WHEELWRIGHTS WOOD. 



591 



especially spruce and silver-fir. Wood of similar quality to 

 that used for sounding-boards is used for the better sorts of 

 blinds, much of it coming from old silver-firs in Bavaria. 



Cornices of all kinds may be mentioned here, for which the 

 best split coniferous wood is used. 



SECTION IX. WOOD USED BY THE WHEELWRIGHT. 



The wheelwright, besides carts, also makes a number of 

 articles used in , agricultural work, and comes in this respect 

 next to the blacksmith as an indis- 

 pensable village artisan ; usually he 

 obtains his wood directly from the 

 forest. Wheelwrights' wood should 

 be even-grained, long-fibred, tough 

 and dense, and free from knots and 

 all patches of decay. 



The chief industry of the wheel- 

 wright is the construction of carts 

 and waggons, the principal parts of 

 which are the wheels, axles and 

 shafts. 



The wheels consist of the nave, 

 spokes, felloes and tires. 



The nave or hub is made gene- 

 rally of oak, elm or ash, and in the 

 case of carriages, of walnut, or, 

 more recently, of plane-wood. The 

 wood should be hard and dense to 

 prevent the loosening of the spokes, 

 which are mortised into the nave. 



rr , . . , . . . , . 



[It is said that wych-elmwood is 

 tougher, finer-grained, and more easily bent than common elm- 

 wood ; both woods are largely used for naves and felloes. Tr.] 

 The felloes, which are mortised together in a circle, are 

 made generally of split wood of elm, beech, birch, ash or 

 robinia. elm being best for the purpose. The wood should, 

 if possible, be curved naturally, and as the pieces are only 



* Fernandez, " Utilization of Forests," p. 54. 



of cuttin s out 



felloes. (After Fernandez.*) 



