Jauuaiy 10, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



jured. It appears that the sap alone contajiis tlie -food-rrhtch the 

 insects want. 



Fence posts makers among the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Cali- 

 fornia prefer the dead, standing trunks of incense cedars which 

 have been severely burned. Experience has taught the post splitters 

 that fire burns the worm-riddled sapwood only, in most cases, and 

 leaves the sound heartwood scorched but not hurt. Since the sap 

 is useless for posts, it is a distinct advantage to have it removed by 

 insects and fire. ^ 



Pencil makers formerly preferred to expose, red cedar logs to the 

 most active elements of decay possible, until the sapwood disap- 

 peared. The heart alone was wanted, and it was scarcely touched by 

 decay, while the useless wood was removed. 



In treating timber with chemicals to prevent decay, it has been 

 found that the poisonous fluids can be forced into sapwood with 

 greater ease than into heart. It is thus made possible to use tim- 

 bers, containing sapwood, in situations where they would be imprac- 

 ticable, if sap were as difficult to treat as heart. The difference in 

 penetrability by fluids is largely due to the fact that the pores and 

 other minute openings of heartwood are plugged with dense substances. 



It is usually true that trees of rapid growth contain relatively 

 more sapwood than those of slow growth. Second-growth hickory, 

 for instance, has grown rapidly and therefore contains plenty of 

 sapwood, and since this is what is wanted, the second-growth hickory 

 is in demand. 



In the grading rules of most kinds of lumber, sapwood is regarded 

 as a defect, though under certain regulations some sap is allowed. 



The distinction between sapwood and heart is given more prominence 

 with gum than with any other wood unless hickory. In commercial 

 transactions ' ' sap gum ' ' is gum lumber consisting largely or wholly 

 of sapwood ; and ' ' red gum ' ' is the heartwood of the same tree 

 (Liquidambar styraciflua) . 



In many instances the prejudice against sapwood concerns its 

 appearance only. Wliite sap of applewood teeomes acceptable for 

 handsaw handles when, by steaming, it is changed to a red color 

 like the lieartwood. The light-colored sap of walnut passes without 

 question for the heartwood when a steam bath has colored it like 

 the heart. It is no longer considered necessary to rot off or cut away 

 the white sap of the pencU cedar, because, when artificially colored, 

 it passes as heartwood, for penholders if not for pencils. 



Sapwood seasons more rapidly than heart. The more open struc- 

 ture of the former permits the escape of moisture that could be 

 expelled only with difficulty from the heart. Woods show great differ- 

 ences in that respect. Old chestnut is often named as the hardest to 

 handle of the woods in common use ; but, fortunately, it behaves very 

 well when it has become seasoned. The pioneers who cleared the 

 frontier farms where chestnut grew had practical knowledge of the 

 difficulties in drying the hearts of the girdled and barkless trees 

 which stood, white as bone, for years, almost for generations, in 

 their fields, never quite dry enough for the log heap. Tlie sapwood 

 could be burucil, but the heartwood defied the faggot. It was a saying 

 tliat the water in most dead trees ' ' dried out, ' ' but the water in 

 chestnut ' ' dried in. ' ' This meant that when a chestnut tree died, 

 the moisture in the trunk settled to the heart and staved there. 



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Comparative Logging Cost Figures "^ 



Based on board feet measurement, it has long been known that it 

 costs more per thousand feet to skid, load, and saw small logs than 

 large ones, but anything like a fixed ratio between logs of different 

 sizes, in estimating the cost, has not been well or generally known. 

 A study of the subject, based on counts and tallies in actual logging 

 operation, has been made by W. W. Ashe who published the result 

 in the Forestry Quarterly for September, 1916. The article fills 

 twelve pages of that magazine and enters into many details ; but it 

 will suffice here to bring out the principal points, wliich are skidding, 

 loading, and sawing ; but felling in the woods and piling the lumber 

 in the yard are ajso important. 



Skidding the Logs 



The study was made on an overhead skidder, actual distance 2,200 



feet. Tliat cost is not comparable with team skidding. It shows, 



liowever, that the time required for handling 1,000 feet in logs which 



average eight inches in diameter is practically three times that for 



liandling 1,000 feet in logs averaging twenty-five inclies in diameter. 



The actual length of logs varied from eight to twenty-four feet, but 



cost was calculated on a basis of sixteen feet. The following table 



shows the operation with logs of different sizes: 



Time Required to 



Average Diam. Sliid M Bd. Ft. a Average No. of Logs 



at Small End Distance of l.noo ft. iier Load Reduced Board Foot per 



iif lU' Logs Minutes to 10' Basis Load Jlill Cut 



8 55 8 325 



9 48 7." 305 



10 43 G.6 410 



11 38 G 450 



12 34 5.4 490 



13 31 5 525 



14 2S 4.4 500 



15 20 4 5S5 

 10 24 3.0 ■ 010 

 17 23 3.2 030 

 IS 22 2.9 050 

 10 21 2.0 GGo 

 20 19 2.4 080 



Loading and Hauling Logs 

 It requires nearly six times as long to load a ear with logs which 

 average ten inches in diameter as to load a car with logs which average 

 twenty-four inches. At the same time the car capacity in board feet 



is three and one-half times as great when loaded with logs averaging 

 twenty-four inches in diameter as when loaded with logs averaging 

 ten inches. Shortening the lengths of logs also adds to loading time 

 and decreases carrying capacity per car. The weight of a loaded 

 car is practically the same irrespective of the average size of the 

 logs, consequently, a locomotive can haul less than one-third of the 

 volume in board feet of logs averaging ten inches in diameter as of 

 logs averaging twenty-four inches. In a rough country this would 

 have considerable bearing on supplying a large mill witli logs. 



The table wliich follows shows the loading time for logs of different 

 sizes : 



Loading Time per 



Average Diam. 

 at Small End 

 of 10' Logs 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 10 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 21 

 22 

 2:1 

 21 



Board Feet 

 per Car 

 1,150 

 1,360 

 1.580 

 1,760 

 2,000 

 2,200 

 2,420 

 2,620 

 2,820 

 3,020 

 3,220 

 3,420 

 3,600 

 3,770 

 3,040 



There is a marked difference also in the time required for sawing 

 logs of different lengths. The difference in time required to saw 

 1,000 board feet progressively increases as the logs become shorter 

 on account of the fact that more logs must be handled to secure a 

 1,000 feet, and the difference in sawing time is the additional time 

 required for liandling the extra logs and the extra time lost by the 

 log carriage in returning. 



The cof.t of piling and loading lumber varies almost directly with 

 the numher of pieces of lumber wliich must be handled per 1,000 

 board feet. The lumber from logs sixteen inches and over when 

 these costs are about sixty cents per 1,000 feet increases to ninety 

 cents for lumber from logs ten inches and under in diameter. 



