SUNDRY USES OF SPLIT WOOD. 149 



there is a loss of 35 to 40 per cent- of wood in making them, 

 and even more. Machines have been invented for making- 

 shingles, that by Gangloff* being the best known ; a man and 

 boy can thus make 700 shingles in a day, and wood of inferior 

 quality may thus be utilized. Shingles stained black or red, 

 the better to resist the weather, are prepared in Sweden. Fire- 

 proof shingles are also employed. 



[In the Western Himalayas, deodar, and other conifers are used 

 for shingles, the former wood benig extremely durable. — Tr.] 



2. Wood for Oars and Rudders. 



Large quantities of wood are used for making rudders 

 and oars. Ashwood is best, but beechwood is also used. 

 The pieces used for the purpose are 6 — 15 feet long, 4 — 5 

 inches broad at the flat end, and 2h — 3 inches square at the 

 other end. 



Large spars used to stretch the large nets used by English 

 fishing-boats may be also included here. The wood used is in 

 round or split pieces of slender ash-stems 24 — 30 feet long, 

 and 7 — 8 inches in diameter at the top. Oars for light river 

 boats are made of split sprucewood. 



3. Jh-oad split Pieces. 



Thin pieces of wood are used for making boxes, sheaths for 

 swords or knives, by the bookbinder, shoemaker, &c., and are 

 chiefly of coniferous wood (spruce), but wood of beech, aspen, 

 and birch is also used. They are split out of butts, or straight- 

 fibred split billets. 



Wood-Tapestry of the thickness of ordinary paper is used for 

 coating the walls of rooms, up to 3 feet broad and 60 — 100 

 feet long, and is prepared from the wood of all species of trees. 

 This is obtained by supporting the butt on a special kind of 

 turning-lathe, and revolving it against a blade which is con- 

 stantly pressed further forwards as it peels ofl" the periphery of 

 the butt. The same machine may be used for making veneer. 



Straight-grained spracewood is also split and used for 



* Forst. u. Ja-azeitung, 1872, p. 312. 



