THE USES OF WOOD 



WOODEN BOATS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note:— This is the twelfth story in a series of important and very valuable articles by Mr. Maxwell on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



STATISTICS of the woods used in the building of 

 ships and boats, as they are referred to in this 

 article, belong to the period immediately preceding 

 the beginning of the war. No similar figures have been 

 published covering the time since the war began. Pine, 

 fir, and oak supply most of the woods consumed in the 

 ship industry : pine 80,000,000 feet a year ; fir, 44,000,000, 

 and oak, 32,000,000. These are round numbers and some 

 of them should 

 be given more 

 in detail. The 

 principal pines 

 used by the 

 makers of ships 

 are the follow- 

 ing: 



Southern yel- 

 low pine, 65,- 

 698,652 ; white 

 pine, 14,256,- 

 006; western 

 yellow pine, 

 518,500; sugar 

 pine, 200,500 ; 

 total pine, 80,- 

 673,658. 



Three or 

 more southern 

 yellow pines 

 cent ribute to 

 the total, nota- 

 b 1 y , longleaf , 

 shortleaf , a n d 

 loblolly. North- 

 ern white pine 

 and Idaho 

 white pine are 

 listed without 

 d i s t i n c tion. 

 Western yellow 

 pine is a single 

 species, and 

 that is also true 

 of sugar pine. 

 Forty per cent 

 of all the wood 

 used by Ameri- 

 can boat build- ■' ^^^^"^"^ "^""^^ ^^"- 



pre ic r» i n <a '^'^^ ""^'^ ^^^ understands the manipulation of a catboat possesses the key to a world of enjoyme'il which 



erb IS pine. is unknown to the uninitiated; but the novice may be brought to realize the meaning of the proverb: "Hard 



T \\, «» n t ir r\or- '° manage as a catboat in a squall." The picture is shown by courtesy of Daniel Crosby & Son, Oystcr- 



i- w c 11 I y per ville, Massachusetts. 



cent of all is fir. A dozen species of fir are native of 

 the United States, but nearly all that goes into boat 

 building is Douglas fir. 



Other softwoods play a rather small part in ship- 

 building, though some of them are quite valuable for 

 particular purposes. The following table gives the 

 annual consumption of softwoods : 



Pine, 80,673,658; fir, 44,342,080; spruce, 7,783,980; 



cedar, 6,999,- 

 722 ; c y p ress, 

 5,014,775; hem- 

 lock, 4,745,775; 

 redwood, 837,- 

 500 ; larch, 328,- 

 525; total, 150,- 

 728,011. 



N o foreign 

 softwoods have 

 been reported 

 in our ship- 

 building 

 though several 

 imported hard- 

 woods arc list- 

 ed, as is shown 

 the follow- 

 tablc of 

 hard- 

 woods : 



M a h ogany, 

 1,190,192 ;teak, 

 764,309; euca- 

 lyptus, 273,050 ; 

 Spanish cedar, 

 27,300; Circas- 

 sian w a 1 n u t, 

 25,000 ; balsa, 

 ::o,ooo; lignum 

 V i tae, 10,000; 

 ]iadouk, 8,375 ; 

 r u n gus, 500 ; 

 cocobola, 200 ; 

 total. 2,319,557. 

 Most of the 

 foreign wood is 

 worked into 

 finish and spe- 

 c i a 1 1 i e s for 

 large and small 

 boats. Teak is 



111 



ing 



forcisrn 



