684 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



with the value of apple and pear wood in Europe, for 

 engraving and carving, planted and pruned their or- 

 chards with the ultimate object of selling the wood after 

 the trees were done bearing. For the purpose of pro- 

 ducing smooth trunks, they pruned their apple trees 

 about fifteen feet high, leaving no limbs near the ground. 

 Wood grew wood at the expense of fruit. They found 

 no sale for applewood in their time, but more than a 

 century afterwards some of the old high-pruned orchards 

 were bought by saw manufacturers who made handles 

 of the richly-colored wood. 



Many kinds of wood, excellent, medium and somewhat 

 poor, are manufactured 

 into handles for brooms, 

 mops and brushes of num- 

 erous sorts. Requirements 

 are so various that most 

 woods are suitable for some 

 of the handles in this class. 

 Extraordinary strength is 

 not essential, nor is high 

 elasticity required. Broom 

 handle makers sometimes 

 insist upon having heavy 

 woods like sugar maple 

 and birch, but they prefer 

 that kind because weight 

 helps the sale of the 

 brooms, and not because a 

 heavy handle makes a bet- 

 ter broom than the one 

 with a light handle. 

 Brooms, handles and all, 

 may be sold by the ton, 

 and the heavier the wood, 

 the more favorable the sel- 

 ling price. Broom handles 

 are now produced by ma- 

 chinery and in large quan- 

 tities, but the old hand- 

 made broom which was put 

 together by farmers for 

 their own use many years 

 ago, often had octagonal 

 handles, shaved slowly, one 

 at a time, with a drawing 

 knife. An expert could 

 shave fifty a day. 



Paint brush handles are 

 generally in the cheapest 

 class. In size they vary 

 from those as long as a 

 broom handle down to lengths of four inches or less ; and 

 many kinds of wood are satisfactory for their manu- 

 facture. Enormous quantities of such handles are made 

 by special machines run at high speed. 



The cheapest grade of handles are those for pails, 

 buckets, bundles and boxes, but many of them are made 

 of handsome and expensive woods and it is not unusual 



Photograph 6y Romtyn Hnuu) 



THE SHAGBARK HICKORY 



Note the characteristic tall, oblong Crown, even in field growth It 

 generally furnishes the highest quality of hickory wood for commercial 

 purposes and by some this is called the national tree of America. 



for them to be painted, stained, enameled, or japanned. 

 That finish is put on to hide the cheapness of the wood 

 and to improve the handle's appearance. The pattern 

 is cylindrical, bored lengthwise for the insertion of a 

 wire bail or fastening to complete the handle. The 

 wooden piece is merely the grip for holding in the 

 hand. It is three or four inches long and an inch or 

 less in diameter. The softwoods represented in the 

 handle business are mostly in products of this class, 

 and hemlock leads the softwoods in quantity. 



Another group of small handles differs in some par- 

 ticulars from the foregoing. They are for use on but- 

 tonhooks, manicure rasps, 

 ladles, dippers, and many 

 similar tools and utensils. 

 Wood is one of the best 

 nonconductors of heat, and 

 when a wooden handle is 

 affixed to a coffee pot, fry- 

 ing pan, curling iron, or 

 any other tool that is to 

 be used near the fire, it is 

 meant to keep the hand 

 from the hot metal. The 

 wooden handle on a poker 

 or a fire shovel is there 

 for a similar purpose. The 

 wooden handle is frequently 

 employed to protect the 

 hand against cold instead 

 of heat. In very cold wea- 

 ther metal tools quickly 

 freeze the hand that comes 

 in contact with them, and 

 the protection which a 

 wooden handle affords is 

 highly essential. The holds 

 with which levers in mills 

 and brakes on cars and 

 wagons are equipped are 

 examples of the use of 

 wood as a shield to the 

 hand, against both cold 

 weather and the hardness 

 of the metal. 



The wooden knife handle 

 occupies a large place 

 or several places. This 

 handle may be of very 

 cheap and common wood, 

 or it may be made of the 

 finest and most costly pro- 

 duct of forests either domestic or foreign. Foreign 

 woods listed in the knife handle industry may cost 

 thirty or forty cents a square foot. Highly expensive 

 woods are used in very small pieces on each knife. The 

 wooden part of the pocket knife handle is usually thin 

 and is restricted to a thin splint on each side. Such 

 splints are known as scales. A foot, board measure, of 



