Handwork in Wood Part 1

Handwork in Wood.

by William Noyes.

FOREWORD

This book is intended primarily for teachers of woodwork, but the author hopes that there will also be other workers in wood, professional and amateur, who will find in it matter of interest and profit.

The successful completion of the book is due chiefly to the untiring a.s.sistance of my wife, Anna Gausmann Noyes, who has made almost all of the drawings, corrected the text, read the proof, and attended to numberless details.

Acknowledgments are hereby thankfully given for corrections and suggestions in the text made by the following persons:

Mr. Chas. W. Weick of Teachers College, and Mr. W. F. Vroom of Public School No. 5, of New York City, for revision of Chapters IV and V on tools and fastenings.

Mr. Clinton S. VanDeusen of Bradley Polytechnic Inst.i.tute, for revision of Chapter X on wood finishing.

The Forest Service, Washington, D. C. for the originals of Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, and 54.

The New York State Forest Fish and Game Commission for the originals of Figs. 12, 14, 15, and 47.

T. H. McAllister of New York for the originals of Figs. 16 and 20.

The Detroit Publishing Company for the original of Fig. 6.

The B. F. Sturtevant Company, Hyde Park, Ma.s.s., for the original of Fig. 57.

Doubleday, Page & Co. for the original of Fig. 30.

Mr. Louis A. Bacon, Indianapolis. Ind., for the clamping device shown in Fig. 255.

Sargent & Company, New Haven, Conn., W. C. Toles & Company, Chicago, Ill., The Berlin Machine Works, Beloit, Wis., A. A. Loetscher, Dubuque, Iowa, and the Stanley Rule and Level Co., New Britain, Conn., for electrotypes.

Allis Chalmers Company, Milwaukee, Wis., Clark Brothers, Belmont, N.

Y., The M. Garland Company, Bay City, Mich., The Prescott Company, Menominee, Mich., for ill.u.s.trations of sawmilling machinery.

And most of all, I wish to acknowledge my obligation to the numerous writers of whose books and articles I have made free use, to which references are made in the appropriate places.

CHAPTER I.

LOGGING.

The rough and ready methods common in American logging operations are the result partly of a tradition of inexhaustible supply, partly of the fear of fire and the avoidance of taxes, partly of an eagerness to get rich quick. Most of the logging has been done on privately owned land or on shamelessly stolen public land, and the lumberman had no further interest in the forest than to lumber it expeditiously.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. Making a Valuation Survey.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2. "Blazes" on Trees.]

Preliminary to the actual logging are certain necessary steps. First of all is _landlooking_. This includes the survey of the forest land for the purpose of locating good timber. Fig. 1. Most of the woodland has previously been roughly surveyed by the government and maps made indicating which parts are private land and which are still held by the government. The boundaries of townships, sections, quarter sections, eighties, forties, etc., are indicated by "blazes" on trees, Fig. 2, so that the "cruiser" or "looker" as he goes thru the woods can identify them with those on his oil paper map. The cruiser also studies the kinds and character of the trees, the contour of the ground, the proximity to streams,--all with the view to marketing the product. Acting on the information thus gained by the cruiser, the lumberman purchases his sections at the proper land office, or if he is less scrupulous, buys only enough to serve as a basis for operations. Enormous fortunes have been made by timber thieves, now respectable members of the community. As a further preliminary step to lumbering itself, the _tote road_ and _camp_ are built. The tote road is a rough road on which supplies for crew and cattle can be taken to camp from civilization.

It is barely pa.s.sable for a team and a wagon, but it serves its purpose, and over it come more men and horses. Lumber for the floors and roofs of the shanties and for the rude pieces of furniture that will be needed, tarred paper to make the roofs tight, a few glazed window sashes, a huge range and a number of box stoves, dishes and kitchen utensils, a little stock of goods for the van, blankets by the dozen and score, and countless boxes and barrels and bags of provisions.[1]

[Footnote 1: Hulbert: The Lumber Jack; Outlook, 76: 801, April 2, '04.]

The _camp_ itself, Fig. 3, is built of logs, roofed with plank, covered with heavy tar paper, and dimly lighted. There are usually five buildings,--the men's camp, the cook camp, the office, the barn, and the blacksmith's shop. Many camps accommodate from eighty to one hundred men. The men's camp is filled with bunks and is heated by a stove and in general roughly furnished. Cooking and eating are done in the cook camp, where the cook and his a.s.sistant, the "cookee," sleep.

The office is occupied by the foreman, log-sealers and clerks. Here the books and accounts are kept, and here is the "van," stocked with such goods as will supply the immediate needs of the lumber jacks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3. Winter Logging Camp. Itasco County, Minnesota.]

Before winter sets in the _main road_ is built, Fig. 15, p. 17, very carefully graded from the camp down to the nearest mill or railway siding, or oftener to the stream down which the logs are to be floated. This road has to be as wide as a city street, 25 feet. The route is carefully chosen, and the grade is made as easy as possible.

Much labor is spent upon it, clearing away stumps and rocks, leveling up with corduroy, building bridges strong enough to carry enormous loads, and otherwise making it as pa.s.sable as can be; for when needed later, its good condition is of first importance. This main road is quite distinct from and much superior to the tote road.

