THE USES OF WOOD 



WOOD USED IN ROUGH CONSTRUCTION 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note: This is the third story in a series of important and very valuable articles, by Mr. Maxwell, on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



THE output of the country's sawmills may be placed 

 at 40,000,000,000 feet a year, more one year, less 

 another, but averaging about forty billion. This 

 material goes to its final use in two classes. Rough 

 lumber constitutes one class; the other class is dressed 

 or otherwise further manufactured before it reaches its 

 final place in utilization. The scope of the present article 

 will be restricted so as to include little more than the 

 wood belonging to the first division, the rough material, 

 that finds place in the walls and frames of buildings. 

 The finer work, such as the interior and exterior finish 

 of houses is re- 

 served for dis- 

 cussion in an- 

 other article. 



Probably 

 half of the 

 lumber sawed 

 in the United 

 States, or 

 20,000,000,000 

 feet a year, is 

 r eq ui r ed to 

 meet the de- 

 ma nd s of 

 builders. This 

 includes both 

 the rough lum- 

 ber and that 

 which is fur- 

 ther manufac- 

 t u r e d. The 

 structures 

 which absorb 

 this large lum- 

 ber supply are 

 of so many 

 kinds that a 

 list is out of 

 the question, 

 but belonging 

 to such a list 

 are residences, farm buildings, warehouses, stores, fac- 

 tories, educational and religious edifices, cottages and 

 camps, to mention just a few of the most familiar. 



It is not wholly certain that one-half of the total 

 lumber supply goes to the builder, but that estimate 

 appears to be conservative in view of the fact that nearly 

 one-third of the entire lumber supply is converted into 

 planing mill products, and that builders are by all odds 

 the largest users of such products which consist of 

 dressed and partly worked material ; and there is little 

 doubt that if lumber used in its rough form is added 



SPLITTING PUNCHEON FLOORING MATERIAL 



In pioneer days the best cabins were floored with thick split boards known as puncheons, smoothed with 

 an adz. The process of making them is now nearly a lost art, but occasionally a manufacturer of such 

 slabs plies his maul and wedges as in the years of long ago. 



to this, the total will be fully one-half of the total saw- 

 mill output. The two classes, rough material and mill- 

 work, are so mixed in use that they cannot afterwards 

 be itemized separately. 



The tendency now is to use more dressed stock than 

 formerly, in proportion to that employed in its rough 

 form. When carpenters were under the necessity of 

 dressing all lumber by hand, or with small and simple 

 machines, or use it without dressing, the temptation to 

 follow the easiest course was strong, with the result 

 that not a great many years ago it was not unusual to 



lay floors of un- 

 planed boards 

 in res idences 

 ;ind other pre- 

 tentious build- 

 ings ; and the 

 weatherboard- 

 ing or siding 

 sometimes went 

 into place in 

 the same rough 

 condition. It 

 was still earlier 

 that the best 

 cabins had 

 split puncheon 

 floors which 

 had been 

 smoothed with 

 adzes. 



To speak of 

 the log houses 

 of the pioneers 

 would be hark- 

 ing back into 

 the past rather 

 farther than is 

 lecessary, were 

 it not that 

 such houses 

 are with us yet. 

 The log cabin did not disappear when the house of sawed 

 lumber came in. Both kinds have existed side by side 

 during three hundred years of American progress, and 

 most people of today would be surprised if told how many 

 log buildings are still in existence. Some are falling 

 down because of age and neglect ; some are being cared 

 for and preserved for historical or sentimental reasons ; 

 and some log houses, strange as it may seem, are being 

 built at this time. Buildings of this class are quite numer- 

 ous, if the whole country is considered, but they are 

 confined to timbered regions. Within a distance not 



419 



