390 Forestry Quarterly. 



shakes are 24 inches in length, 6 inches wide and \ of an inch 

 thick upon the thinner edge. Each roof shake contains about 

 5/24 feet b.m. and each tray shake about \ feet b.m. In mak- 

 ing roof shakes from sugar pine an average of 4000 shakes is 

 made from each thousand feet of that portion of the tree actually 

 used. The average for the entire log scale of the tree is about 

 3000 shakes per thousand board feet. 



In the used portion of the tree the shakemaker wastes only 

 the central portion of the trunk containing knots which will not 

 spHt. So far, his waste is less than a sawmill However, he 

 cannot utilize the tree into the top as far as a sawmill by three 

 or four logs. In some measurements of shake trees made on 

 the Tahoe and Sierra Forests, it was found that 25% of the 

 sawtimber contained in the trees could not be utilized for shakes. 



One reason for the popularity of shakemaking was the possi- 

 bility it offers of making good wages without great effort. Un- 

 der average conditions the cost of making sugar pine roof shakes 

 per thousand shakes is as follows: 



FeHing and trimming, $0.11 



Bucking and bolting, 1.50 



Riving, \ 2.00 



Piling, 10 



Bailing (including wire), 15 



Piling debris, 20 



Stumpage, 1.56 



Total, $5-62 



The usual selling price of such shakes, at the stump, ranges 

 from $6.50 to $7.00 per M. 



Instead of picking selected trees the tray mill operator can 

 utilize all sound trees upon the tract. The operation of felling 

 and trimming is similar to that in a lumbering operation. The 

 trees may be either bucked into blocks in the woods or sawed 

 in long lengths and the logs hauled to the mill where the blocks 

 are cut with a steam drag saw. In straight grained timber the 

 blocks are cut 26 inches in length, but when the grain is twisted 

 they are cut 28 inches or over- These blocks are next split into 

 bolts. The bolts run with the grain and are made from 6 to 10 



