PRODUCTION OF TANBARK. 11 



show different sensitiveness to weather changes; even two sides of a 

 tree may differ in ease of peeling and the north side stick before the 

 other. 



Peeling is also affected by injury from fire, wind, or snowstorms. 

 Trees which are only slightly hurt by fire will not peel for two or three 

 seasons, and sometimes not at all. The wounds made when limbs are 

 broken off by windstorms or by the weight of snow have a similar 

 effect. Even the "try marks" on trees which are found not ready to 

 peel interfere with satisfactory work later in the season. 



Peeling can be done more economically in the latter part of the 

 season because the bark, which is brittle in the early part, becomes 

 tougher then, so that it can be taken off in entire pieces. 



At least half a day is required for two men to peel a large tree. The 

 peelers, therefore, never begin late in the day upon a tree which they 

 must leave unfinished until the next morning, as the bark may " bind 

 down" overnight. 



The peelers work in pairs. Usually they rely on the woodsman's 

 one-edged ax alone, as they believe that the advantages of a spud 

 do not equal the saving of time when the ax alone is used. With the 

 blade of his ax the peeler tries the bark to determine if it is loose, 

 and if it is he cuts two circles through the bark, one at the foot of the 

 trunk, the other 4 feet above. The bark is then slit longitudinally 

 and taken off in from one to four pieces. (PL III.) The circle of bark 

 thus removed is called a " rim" or a " coil." The first coil is removed 

 from the standing tree because it is easier to work when the tree is 

 erect and because it prevents the loss in chips at the base of the tree, 

 where the best bark is. In felling, the woodsman takes advantage 

 of the lay of the land, of down logs, and of gullies, in order that the 

 trunk may not lie flat on the ground and interfere with the removal 

 of the bark. Most tanbark oak trunks are badly fire-hollowed, which 

 makes it difficult to place them accurately. After the tree is down 

 the small branches are lopped/and interfering shrubs are brushed out. 

 One man then goes ahead "Hnging," or cutting through the bark 

 around the trunk; the second man follows, slits the bark, and removes 

 the coils. This process is continued up the trunk until the bark 

 becomes less than one-half inch thick. As the "coils" are taken off 

 they are laid on the ground with the inner or "flesh" side up, where, 

 as they become dry, they harden and curl up. 



The average woodsman peels from 1 to 1J cords per day. Where 

 the stand consists of trees with straight, clear trunks standing on 

 ridges, an expert peeler can cut from 4 to 5 cords in a day. In the 

 case of very limby trees it is a general practice to take the bark off 

 only the clear portion of the trunk and abandon much of the remaining 

 bark even where it is thick. The quality of such waste is shown by 

 the analyses given in Table 3. 



