CHAPTER SIX 



WOODS AND THEIR PROPERTIES 



So the Deacon inquired of the village folk 



Where he could find the strongest oak, 



That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke, 



That was for spokes and floor and sills ; 



He sent for lancewood to make the thills ; 



The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees, 



The panels of whitewood, that cuts like cheese, 



But lasts like iron for things like these. 



The hubs of logs from the "Settler's Ellum," 



Last of its timber, they couldn't sell 'em. 



Never an ax had seen their chips, 



And the wedges flew from between their lips, 



Their blunt ends frizzled like celery tips ; 



That was the way he "put her through." 

 "There !" said the Deacon, "naow she'll dew !" 



OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 



DIFFERENT kinds of woods differ greatly from each 

 other, and each kind is better fitted for some purposes 

 than for others. Workers in wood are well aware of 

 these facts, and constantly try to select the kind of 

 wood best suited to the work which they have in hand. 

 The Deacon made his " one-hoss shay " last for a hun- 

 dred years, by using exactly the right kind of wood in 

 each part. Why does one wood differ from another, 

 and what are the important differences that are found 

 in woods of different kinds? , v 



Properties in which woods differ. Woods differ in 

 heaviness, hardness, and strength ; in stiffness ; in elas- 

 ticity and brittleness ; in cleavability, or the ease with 

 which they can be split; in the amounts they shrink 

 when dried and in their liability to warp; in straight- 

 ness of grain ; in evenness of texture ; in durability ; 



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