Log (wood)

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the direction of the fibers is nearly parallel with the sides and the edges of the board, it is said to be straight-grained; when the lumber is taken from a crooked tree, it is said to be cross-grained, as the grain follows the shape of the log, while the board is sawed straight. Cross-grained lumber is the handsomer; in this the fibers, being at different angles with the surface of the board, form a variety of figures, which add much to the beauty of the wood. ”

“ There is quite an art in splitting logs into posts. Every post should have some heart wood, which lasts the longer, for two reasons: That there may be durable wood into which to drive the nails, and without it some of the posts, composed entirely of sap-wood, will rot off long before others, making the most annoying of all repairing necessary. If the log is of a size to make twelve posts, split along the lines of figure 146, which will give each post a share of heart wood. ”

“ These various facts, taken together, explain why, for example, an oak tie, pole, or log may split open its entire length if drying proceeds rapidly and far enough. Initial stresses in the living trees produce a similar effect when the log is sawn into boards. This is especially so in Eucalyptus globulus and to a less extent with any rapidly grown wood.
The use of S-shaped thin steel clamps to prevent large checks and splits is now a common practice in this country with crossties and poles as it has been for a long time in European countries. ”

“ When planks are cut out where grown, they are sawn from the round log immediately after it is {7} felled and barked, which not only prevents injury from drought-cracks, but produces also a considerable saving of timber and labour, as the wood is softer when green; and the centre planks can thus be had much broader than after squaring the log. ”

“ The faded beds of arbor-vitæ leaves extended under the eaves on either hand. There was the place for the water-pail, pork-barrel, and washbasin, and generally a dingy pack of cards left on a log. Usually a good deal of whittling was expended on the latch, which was made of wood, in the form of an iron one. These houses are made comfortable by the huge fires, which can be afforded night and day. Usually the scenery about them is drear and savage enough; and the loggers' camp is as completely in the woods as a fungus at the foot of a pine in a swamp ”

“ The soft Pine-tree holds its diameter to a much greater length than the sapling. I have seen a log of the former twenty feet long, differing not more than an inch and a half in diameter at either end. In a sapling log of the same length there would be a difference of several inches.
There is one circumstance in the habits of this Pine worthy of note. As a general thing, they grow in clusters or communities. Indeed, this is a common characteristic of the Hemlock, the Cedar, and the Hackmatack. ”

“ All kinds and thicknesses of lumber cannot be dried at the same time in the same kiln. It is manifest that green and air-dried lumber, dense and porous lumber, all require different treatment. For instance, Southern yellow pine when cut green from the log will stand a very high temperature, say 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and in fact this high temperature is necessary together with a rapid circulation of air in order to neutralize the acidity of the pitch which causes the wood to blue and discolor. ”

“ Experience has been almost the only teacher, and theories—sometimes right, sometimes wrong—rather than well substantiated facts, lead the workman.
One reason for this imperfect knowledge lies in the fact that wood is not a homogeneous material, but a complicated structure, and so variable, that one piece will behave very differently from another, although cut from the same tree. Not only does the wood of one species differ from that of another, but the butt cut differs from that of the top log, the heartwood from the sapwood ”

“ It is highly probable, however, that when the tree is felled the trunk strikes across a rock or another log, and the impact causes actual failure in the log as in a beam.
Resin or pitch pockets are of common occurrence in the wood of larch, spruce, fir, and especially of longleaf and other hard pines. They are due to accumulations of resin in openings between adjacent layers of growth. They are more frequent in trees growing alone than in those of dense stands. The pockets are usually a few inches in greatest dimension and affect only one or two growth layers. ”

“ When they leave a camp intending to return in a few days, they not only take with them one or more smouldering logs, wrapped in leaves if the weather be wet, but they also place a large burning log or faggot of suitable wood in some sheltered spot, where it smoulders for several days and can be easily rekindled when it is needed. ”

“ When large trees are used, the bark is slit lengthwise every six of eight inches, and the log is beaten with hard wood sticks. In a short time the covering loosens from the wood and is pulled off. The outside layer is worthless, but the remainder is cut into strips about a half inch in width, and is then split lengthwise into thin layers. ”

“ In drying a log or pole with the bark on, most of the water must be evaporated through the ends, but in the case of peeled timbers and sawn boards the loss is greatest from the surface because the area exposed is so much greater. ”

“ Under such circumstances, if there be any grudge to gratify by the foremost crew, or a substantial joke to be put, such truant logs are run aground, into creeks, in meadow land, among the bushes, and on the shore. A crew of thirty or forty men will take a log belonging to another crew and run it up high and dry on to the land, stand it on end, prop it up, and leave it in that position. ”

