FORESTRY QUARTERLY 



Vol.. IV] 



JUNE, 1906 



[No. 



THE MEASUREMENT OF SAW EOGS. 



The English speaking peoples the world over have earned an 

 unenviable distinction for non-progressiveness in matters con- 

 cerning weights and measures. This reputation is, I think, 

 somewhat more than sustained so far as concerns the measure- 

 ment of saw logs and other round timbers. 



The prevailing unit of measurement for saw logs throughout 

 the various States and Provinces of North America is, of course, 

 the foot board measure. But the foot board measure as applied 

 to unsawn timber is essentially a unit of product, not a unit of 

 vohtme, and herein lies the secret of the great multiplicity of 

 "log rules" and the great— one might indeed say amazing — di- 

 versity in their scaling scores. 



Millmen, engineers, mathematicians, and perhaps others have 

 from time to time endeavored to compute log rules which would 

 forecast with accuracy the lumber product (as inch boards) 

 which could be sawn from logs of various dimensions. Their 

 efforts have resulted in the production of some forty odd log 

 rules all giving essentially, and in many cases radically, different 

 scaling scores. 



Notwithstanding the great variety provided, there is, sad to 

 relate, no satisfactory log rule before the public, aud it remains 

 for the forester who should combine the requisite knowledge of 

 logs, mills, and mathematics, to compute a rule that shall be 

 equally fair to buyer and seller with logs of all dimensions. 

 This paper has to do with an attempt along this line, and the 

 rule which has been computed and is here discussed is submitted 

 to the public with some confidence as being in advance of any 

 previous effort. It is hoped that if any flaws in the reasoning be 

 detected, some other forester will take up the task of making 

 another forward step. 

 f^ Before proceeding to discuss the principles on Vv^hich the pro- 

 — posed International Log Rule is based, I shall pause to remark 



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