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Value of Careful Lumber Piling ^^ 



After uatiire has done her part in growing good timber, and the 

 sawyer has attended properly to liis duties and has cut lumber of 

 even thickness and with few defects, there yet remains an impor- 

 tant work which cannot be slighted without doing damage which 

 may offset the etforts of both the sawyer and nature. The lumber 

 should be well piled when it is put on the sticks to season. That is 

 a step which must be attemled to with care. It is as important as 

 the sawing. 



The majority of millmen do Udt neeil advice or suggestions along 

 that line; but some do not give the matter so much consideration as 

 they should. They seem to proceed on the theory that the principal 

 purpose in piling lumber is to give it a chance to season. That is 

 one of tin- objects iu view, but lumber shoulil season straight and 

 Hat. Kinks, twists, and warps will spoil lumber which otherwise 



would be perfect, 



and unfortunately 

 much is spoiled in 

 that way. Com- 

 plaints from manu- 

 facturers who use 

 lumber and dealers 

 who buy and sell 

 are too widespread 

 to leave doubt that 

 there is consider- 

 able ground for the 

 charge that too 

 much lumber is 

 spoiled in the pil- 

 ing. It is put up 

 in such a way that 

 it seasons crooked 

 when if it had beeu 

 better piled it 

 would have dried 

 straight. This ap- 

 plies more particu- 

 larly to hardwood 

 lumber, though sim- 

 ilar causes will pro- 

 duce like effects 

 with softwoods. 



The foundation 

 should be firm and 

 true to start with. 

 If it is lopsided, 

 sunken iu one part, or raised too high in another, the lum- 

 ber wiU bend to fit the foundation, and will dry that way. After 

 it has once set in that form it cannot be straightened and its value 

 is lessened. Sometimes a foundation is true at first, but when the 

 load is placed on it, one part, being on softer ground, sinks, and 

 the whole pile is distorted. No matter how carefully the piling is 

 otherwise done, the lumber will not dry true if the foundation is 

 uneven. 



Other things may happeu to the injury of lumber, though nothing 

 may be wrong with the foundation. The cross sticks may not be 

 placed in line, one directly above another. It is important that 

 they should be so, particularly if the piles are high. The weight on 

 a stick out of line with the others will bend the boards, and they 

 will season in that distorted shape. In small piles or where the lum- 

 ber is to remain only a short time, the arrangement of the sticks 

 directly above and below one another may not be so important; but 

 even there it is desirable as a guarantee that the lumber will dry 

 straight. 



Sticks out of line are usually the result of carelessness on the 

 part of those who do the piling. A stick is liable to be pushed a few 

 inches out of place when the first boards of a course are laid, and 



the careless employe may neglect to make it right. Injury of good 

 lumber from that cause is large in the aggregate. 



There should be, of course, enough sticks used to place them 

 sufliciently close together to prevent the boards from sagging with 

 their own weiglit. They should be laid flat on an adequate number 

 of sticks. 



There is another cause for crooked lumber that is entirely too 

 iiimmou. One stick may be thicker or thinner than the others laid 

 in the same course with it. Such a stick placed midway in a course 

 will give a hump or a sag to the course next above. If it ended 

 with a single course, the result would not be so bad, but it does not 

 end there. The succeeding courses assume the same hump or sag, 

 and a single stick may make a dozen or twenty courses crooked. 



Too many yards overlook the importance of having the sticks 

 of uniform thick- 



BOARDS OF DIKFEKENT LENGTHS PILED TOCtETHER ; CItOSS STRIPS OF IRREGUL.VR 

 SIZE .V.ND POORLY PLACED. (DRAWING FR O.M ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH.) 



ness. If this were 

 carefully watched a 

 great improvement 

 would follow in 

 many lumber yards. 

 While looking 

 after the thickness 

 it is well to look 

 after the width of 

 the sticks also. 

 Many sticks are 

 wider than neces- 

 sary. Such a stick 

 is not only a waste 

 of material, and a 

 waste of labor in 

 handling, but it is 

 also a waste of time 

 in seasoning the 

 lumber. The board 

 dries more slowly 

 under the stick than 

 in the open space 

 beyond; and it is 

 evident that every 

 inch of space need- 

 lessly covered by a 

 wide stick hinders 

 the drying of the 

 lumber by that 

 much. 



The stick, by pretty general consent, ought to be an inch thick. 

 Jf thinner than that it does not provide a sufficient space between 

 the courses of lumber for the circulation of air. The sticks should 

 be as narrow as possible, provided always that they must be strong 

 enough to carry the load placed on them. They must not crush 

 under the weight of the superimposed pile of lumber nor crush into 

 the lumber. It is claimed that if piles are of medium height, sticks 

 one inch square will suffice. 



It pays well to provide sticks of uniform thickness and width. 

 They can be worked out rapidly on a small saw, and one man in a 

 week should be able to true up enough sticks to equip a pretty large 

 lumber yard. Thus all could be of the same thickness, and no lum- 

 ber would bend out of shape by having thick and thin sticks in the 

 same course. The width of the sticks is not of so much importance 

 as the thickness, as far as keeping the boards straight is concerned; 

 but it should be borne in mind that the use of sticks wider than 

 necessary is not economical. 



It goes without saying that the ends of boards should never pro- 

 trude far beyond the last stick. If they do, they will sag and will 

 dry in that form. If boards of the same length only are placed in 

 the same pile there is little danger of sagging at the ends, because 



