How to Care for Your Small Forest 



227 



closely supervise the cutting operation. 



3. Each tree can be sized up before 

 it is cut and the particular products 

 can be determined. 



4. The numerous products which 

 result from integrated cutting will re- 

 turn greater profits. Pulpwood can be 

 sold to pulpwood contractors, sawlogs 

 to a local sawmill, and, in many locali- 

 ties, fuel wood brings a good price. 



5. The owner can make several 

 cuttings, taking out specific products 

 each time. Poles and piling can be re- 

 moved from the pine forest, after 

 which sawlogs can be cut. The last 

 cutting can consist of pulpwood from 

 the tops and smaller trees that are 

 marked. The same is true if hardwoods 

 are being cut. Sawlogs or veneer bolts 

 come first, cross ties next, and perhaps 

 a sizable cutting of fuel wood from the 

 tops. 



If repeated cuttings are being made, 

 care should be exercised or the small 

 forest may be cut too heavily. Also, the 

 high-quality products may be creamed 

 off and the value of the forest for 

 future harvests greatly reduced. 



The various products cut from the 

 small forest are measured differently. 



Firewood is usually sold by the cord 

 or rick. 



Pulpwood is measured in cords, pens, 

 or units. 



Poles, piling, and mine timbers are 

 measured by the running foot of length. 



Fence posts, ties, and small poles are 

 sold by the piece or unit. 



Sawlogs are sold by board feet meas- 

 ure. A piece of lumber 1 inch thick, 

 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long is 

 a board foot (a square foot of lumber 

 1 inch thick) . 



MEASURING THE BOARD-FOOT con- 

 tent of a log is not difficult : 



1 . Secure a log-scale stick from your 

 county agent or local forester. This 

 stick has the board-foot contents of 

 various sized logs marked upon it. By 

 holding the stick at the small end of 

 the log across the average diameter, 

 the contents can be read direct. 



If a log-scale stick is not available, 



three steps can be followed in measur- 

 ing a log: 



(a) Using a ruler or a yardstick, 

 measure the average diameter of the 

 log inside the bark at the small end. 

 If the log is not round, measure the 

 shortest and the longest diameter, add 

 them together, and divide by two; this 

 will give the average for the log being 

 measured. 



(b) Measure the length of the log 

 to the nearest foot. Allow 2 or 3 inches 

 for trimming off the battered ends at 

 the time it is sawed into some product. 



(<;) From a log-scale table, deter- 

 mine the board feet in a log of the 

 diameter and length that you have 

 measured. 



Three tables are in wide use for de- 

 termining the scale of logs. The Doyle 

 (which is used almost exclusively, par- 

 ticularly in the South), the Interna- 

 tional, and the Scribner decimal G. 

 It is best to scale logs from the small 

 forest according to whichever rule is 

 legal in your State or has been gen- 

 erally accepted by buyer and seller. 



If many small logs are to be sold, 

 the International scale is considered 

 the most accurate. The Doyle rule gives 

 too low a measurement for logs under 

 28 inches in diameter. The Scribner 

 decimal G rule is used in national for- 

 ests and in many localities throughout 

 the country. 



If the logs have many defects, some 

 deduction should be made from the 

 scale. Common defects are rot, cat 

 faces, ingrown bark, worm holes, check, 

 shake, and pitch ring. Also, crooked or 

 twisted logs resulting from spiral grain 

 reduce the value of logs intended for 

 high-quality lumber. First-grade logs 

 have few or no defects; the number 

 and kind of defects and the size of the 

 log determine the other grades. An 

 owner can learn a great deal by watch- 

 ing logs being sawed up at the mill. 

 Certain defects or flaws soon become 

 apparent. In scaling, then, he can esti- 

 mate how much wood is wasted by the 

 defect and deduct it from the board 

 feet shown in the log table. 



As yet there are no uniform log 