“ Cross grain is a very common defect in timber. One form of it is produced in lumber by the method of sawing and has no reference to the natural arrangement of the wood elements. Thus if the plane of the saw is not approximately parallel to the axis of the log the grain of the lumber cut is not parallel to the edges and is termed diagonal. This is likely to occur where the logs have considerable taper, and in this case may be produced if sawed parallel to the axis of growth instead of parallel to the growth rings. ”

“ The ordinary circumference of a good tree is three or four feet; when cut down, the head lopped off and exterior white wood chipped away, a black log remains of about six inches in diameter, and from twelve to fifteen feet in length, the weight of which is something above 300 pounds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Put two wedges in the end of the log, as in the diagram, and drive them until the wood begins to split and crack along the sides of the log; then follow up this crack with other wedges, as shown at D and E, until the log is split in half.
While ordinary wood splits easily enough with the grain, it is very difficult to drive an axe through the wood [88] at right angles to the grain, as shown by diagram to the left (Fig. 120) ; hence, if the amateur be chopping wood, if he will strike a slanting blow, like the one to the right in Fig. ”

“ When a log is slash-sawed, Fig. 40, I, each board tends to warp so that the concave side is away from the center of the tree. If one plank includes the pith, Fig. 40, E and H, that board will become thinner at its edges than at its center, i.e., convex on both faces. Other forms assumed by wood in shrinking are shown in Fig. 40. In the cases A-F the explanation is the same; the circumferential shrinkage is more than the radial. In J and K the shapes are accounted for by the fact that wood shrinks very little longitudinally.
* See Handwork in Wood, p. ”

“ Quoting from Horace Kephart's excellent book on woodcraft, an experienced man can tell a straight-grained log "by merely scanning the bark"; if the ridges and furrows of the bark run straight up and down the wood will have a corresponding straight grain, but if they are spiral the wood will split "waney" or not at all. "Waney" is a good word, almost as good as "sensiation"; so when you try to quarter a log with which to chink your cabin or log house don't select a "waney" log. To quarter a log split it as shown in Fig. ”

“ Just as economical disposal of the log has already been carried to a high degree of perfection in the 275 saw-mill, (see Handwork in Wood, Chapter II,) so one object of forestry is to carry this economy back into the woods.
One of the underlying ideas in conservative lumbering is that the "yield," i.e., the amount of wood taken out of a healthy forest in a given time, shall be equal to the amount grown during the same period. If less is taken out than grows, some trees will overmature and decay; if more is taken out than grows, the forest will ultimately be exhausted. ”

“ In the commencement, some unlucky log swings across the narrow chasm, striking some protruding portions of the ledge, and stops fast; others come on, and, meeting this obstruction, stick fast also, until thousands upon thousands form one dense breast-work, against and through which a boiling, leaping river rushes with terrible force. ”

“ In the Maine woods the woodsmen are adepts in making shakes, splits, clapboards, or shingles by the use of only an axe and splitting them out of the billets of wood from four to six feet long. The core of the log (Fig. 130) is first cut out and then the pieces are split out, having wedge-shaped edges, as shown by the lines marked on Fig. ”

“ At night these waters froze, bringing fields of ice almost to our door. We forgot all our other interests in the joy of the games which we played thereon at every respite from school, or from the wood-pile, for splitting firewood was our first spring task.
From time to time as the weather permitted, father had been cutting and hauling maple and hickory logs from the forests of the Cedar River, and these logs must now be made into stove-wood and piled for summer use. ”

“ One piece of outdoor work I have continued religiously, for the reason, no doubt, that I love wood fires, even in warm weather. I never neglect my wood-stack, the foundations of which were laid for me by Isaiah Fetch. Every day I take axe and saw and cut a certain amount of logwood. My hearth will take logs of just four feet in length, and I feed it royally. The wood costs nothing ”

“ As it is bad for the wood to lie through the summer, it is important that all this work should be done completely and with regularity. If it is a dry season, the logs will be left high and dry, and be liable to crack; on the other hand, one may often see logs lying at the bottom of deep water so saturated that they cannot float. All this timber is a great source of wealth to the country. It is used enormously for fuel, for fencing, and in building. ”

“ One of the most important of all the natural dye substances, especially for the production of blacks, is logwood. The color is really a red, but with the common mordants it forms blue, violet or black shades. Logwood, or campeachy wood, as it is sometimes called, is the product of a large tree growing in the West Indies, and Central and South America. When freshly cut, the wood is practically without color, but when exposed to the air it soon becomes a dark reddish-brown on the surface. ”