SPECIFICATIONS AND CONDITIONS OF 

 CONTRACT 



The specifications of timber vary according to the purpose for which 

 the architect requires it, but the specifications which are demanded 

 often do not correspond with what is possible to be supphed. On the 

 one hand buyers often demand a wood of better quality than is necessary, 

 and are thereby involved in needless expense, and on the other hand they 

 at times specify a wood which is no longer obtainable. Since timber is 

 a natural product it is subject to considerable variation, and therefore 

 terms of quality cannot be used in an absolute sense. The case is 

 illustrated by an incident which occurred when the supplies of some 

 Enghsh oak timber and scantlings were rejected and the timber merchant, 

 after hearing the opinion of the builder, replied, " Yes, I see exactly 

 what you want : I will go and plant some of that sort." 



One specification given recently reads : " The whole of the timber for 

 carpentering work to be of the best Memel or Dantzic " ; and another 

 " The whole of the timber to be of the best Memel, Riga or Dantzic fir; 

 joiners, the whole of the timber to be of the best Christiania redwood." 

 Again : " The timber, joists, etc., to be of the best quality pine, not fir, 

 wrongly so-called by timber merchants." These are all supplemented 

 by terms of quality which say that the timber is to be bright, clean, free 

 from sap and loose or dead knots, while in some cases the only phrase used 

 is, " to be free from knots." The terms " fir," " red fir," " yellow deal " 

 or "yellow," and " white deal " or "white," have become general, and are 

 usually understood to describe what should properly be called " red Baltic 

 pine " and " spruce," the produce respectively of Finns sylvestris and Picea 

 excelsa (see p. 212). For very many years past the use of Memel, Riga, 

 or Dantzic pine has been limited to that work which requires large-sized 

 baulks or squares, generally hewn as imported, or occasionally rough 

 sawn, but which is always used for heavy timbering in rough work. 

 To use such timber for other construction is quite unnecessary, as the 

 forests of the Baltic in Sweden and Russia have provided sufficient 

 supplies of high-class quality of so-called redwood [pine], imported sawn 

 to all convenient sizes suitable for the lighter forms of timbering, and for 



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