PIT] I 96 ) 



Petrograd Standard. See " St. Petersburg Standard." 



Pickets. Narrow strips of wood used for fencing. 



Pilaster. A debased pillar ; a square pillar projecting from a 

 pier or a wall to a portion of what would otherwise be its 

 square. It suggests the place of a detached pillar or column 

 if the wall was not there. 



Pile. (1) A large stake or piece of timber or " reinforced concrete," 

 pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a 

 river, or in a harbour, or for a foundation, where the ground 

 is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other super- 

 structure, or to form a coffer-dam, etc. See " Pile-driver " 

 and " Beetle." (2) An iron column with a screw at its 

 point for screwing into the ground, often used in pier work 

 where the soil is tenacious clay = " a screw-pile." 



Pile-driver. A machine worked in a vertical position, on which 

 an iron " ram " or " monkey " is hoisted, by steam or hand 

 power, to a set height, where it is released to fall on the head 

 of the pile placed in position for driving or sinking into the 

 ground. In the instance of concrete piles, a block of wood 

 intervenes between the ram and the head of the pile. See 

 " Pile " and " Beetle." 



Pin Knots. Small knots not above half an inch in diameter. 



Pine and Pinewood. " Pine " is the Latin pinus, supposed, from 

 the form of the leaves, to imply " pin " ; a tract of arid 

 land in America is known as a " pine-barren." ' Pine- 

 wood " is not such a common term in Britain as " firwood '' 

 (which see], 



Pinetum. A collection of living pine trees made for ornamental 

 or scientific purposes. 



Pinholes. Small holes in the wood caused by worms or insects. 



Pipe Stave Oak. A standard stave of a certain size, namely 

 6 ft. x 3 in. x 6 in., used by coopers. Pviven on the quar- 

 ter from selected oak, these and other staves of different 

 dimensions were once largely used in the cabinet trades, 

 but with the advent of American oak in lumber form a 

 rapid decline in their use took place. See " Stave (oak) 

 Standard Stave." 



Pit-chocks. Short square sawn blocks of birch, beech or oak, 

 used in coal mines. 



Pit-saws. Large two-handled saws worked by two men, one of 

 whom stands on the log and the other in the pit be- 

 neath, hence the name. The man who works on the 

 log is called the " top sawyer " and the man underneath 

 is called the "pitman" or "bottom sawyer." 



