20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



M 



KILLETM I'lLED IN THE WOUUS HEADY FOIt 

 THE COMING OF THE FIXISHIXG PLANT. 



Checks^TlK'.v imist br free from heart checks 

 o( such a nature as to make them unfit for the 

 purpose for which they were intended. 



Streaks — Staves may have biack or red 

 streaks on the iuside. if they do not show 

 through at any point between chines, nor more 

 than a quarter of an inch deep at end: on out- 

 side if they do not show through at any point 

 lietwoen chiues. nor more than a quarter of an 

 inch deep at end. 



Minimum widtli of barrel staves is to he 3'/i 

 inches; V;; and Vi harrel, 3 inches; 1/G and i/, 

 staves, 2^ incites: measurement taken on back 

 of stave at bilge, including y inch of sap. 

 St.vve Ih.mi:nsions. 



Average Thickncps Shoulil- 

 Lentrth Wiiitli EHd Bilge er 

 Size In. in. in. in in. 



Vk Hi'!; X 4 X 11^ X 1 X2U. 



'4 2U 1/. X 4 Vi X 1 Vi X 1 3/ 1 6 X 3 



>A 2.J '/a X 4 Vj X 1 % X 1 ->/lH X 3 1... 



I-l 31 x4% xl% xl 7/10x4 ' 



Ale bbis 34 x4yoxl% 



Ale hhds 40 x4iAxiys 



Eeer heading, sawed or chipped — Specifications 

 as to grain and quality to be the same as in 

 staves, except tltat streaks shall be allowed on 

 one side only, if same do not pass through the 

 heads or through over one third of the thickness 

 of the heads at the ends of same. 



IIi-..\piN(i — S.\wi:ii III: ("HiPi'Eri. 

 .\veiy\ge 



Size. Length. Width. Thickness. 



% . . lOi/j inches x oVi inches x 1 % inches 



Vi 13 inches x 6% inches x 1 V> inches 



V2 16 inches x 8 inches x 1 % inches 



1-1 18'/2 inches x 6I4 inches x 1% inches 



The above widths mean clear of sap and apply 

 to two-piece heading, except 1-1 heads, which 

 apply to three-piece lieads. 



All of the above dimensions are for green 

 stock, and a variation of 1,10 of an inch to be 

 allowed on all thicknesses. 



The process of inanufactuve followed iu 

 liriiraieing- beer staves is in a class by itself. 



differing materially from the manufacture of 

 other staves. When timber for beer staves 

 is secured, which is generally at a point 

 some distance from ;i railroad, a crew is 

 established and a mill set up, the timber is 

 cut, the logs sawed up into stave lengths and 

 these blocks split up into stave billets, right 

 on the ground iu the woods. This may seem 

 somewhat similar to the method iu vogue of 

 making other tight barrel staves. The dif- 

 ference is that the modern method of making 

 regular tight-liarrel staves is for the crew in 

 the woods to cut out stave bolts, that is. 

 sticks of timber that can be sawed up with 

 cylinder saws into a number of staves, 

 whereas the beer stave crew splits the stock 

 up into single stave billets or blanks. 



Prior to starting a woods erew at work 

 till' foreman or manager of the enterprise 

 looks over the territory and figures out some 

 loc;itioii where he can set up a finishing plant 

 to ]uit these stave billets in shape for the 

 market. What he wants is some point where 

 he can concentrate a quantity of billets suf- 

 ficient to justify setting up a finishing plant. 

 In the early days it was figured that one 

 should get aliout 300 M staves to justify a set, 

 but tlu> scarcity of good timber of late years 

 has trimmed down that figure materially, and 

 to-day beer stave men are not only glad to 

 get 100 M staves in a set, but sometimes make 

 out with less. 



The stave billets, as they are originally got- 

 ten out, ;ire sorted or inspected and piled up 

 in the woods right where the splitting is done. 

 Then the haulers, who follow the woods erew, 

 haul these billets to the point selected for 

 making a set. At the place for the set they 

 are piled up in long ricks like cord wood 

 at an old-fashioned woodyard to aw-ait the 

 coming of the finishing plant. 



There :ire two methods of finishing beer 

 and ale staves; one is to put them through 

 what is kuow'u as a bueker, in which they are 

 driven endwise Ijy a power plunger between 

 two curved knives, one of which trims the sur- 

 plus wood off on the inside and one on the 

 outside, leaving the finished stave iu a cir- 

 cular form, as it is found in a barrel, on 

 tlie face and back, with the edges still rough. 

 This was the earliest method of. finishing, and 

 the staves were thus shipped to the cooper 

 shop for jointing and hollowing out. Some 

 staves are still finished in this wav, but the 



rXLOADINC FINISHED BEER STAVES AT 

 THE RAILROAD. 



majority of beer staves to-day are much bet- 

 ter finished and by a very different process. 

 The machinery equipment of the modern beer- 

 stave plant varies a little, but the essential 

 machines are an equalizer, to trim the stave 

 billets to exact length, a stave dressing ma- 

 chine and a jointer. The stave-dressing ma- 

 chine is the most complicated, and carries two 

 heavy cutterheads, somewhat after the style 

 of a lumber planer, the knives on one of these 

 heads being designed to give the curved shape 

 to the outside of the stave, and the other 

 shaping the inside as the blank is carried 

 edgewise between the two cutters, clamped 

 endwise between two cylindrical clamps. The 

 staves are trimmed on an equalizer before 

 they are put through the dressing machine, 

 and after passing it they go to a jointer, 

 which is an enormous disc wheel, carrying on 

 its face knives to trim off the rough edges 

 and sap and give it a smooth joint, at the 

 same time making it narrower at the ends, 

 thus giving what is called the bilge to the 

 jiackages made from it. And so perfect is 

 the work of these machines that staves taken 

 from different yards, made by machines in 

 different states, are as nearly alike as if made 

 on the same machine. 



The machinery described above, together 

 with portable boiler and engine, usually rang- 

 ing in size from 25 to 35 horse power, con- 

 stitutes the modern beer-stave plant, and has 

 a capacity of from 3,500 to 4,000 beer bar- 

 rel staves a day, or about 5,000 half barrels. 

 With this capacity, the annual output would 

 lie large, but quite a good deal of the life of ■ 

 sttch a plant is spent in moving from place 

 to [ilace. 



A .MIlDEltN r.EEK STAVE FINISHING PLANT AT A SET. 



FINISHED STAVES CROSS I'll. Ell FOR DRVlNi: 



1 



