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Utilization of Hardwoods 



The one-piece meat block is by no means going ont of nse, but tlie 

 built-up substitute is taking its place. With the change in style has 

 come also a change in the wood most frequently used. The block has 

 a place in every shop where meat is cut and sold, and the implements 

 which accompany it as accessories are the saw for cutting the large 

 bones, the knife for slicing and parting, the cleaver for the heavy 

 hacking, and a stiff metal brush for cleaning purposes. Other tools 

 ahd appliances belong with the meat block, but most of them are 

 of metal. The skewer is of wood, and is a small peg employed in 

 pinning together the rolled roast to make it ready for the oven. The 

 block on which the meat is cut is the piece of massive woodenware 

 under immediate consideration. It is a rather large affair, ranging 

 in size from two to four feet in diameter. 



It was formerly made of sycamore abnost exclusively in the region 

 where that wood was obtainable, that is, in the eastern half of the 

 United States. The blocks could be and were .shipped to all parts 

 of the country. In California the butchers secured blocks from the 

 species of sycamore which grows in the southern half of that state, 

 and in Arizona and New Mexico a third species of sycamore supplied 

 a rather small demand. The two western species are smaller than 

 that which grows east of the Eocky mountains, and wliich reaches 

 its highest development in the Ohio valley. 



The use of sycamore wherever it was possible to procure it was 

 so nearly universal as to suggest strong reasons for preferring that 

 wood. Some of the preference may have been due to custom, but 

 sycamore was best in a number of ways. It belongs in the class 

 of so-called sanitary woods, that is, it contains no offensive odors, 

 stain nor taste. Fresh meat is not injured by contact with it. 

 Further, it is easy to keep clean. The impact of the cleaver, and 

 the scraping of the scrub brush do not "broom" it — make a soft, 

 pulpy mass of the surface. The fibers of sycamore are interlaced, 

 rendering the wood very difficult to split, particularly after seasoning 

 has taken jjlace. This adds to the value of the block made of the 

 wood. 



These blocks are one-piece. They are bolts sawed from the trunk 

 of the tree. Little other manufactir ig is necessary to make them 

 ready for use. If the bolt is of i,.^j)er length it is stood on end 

 and is ready. That was formerly the way they were made. In early 

 times it was customary for meat cutters to go into the woods with 

 ax and saw and cut their own blocks. Now the process is a little 

 different. Sycamore of proper size is not as plentiful as formerly, 

 and the butcher might have to go a long way to find a tree. Conse- 

 quently, the blocks are cut and prepared by people in that business, 

 and butchers buy them. Finishing touches are now bestowed upon 

 them which were once not thought necessary. The rough block is 

 placed in a lathe and it is given symmetrical form, and perhaps the 

 turner's chisels and gouges cut a few ornamental rings, ridges and 

 bands round the block to give it a manufactured appearance. It 

 was once not unusual to see sycamore meat blocks from which the 

 bark had never been removed. 



The sycamore block now stands on stout legs. The old method was 

 to cut the block of such length that it did not need legs. 



One of the reasons back of the selection of this wood for solid 

 blocks is its slight tendency to check in process of seasoning. That 

 is important from the sanitary viewpoint, because a meat block with 

 cracks soon becomes decidedly undesirable. 



In recent years built-up butcher blocks have been crowding the 

 solid sycamore from many shops; but the latter has not yet been 

 dislodged entirely. Complete statistics showing numbers of each 

 kind in use in this country do not exist; but the situation in Illinois 

 is probably a guide to the whole country. Sycamore in that state 

 is still far in the lead, in quantity of wood used. Most of it is in 

 solid blocks, as formerly, although seme of it is manufactured into 

 built-up kinds. In the year 1910 Illinois manufacturers used 1,600.000 



—26— 



ARTICLE SIXTY-ONE 

 MANUTACTUEE OF MEAT BLOCKS 



feet of sycamore and 700,000 feet of sugar maple for blocks and 

 meat-cutting tables. The sycamore cost an average of $12.19 a 

 thousand at the factory, and the maple $22.11. The low cost of the 

 sycamore was chiefly due to the form in which the factory received 

 it. It was bought in the log, and the price was for log measurement. 

 The logs were sawed into proper lengths, and the blocks were finished 

 in the lathe. 



Most of the built-up blocks are of sugar maple, and they agree 

 in size with the sycamore solid blocks. After wood of proper grade 

 has been selected, the most important step in the manufacturing is 

 the seasoning. When maple has been seasoned it possesses in a high 

 decree the faculty of staying seasoned, that is, il is not inclined to 

 absorb moisture from the air. This is important, because the air in 

 a meat shop, owing to the presence of refrigerators and ice boxes, 

 is usually very damp. A wood which takes up this moisture readily 

 is not suitable for a meat block. 



In addition to maple's low hygroscopic (moisture-absorbing) prop- 

 erty, it is very hard. It resists the hacking and scrubbing to which 

 it is constantly subjected. It is a suitable wood because it is easily 

 kept in a sanitary condition. Impurities do not soak into it. The 

 immediate surface only needs to be cleansed. Maple is white; it 

 looks well, and that has a good deal to do with making it popular. 



The one-piece maple block is sometimes used, or has been used, in 

 the same way as sycamore; but that is not the usual style. A maple 

 bolt large enough for a block is somewhat difficult to procure, in 

 the first place, and in the second place it can hardly be seasoned with- 

 out developing cracks and checks. The block constructed of many 

 pieces may cost more, but if of maple it is worth more than if solid. 



The maple intended for the meat block factory is cut in dimen- 

 sions several inches each way. After a long period of air-drying, the 

 dimension stock, either in lengths of several feet, or cut to the 

 required size, goes to the kiln to complete the seasoning process, and 

 remains until it is bone dry. The period rei|uired to complete the 

 seasoning process in the kiln varies with tlie degree of heat; but 

 some insist that best results attend a nuidcrate temperature and a 

 longer period. 



The pieces are dressed to fit together so perfectly that the joints are 

 scarcely discernible. The contact surfaces are then covered with 

 a specially-prepared glue, and when the necessary pieces for the 

 block have been placed in form, they are subjected to enormous com- 

 pression, which sets the glue in the joints. Thus from many pieces a 

 single block is made. The adhesion is so powerful that it is not 

 possible to split apart the individual pieces. However, to be doubly 

 secure, iron bands are often used. 



The solid meat block is circular in form; the built-up article is 

 frequently square. If it is of the latter form, the component blocks 

 are reinforced with bolts from side to side instead of bands that 

 encircle the round blocks. 



There is apparently no search for other woods from which to 

 manufacture this necessary piece of butcher shop furniture. Large 

 sj'camores are scarcer than they used to be, but the low price paid 

 for logs of suitable size in Illinois does not indicate that they are 

 hard to find in adequate numbers to satisfy the demand. It is not 

 Jtnown that any other w-ood has been satisfactorily substituted for 

 sycamore for the old-fashioned solid meat block, but doubtless others 

 liave been occasionally used. Black gum (Nyssa sylvaiica) has been 

 suggested as a likely substitute, but trees of proper size are not 

 plentiful. The wood is as hard to split as sycamore, but trials only 

 can determine whether it will answer in other respects. 



Some other hardwoods may do as well for built-up blocks as 

 maple, but the latter is satisfactory, and is as low in price as any 

 other that could meet the requirements, and there is no active demand 

 for substitutes. 



