the north that had been stored by bird or squirrel. ”

“ They kept on, however, till the sun was almost down. A faint but piercing northwest breeze had arisen, and they halted in the lee of a dense cedar thicket close to the river. A huge log had fallen down the shore, and this would make an excellent backing for the fire during the night. ”

“ A half-dozen men with peavies rolled a white-pine log of about a foot and a half diameter into the clear water, where it lay rocking back and forth three or four feet from the boom piles. Suddenly a man ran the length of the boom, leaped easily into the air, and landed with both feet square on one end of the floating log. That end disappeared in an ankle-deep swirl of white foam, the other rose suddenly, the whole timber, projected forward by the shock, drove headlong to the middle of the little pond. ”

“ These logs were posts, studs, boards, clapboards, laths, plaster, and nails, all in one. Where the citizen uses a mere sliver or board, the pioneer uses the whole trunk of a tree. The house had large stone chimneys, and was roofed with spruce-bark. The windows were imported, all but the casings. One end was a regular logger's camp, for the boarders, with the usual fir floor and log benches. Thus this house was but a slight departure from the hollow tree, which the bear still inhabits,—being a hollow made with trees piled up, with a coating of bark like its original. ”

“ But if men and women did not work so hard carrying water from the springs, they would [Pg 163] have time to sit in the house and work a spinning wheel, and I said that water could come into houses in pipes, and Lulash and I discussed for some time how a hollowed-out log could bring part of the waterfall into his house. But he said regretfully that a log was so expensive; cutting a tree meant destroying so much pasture for the goats, and it took a long time for a tree to grow again. ”

“ When first taken from the swamp the long-immersed logs are very much heavier than water, but they dry with great rapidity. A cypress log from the Mississippi Delta, which two men could barely handle at the time it was taken out some years ago, has dried out so much since then that to-day one man can lift it with ease. White cedar telegraph poles are said to remain floating in the water of the Great Lakes sometimes for several years before they are set in lines and to last better than freshly cut poles. ”

“ The permanent-camp fireplace, built to do service for several seasons, is usually of big, heavy, green logs, stones, and earth. The logs, about three and one-half feet long, are built log-cabin fashion, some twenty-eight inches high, with all crevices filled in and firmly padded with earth and stones. Big stones are anchored securely along the top of the earth-covered log sides and back of the fireplace, raising these higher than the front. The space inside the walled fireplace is very nearly filled up with earth, and the fire is built on this earth. ”

“ The soft snow was all cleared away, and a deep layer of fine balsam boughs were evenly spread out over the cleared place. Then over this a couple of tarpaulins were spread, and on these the usual camp beds of robes and blankets were arranged as elsewhere described. A great log fire was built up in front, and numerous logs were cut for use when required. A number of good stiff long poles were also cut and placed where they could be quickly utilised, if needed, to erect a roof or barrier against a storm of sleet or rain which might unexpectedly come up. ”

“ They work until it becomes dark, when they walk back to their camps to procure their [Pg 60] suppers and much-needed rest. The log drivers are required to keep the logs floating in the streams. In rainy or cold weather, such as is frequently experienced in the lumbering regions, their work is very arduous and debilitating. It is of the utmost importance that the work of floating the logs out be pushed while there is sufficient water in the streams, many of which become nothing more than creeks later in the season, when dry weather sets in. ”

“ It is a very simple and expeditious way of storing the logs. But when the ice has run out, and it is time to start the lumber down-stream, then comes trouble. The piles sustaining the whole vast weight of the brow have to be cut away, and the problem that confronts the chopper is how to escape the terrific rush of the falling logs.
Hughey McElvey, the boss of the Aspohegan camp, swinging an axe (rather as a badge of office than because he thought he might want to chop anything) , sauntered down to the water's edge and took a final official glance at the brow of logs. ”