416 JOURNAL OF l-'ORliSTRY 



"Shaking" the saw is a new bit of woods vernacular that leads one 

 to wonder what the instrument looked like. Here is more woods ver- 

 nacular : "... he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with 

 iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one." While I am not com- 

 petent to go behind the translation, the word "iron" seems to be used 

 here in much the same way as our modern engineers used the word 

 "steel," that is, to indicate certain manufactured tools or articles made 

 of steel. 



Very close utilization of felled timber seems to have been practiced. 

 Solomon (Wisdom, 13-11) tells how a woodcutter sawed down a tree, 

 stripped off the bark, carved the goodwood into useful vessels, cooked 

 his dinner with the chips, and used the crooked and knotty remainder 

 to fashion a graven image. Expertness in whittling then, as now, seems 

 to have been a trait of the idle, for Solomon says the wood-cutter 

 shaped the image "by the diligence of his idleness, and ... by 

 the skill of his indolence." Isaiah (44-14) also tells how a man plants 

 a fir tree, and after the rain has nourished it, he cuts it down and uses 

 a part to warm himself, a part to bake bread, a part to make utensils, 

 and a part to fashion a graven image. Graven images, if one is to 

 believe the prophets, must have been an important product of the wood 

 using industries of that day. 



Here is an unsolved mystery in woods practice : "The carpenter 

 . . . heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm tree and the 

 oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest" 

 (Isaiah, 44-14). What is meant by "strengtheneth for himself ?" Some 

 process of seasoning? Some custom of individual branding such as is 

 practiced on bee trees? Some process of lamination in wood-working 

 to give strength and lightness? 



Ezekiel (27-4) records some interesting data on the sources and uses 

 of timber in his satire on the glories of Tyre. "They have made all 

 thy planks of fir trees from Senir : they have taken cedars from Leb- 

 anon to make a mast for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made 

 thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, 

 from the isles of Kittim." Isaiah (2-18) also mentions "the oaks of 

 Bashan." Oak would seem to be a bit heavy for the long oars used 

 in those days. 



Who made the first cedar chest? Ezekiel (27-34) says that "chests 

 of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar" were an article 

 of commerce in the maritime trade of Tyre. The use of cedar chests 

 for fine clothing seems to be nearly as old as the hills. Solomon's pal- 



