276 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN 



NOTES ON WESTERN VOLUME TABLES 



The tables which follow are representative and the 

 most reliable in existence; all are in use in work of impor- 

 tance. No one, however, either East or West, should 

 harbor the idea that such tables will work his salvation. 



Few will require caution as to the difference between 

 log scale and saw product. It is well understood that de- 

 fect has to be specially allowed for. The big part break- 

 age plays in the yield of Coast timber was emphasized in 

 earlier pages. 



The fact that trees may have been scaled for a volume 

 table by a scale rule different from the one by which 

 timber in question is actually to be scaled will be con- 

 sidered of consequence only if the two rules vary enough 

 to signify among the inevitable errors of estimating. If 

 that is the case a comparison should be worked out, not 

 a difficult undertaking. Then varying practice in appli- 

 cation of the scale rule itself might make noticeable 

 difference. The general conclusion is that, before trust- 

 ing any volume table on responsible work, the cruiser 

 had better test it to see how it fits his timber and practice. 



Further, it is indispensable, when such tables are relied 

 on, that the exact nature of the table itself should be un- 

 derstood and field practice governed accordingly. Three 

 different kinds of tables are, in fact, represented. 



In No. 23, for lodgepole pine, total height of the tree 

 is used as the basis of height classification. Some men 

 will find it strange to work hi that dimension; it is habitual 

 with others, however. The general reliability of tables 

 of this kind was discussed on pages 170 and 171, and it 

 is necessary here to add only a suggestion on the head of 

 timber utilization. When the table in question was made 

 up, the logs were scaled to a diameter of 6 inches at the 

 top. If actual utilization in a given locality falls short 

 of that, a very few measurements on down trees will 

 enable a man to make proper deduction. If, for instance, 

 actual utilization of lodgepole pine should fall one log 

 length lower than the standard, a 6-inch 16-foot log, 



