SCALE RECORDS 99 



The scaler marks the logs with crayon as he scales them. If not numbered, 

 they are check marked. 



Where logs are piled in rollways, unevenly, and cut different lengths, the count 

 must be checked carefully to see that none is missed. This is best done by making 

 a recoimt after scahng a rollway, and check marking the butts of the logs, the 

 tops having been marked in the scaling. Logs piled in high rollways can best be 

 scaled by two men, one working at each side of the rollway. 



Cull logs which are not scaled are given a distinguishing mark. If already 

 skidded, they should be counted and recorded as culls. The scaling of logs in 

 the woods eliminates the culls from the scale altogether and saves the expense of 

 logging them. 



Log Brands, Termed Stamps and Bark Marks. When the practice is necessary 

 the scaler must see that the logs have been properly stamped and bark marked. 

 A stamp is a pattern or die stamped into the end of a log with a marking hammer. 

 A bark mark is a pattern cut into the bark, usually near an end, with an axe. 

 Stamps and bark marks are used to distinguish logs when driven with those of 

 other owners down a common stream. These marks are recorded by scalers and 

 determine the ownership of the logs. 



The Scale Book. A form of scale book is shown on p. 100 containing 100 printed 

 numbers on a page with spaces for entering the contents of logs, and for totahng 

 each column separately and adding these totals for the page. 



The scale record shown in this sample page is for the Scribner Decimal C Scale. 

 The original records give the scale in tens of feet. At the foot of each column, the 

 total is entered parallel to the base, and the zero added to obtain full scale. 



Logs whose scale has been culled show the net scale, and also the amount 

 culled enclosed in a circle as, ®, which permits checking the cull. 



Other forms of scale records are in use following these general principles.^ 



86. The Determination of What Constitutes a Merchantable Log. 



A merchantable log is one which it is profitable to log. Logs whose con- 

 tents will not return the cost of logging and manufacture are unmer- 

 chantable. This may be due either to small size, to defects which 

 reduce the scaled contents of the log, or to high cost of logging. 



Minimum Size. The costs of producing lumber are separated into 

 logging cost and milling cost. Both depend on the cubic volume of the 

 log. But both are modified by the time required in handling separate 

 pieces. This causes the cost per cubic foot to increase for small logs. 

 In logging, and in small mills, the cost also increases per cubic foot when 

 logs reach large sizes difficult to handle. 



The value of the product depends not upon the cubic contents of 

 the log, but on the quantity of sawed lumber which it contains, and 



1 The following court decisions are of interest: "When record of scale is kept 

 on temporary paper and transferred every evening to permanent record, this 

 record holds in court as original evidence." Court of Appeals, Alabama, 68 South. 

 698. 



The U. S. Forest Service instructs its scalers to make the original and final 

 record of scale in the field because of the liability of error in copying figures. 



"Parties must abide by the official scaler's report except that fraud or gross 

 mistake can be shown." Supreme Court, Michigan, Brook vs. Bellows, 146 N. W. 311. 



