HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



tlie reach of the most primitive cobbler. When they were hand- 

 made, sugar maple was preferred. The wood was sawed by hand 

 into blocks the length of the desired peg, and was split in strips 

 of the requisite thickness. The end of the strip was whittled 

 to a sharp edge, like the comb of a house-roof, and the pegs were 

 then split off with a knife. A country cobbler could thus manu- 

 facture enough pegs in about an hour to sole a pair of boots. He 

 can now buy enough for two or three cents to do the work. 



The use of pegs in shoe-making, under the old method, was 

 destructive of lasts, for the pegs went through the sole and into 

 the wood, and in time rendered it unfit for use. After having 

 driven in a sutficiency of pegs, the shoemaker's next undertaking 

 was to pull out the last of the shoe. This was often a hard job. 



for the pegs held it fast. However, after sundry thumpiugs, twist- 

 ings and turnings, all of which was part of the trade, the rustic 

 shoemaker succeeded in freeing the last from the sharp points of 

 the pegs, and then, with a "last hook," he drew it out. The final 

 operations in rendering the shoe wearable was to apply a steel tool 

 called the "peg cutter," which pared away the peg points protrud- 

 ing through the sole, and the job was done. 



Sewed soles are in almost universal use now for shoes of good 

 grade, but for coarse shoes, pegs are still in demand. For thick 

 soles thej' give good service, but are apt not to hold well if soles 

 are thin. 



Shoe pegs are bought and sold by measure, and when the 

 quantitj' is small, little difference is made between large and small. 



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Cherry Birch for Gunstocks 



The advent of the automatic gun has confronted the manufac- 

 turer with a new problem in the choice of the proper wood for 

 the stocks. Black walnut has always been the favorite gunstock 

 wood in the United States, but under the severe strains of the 

 high-power automatics, it has proven too soft. No trouble is 

 noticed at first, but after considerable usage the fittings become 

 loosened and cannot be kept tight, or the stocks split. 



There seems to be no wood combining the good qualities of 

 walnut with greater toughness and resOience. Those that possess 

 the latter characteristics are lacking in color and grain. While 

 this may in some cases be overcome by proper staining, in others 

 the stained article always looks cheap. 



One of the woods tried out by a well-known arms manufacturing 

 company was rock or hickory elm. A quantity of this was obtained 

 and made into stocks for experimental purposes. Rock elm is an 

 excellent wood for many purposes, being hard, strong, compact 

 and tough. It is the most valuable of all the elms, but unfortu- 

 nately the suppl}' is very limited. The company thought at first 

 that this wood would prove satisfactory, but after exhaustive tests 

 ^t failed in much the same way as walnut. A trial was also made 

 of myrtle wood, but with poor results. 



The wood that has given the best results is black or cherry 

 birch (Betula lenta). It is fairly hard, strong, resilient, fine-tex- 

 tured and susceptible of a high polish. It stains readily and the 

 fine but distinct silver grain produces a very handsome effect. It 

 is heavier than black walnut, but excess of weight is overcome 

 by hollowing the stock. 



One of the difliculties encountered in the employment of cherry 

 birch as purchased on the market was the presence of yellow 

 birch in mixture with it. While valuable for many uses yellow 

 birch is not entirely satisfactory for gunstocks. The woods of 

 the two are of the same general appearance and it is by no means 

 easy to separate a mixed shipment of lumber. The yeljow birch 

 averages considerably lighter and softer than the black, the rays 

 are narrower and less distinct, and the pores are fewer and less 

 distinct. These differences are only relative and the average 

 inspector is not sure of his ground. To obviate this trouble the 

 company has arranged to buy only locally cut cherry birch which 

 is know.n to be true to name. Owing to the great difference in the 

 appearance of the bark, there is no danger of confusing the living 

 trees or the logs. 



The cherry birch herein described is found in the uplands from 

 Newfoundland, southward to southern Indiana and Illinois; along 

 the Alleghany mountains to western Florida, central Kentucky and 

 Tennessee. It is common in the North and in its larger size on 

 the western slopes of the southern Appalachians. 



In this connection it is interesting to note that English gun 

 makers are having difficulty in securing material for their stocks. 

 The walnut that has been used for this purpose has been obtained 

 in Italy, Switzerland and France. The Italian supply appears to 

 be exhausted and the prices for French walnut are going up so 



high that they may in a few years become prohibitive. The 

 French walnut is now in particular demand for veneering pur- 

 poses, it being found more profitable as a rule to cut it for veneer 

 than to sell it for gunstocks. It looks very much as though foreign 

 manufacturers will have to come to America for their wood, 

 though they have always complained that American walnut was 

 not suited for their market. The difficulty has not been in the 

 strength of the wood, but in the color, which is a chocolate brown 

 without the yellow streaks that have proved so attractive In 

 gunstocks abroad. S. J. E. 



The Steel Car 



This is an age of progress and no longer is the traveler to have 

 fear when he starts upon a long journey. The powers that be, backed 

 by Providence, have substituted the practically indestructible steel 

 ear for the old wooden coach of former days. 



No more is the occupant to be haunted with a fear of burning 

 alive. He may rest assured at all times, that it is more comfortable 

 to be squeezed in his berth between two casings of steel, with the 

 southwest corner of his liver protruding into the aisle, than to be 

 roasted alive in a wood fire. 



He may know that, should the vehicle in which he is journeying 

 make a sudden dash through a bridge into the waters below, he will 

 rest securely in his steel casing, unapproachable by fish or other 

 monsters of the deep, until the wrecking ear can lift him from his 

 damp bed. There is no danger of the ax, which would cut through 

 the wooden walls, reaching him, and in this feeling of security he 

 may be content. Should the inflammable contents of the car take 

 fire, he may lie with a smile upon his face, knowing that the walls 

 cannot burn, collapse and drop the roof upon him. 



Where formerly the wrecking crew could chop through the old car 

 and release him in a few moments, to the mercy of the elements, 

 now he may be secure from the vulgar gaze, in the steel compartment 

 that will resist all efforts to move it except a traveling crane that 

 could lift a locomotive. 



No such humiliation awaits him as to be pierced by a wooden 

 splinter, but in its place he may expect to be smoothly sliced asunder 

 by shifting plates of steel. 



He may know that the coming car will not crunch and buckle his 

 temporary home as did the cars of old, but that the oncoming steel 

 monster will gently lift him from his bed, softly push him through 

 two or three preceding cars and possibly give him a Turkish bath 

 beside the engine. 



He may pass his time in idleness with nothing to do but wait 

 while the wrecker spends two days removing the ponderous steel coach 

 from above his massive frame, instead of enduring the suspense of 

 being cut out of the old type of wooden car. 



"Never more," he cries, "will I go back to the day of the old 

 frame coach, for I live in a progressive age and my cry forever 

 shall be, ' give me the steel car and give me death. ' ' ' 



