Second Siding, Dressed.-Allow one inch sap on either edge, and three small knots, but no other imperfections. Common Siding, Dressed.-Allow sap and defects equal to eight small knots, and shake or split two feet in length. A Stock.-May be eight to twelve inches wide, twelve to sixteen feet long, and of a quality equal to Third Clear Boards. B Stock.-Shall be eight, ten and twelve inches wide; shall be sound and square edged; allow from four to eight small, sound knots, or sap not to exceed four inches in width the whole length of the best side. C Stock.-Shall be eight, ten and twelve inches wide; shall be sound and square edged. Will allow from eight to twelve sound knots, according to width, and will allow Norway. D Stock.-Shall be eight, ten and twelve inches wide, and of like quality with common boards. First Fencing.-Shall be four, five and six inches in width; shall be of good, sound character, free from imperfections that so weaken a piece that it cannot be used for substantial fencing purposes. Second Fencing.-Defective and unsound lumber. Common Boards.-Shall be seven inches wide and upward, and eight feet long; of good, sound lumber and free from large, loose knots, and well manufactured: will allow a little wane or a straight split, when otherwise sound and good. Common Dimension and Timber.-Shall be of sound lumber and well manufactured; shall have no imperfections that will render it unfit for substantial building purposes. Some wane allowed. Sheathing Boards.-Shall be boards that are unsound in quality, with loose knots, shakes, splits and worm eaten, but of sufficient good quality to make good roofing boards, and to be six inches wide and upwards. A few yards make a grade called E Stock, in which case the D and Stocks are made a little better than these rules call for. LOG MEASUREMENTS. In presenting for the acceptance of log buyers a new table of log measurements, the author is aware that he has the prejudices of half a century to combat, during which time the Scribner and Doyle rules have been of almost universal acceptance. Were the tables of those authors susceptible of full authentication, the task would prove a hopeless one, for the reason that correct figures never mislead, but endure in their integrity through all time. When, however, the task was commenced of giving to the lumber trade a reliable compendium of the laws and customs governing the inspection of lumber in various localities, the compiler appreciated the importance of beginning at the inception of the business, and supplying the log dealer with the most reliable rules of measurement, through a recommendation to him to adopt one or the other of the standards already in use. Aware that in some localities Scribner's rule was the favorite, while Doyle's was denounced as incorrect, and in others, Scribner's was denounced and Doyle's commended, the author was led to make careful examination of both, with a view to a thorough analysis of each in this work. On taking up the latest edition of the work entitled: "Scribner's Log and Lumber Book," (1879) it was a matter of surprise to find that the publishers in announcing, under date of 1872, the ownership of the Doyle stereotype plates, as well as those of Scribner, at the same time announced the discontinuance of the publication of the Doyle and the permanent adoption of Scribner's tables. In connection with the log tables appears an announcement that from the many complaints which had been made of the incorrectness of the Scribner tables, they had been discarded and the Doyle tables substituted. An examination of the Doyle tables shows that so far from being made from the actual cutting up of logs, or even from a carefully prepared diagram, which should give equally correct results, a novel and arbitrary rule of reckoning had been adopted, and that on logs of all sizes, a deduction of four inches from the diameter, the remainder being then multiplied by itself, in all cases gave the number of feet in a log sixteen feet in length. For example, a log twelve inches in diameter and sixteen feet long: 12-4-8X8-64 feet. Deducting one-eighth, or eight feet, gives fiftysix feet as the contents of the same log at fourteen feet long, and the addition of one-eighth gives seventy-two feet as the contents of the same sized log at eighteen feet in length. It will not be denied by any thinking mind that if a deduction of four inches is correct for a log of twelve inches diameter, the same amount of deduction would be utterly disproportionate in a log of forty-eight inches. If, however, the practical cutting up verified the correctness of the figures, then indeed might one be warranted in asserting that a universally correct method of arriving at the contents of saw logs has been practically demonstrated. That such is not the case the following carefully prepared table must convince the most incredulous. By means of a carefully prepared diagram of each size of logs from eight up to forty-eight inches, and from ten feet in length up to thirty feet, embracing all the lengths and diameters which are likely to enter into practical use, and after allowing a slab of one inch upon each side of the log, the following table has been prepared of the contents of each saw log of the sizes given, when cut into boards of one and one-sixteenth inch thickness, by a saw taking one quarter inch kerf, every board being square edged, and no lumber measured under five inches in width. Any reliable man familiar with the cutting up of saw logs is hereby challenged to disprove the assertion that a straight log of any given dimension, sawed as above stated, will yield the amount of lumber shown in the tables. Of course no allowance is made for the crooked or otherwise defective logs, for this would be encroaching upon the domain of the inspector, who is supposed to make the crooked straight in taking his diameters, and to allow for all other defects, such as rotten butts, at the same time. No good sawyer will criticise the allowance of one-quarter of an inch for saw kerf; it is enough, and the sawyer who cannot file and set his circular, mulay or gate saw to do good work at that amount of waste, is an unfit man for his position, while in gang mills, one-eighth of an inch is about the usual waste in kerf. In allowing one-sixteenth of an inch for plump lumber, an old and well established rule that all lumber should be cut to season to its intended thickness is adhered to. The tables are presented for the approval of those dealing in saw logs, with the assurance that in their preparation the interest of neither buyer nor seller, as such, has been considered, the only object being to produce a table which would represent the actual quantity of lumber which a log will produce under the manipulation of an ordinarily competent sawyer. To enable comparisons between this and the other rules mentioned, a synopsis of the corresponding sizes and lengths of both the Doyle and Scribner tables will be found upon succeeding pages. The following diagram will show at a glance the manner in which the author has worked out each individual log. It is drawn on a scale of one-tenth of an inch to the foot, and shows the number of one and onesixteenth inch boards which can be taken from a log of thirty inches diameter, twelve feet in length, by the Lumberman's "Favorite" scale, which, since this book was first published, in 1877, has been quite generally adopted by lumber and log men as the most equitable standard known. The actual cutting of the log into twenty-one boards, requiring twenty saw kerfs of one-fourth inch each, twenty lines of one-sixteenth excess, and two slabs of one inch each, equalling a deduction in the aggre gate of eight and one-quarter inches from thirty inches, the diameter of the log, gives twenty-one and three-fourths inches, which, multiplied by itself, leaves a net result of 476 feet, against 474 feet, obtained in the cutting up in the manner shown-the loss of fractional parts of an inch accounting for the difference of the two feet. This fact effectually disproves the correctness of the Doyle rule, which gives the same log a measurement of 507 feet. Hickory rules for measuring logs after this scale may be obtained from the publishers of this book. LENGTH OF LOG, FEET. THE LUMBERMAN'S FAVORITE LOG RULE. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year A. D. 1880, by W. B. JUDSON, in the office of the Librarian 15 24 41 64 DIAMETER OF LOG, INCHES. 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 Feet 7 19 32 57 20 38 22 41 22 24 26 28 30 LENGTH OF LOG, FEET. |