At intervals alongside the main road, small squares called _skidways_ are cleared of brush and in each of them two tree trunks, "skids," are laid at right angles to the road. On these the logs, when cut later, are to be piled. Back from the skidways, into the woods the swampers cut rough, narrow roads called _dray roads_ or travoy roads,--mere trails sufficiently cleared of brush to allow a team of horses to pull a log thru.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 4. Tools used in Logging.]

All these are operations preliminary to the felling of trees. The tools commonly used in logging are shown in Fig. 4. When everything is ready for felling, the "fitter" goes ahead _marking_ each tree to be felled and the direction in which it is to fall by cutting a notch on that side. Then come the sawyers in pairs, Fig. 5. First they chop a deep gash on the side of the tree toward which it is to fall, and then from the opposite side begin cutting with a long, Tuttle-tooth, crosscut-saw. The saw is a long, flexible ribbon of steel, with handles so affixed to each end that they can be removed easily. The cut is made on the pulling stroke, and hence the kerf can be very narrow. As soon as the saw is well within the trunk, the sawyers drive iron wedges into the kerf behind it, partly to keep the weight of the trunk from binding the saw, and partly to direct its fall. Then the saw is pulled back and forth, and the wedges driven in farther and farther, until every stroke of the maul that drives them sends a shiver thru the whole tree. Just as the tree is ready to go over, the saw handle at one end is unhooked and the saw pulled out at the other side. "Timber!," the men cry out as a warning to any working near by, for the tree has begun to lean slightly. Then with a hastening rush the top whistles thru the air, and tears thru the branches of other trees, and the trunk with a tremendous crash strikes the ground. Even hardened loggers can hardly keep from shouting, so impressive is the sight of a falling giant tree.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 5. Felling Red Spruce with a Saw. Adirondack Mountains, New York.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6. Sawing Logs into Lengths.]

All this seems simple enough in outline, but the actual execution requires considerable skill. Trees seldom stand quite vertical, there is danger of lodging in some other tree in thick woods, and it is therefore necessary to throw trees quite exactly. Some men become so expert at this that they can plant a stake and drive it into the ground by the falling trunk as truly as if they hit it with a maul. On the other hand, serious accidents often happen in falling trees. Most of them come from "side winders," i. e., the falling of smaller trees struck by the felled trees.

After "falling" a tree, the sawyers mark off and saw the trunk into log lengths, Fig. 6, paying due attention to the necessity of avoiding knots, forks, and rotten places, so that some of the logs are eighteen feet, some sixteen feet, some fourteen feet, and some only twelve feet in length. Meanwhile the swampers trim off the branches, Fig. 7, a job requiring no little skill, in order that the trunk may be shaved close but not gashed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 7. Tr.i.m.m.i.n.g off Branches of Spruce. Adirondack Mountains, New York.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8. Hauling Spruce Logs to the Skidway. Adirondack Mountains, New York.]

This finishes the second group of operations, the felling. Next the logs are _dragged_ out to the dray roads, Fig. 8. A heavy pair of tongs, like ice-tongs, is attached to one end, and the log is snaked out by horses to the skidway. If the log is very heavy, one end is put on a dray. By one way or another the log is dragged out and across the two parallel skids, on which it is rolled by cant-hooks to the end of skids toward the road way. If other logs already occupy the skids, each new log as it arrives is piled on the first tier. As the pile grows higher, each log is "decked," that is, rolled up parallel poles laid slanting up the face of the pile, by means of a chain pa.s.sed under and over the log and back over the pile, Fig. 11. A horse hitched to the end of the chain hauls up the log, which is guided by the "send-up men" with their cant-hooks.

Once piled the logs are "_scaled_," that is measured in order to compute the number of board feet in them, Fig. 9. The scaler generally has an a.s.sistant, for logs in large piles must be measured at both ends in order to determine which is the top, the body of the log being out of sight. When measured each end of the log is stamped with a hammer with the owner's mark, by which it can afterward be identified.

Here the logs rest and the felling and skidding continue until deep snow falls and then the sleigh haul begins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9. "Scaling" Logs on the Skids.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10. Making an Ice Road by Flooding.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11. Decking Logs on Skidway.]

For this the main road is especially prepared. First the road is carefully _plowed_ with an immense V plow, weighted down by logs. To the plow are attached fans. Only an inch or two of snow is left on the ground by this plow, which is followed by another special plow to gouge the ruts, and by a gang of "road monkeys" who clear the road thoroly. Then follows an immense tank set on runners and holding perhaps seventy-five barrels of water, and so arranged as to flood the road from holes in the bottom of the tank, a sort of rough road sprinkler, Fig. 10. The sprinkler goes over the road again and again until the road is covered by a clear, solid sheet of ice often two feet thick, extending from the skidways to the banking grounds. This ice road is one of the modern improvements in logging. Once finished, these roads are beautiful pieces of construction with deep, clear ruts. They have to be constantly watched and repaired, and this is the work of the "road monkeys." If possible the road has been made entirely with down grades but some of these are so steep that a man must be prepared with sand or hay to check too headlong a descent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12. Loading a Sled from a Skidway.]