154 FORESTBY WOEK 



cut, pushed under the bark, and a slight leverage 

 applied. 



This is continued along the length of bark, each suc- 

 cessive application being a little farther in than the 

 previous one, until the piece is detached. If the bark is 

 very stiff to get off, it must be beaten with the mallet, 

 when it should " run " much better. 



There is less danger of sphtting the bark if two men 

 work at each length of bark. 



On the boughs or on coppice shoots, the whole ring of 

 bark may be detached in one piece, which is much better 

 for harvesting. 



The tool used on the boughs, and commonly called a 

 " spoon," is light and fitted to a wooden handle, and 

 about 1 foot in length over all, with a spoon-shaped head. 



The tool for the thicker and stronger bark is all of iron, 

 about 2 feet 6 inches or 3 feet long, with either a knob or 

 a cross-handle. The spoon at the end is also much larger 

 than in the one-handed tool (Fig. 15, ^). 



In peeling the boughs, all small branch wood below 

 1 inch in diameter is cut off and placed to one side. All 

 branches near the ground are peeled and cut off, then the 

 branches standing upright are cut partly through, bent 

 down, and peeled. 



Coppice shoots are usually cut off and supported by a 

 forked stick driven into the ground, to make the work 

 more easy. 



If the bark on smaller branches is hard to strip, they 

 should be cut off and laid upon the butt or the stool of 

 the tree and beaten with the mallet. Too much use of 



