186 APPLIED BIOLOGY 



less "cross-grained"; that is, they tend to split obliquely 

 and not parallel to the central axis of the stem. Many woods 

 (such as elm, sycamore, apple) are often difficult to split 

 because their wood-fibers are crossed and interlaced. Split 

 some pieces of boards or branches of various trees by driving 

 a wide chisel carefully and notice the direction of the fibers 

 of the wood. 



The usefulness of boards for certain purposes depends upon 

 the direction of sawing. Examine pieces of pine, cypress, 

 maple and other boards, especially where they have been 

 subjected to wear, as in floors, and note the direction of the 

 cut of boards which have splintered or in other ways become 

 undesirable. The transverse section is best if a block is to be 

 subjected to great strain, as in pavement-blocks, mallets, etc. 



The decorative value of the grain of woods depends in part 

 upon the way the logs are sawed into boards. Compare the 

 tangential and radial sections of oak and other woods, and 

 decide which is the most beautiful cut. Most people prefer 

 the radial cut of oak with the exposed glossy medullary rays 

 capable of excellent polish. In the usual method of cutting 

 boards only a few boards near the center of the log will be 

 radial sections or nearly so. All the others will be more or 

 less tangential (see 4, 5, and 6 in Fig. 55). In sawing oak 

 and other woods with prominent rays for furniture and house- 

 finishing it is best to saw as shown in Fig. 56. Two 

 boards (sometimes four) are taken from the middle (cuts 

 1, 2). Next the same number of boards are taken from the 

 middle of each half (3, 4). These will show the same grain 

 as the first boards cut, but will be less than half as wide. 

 Then each of the " quarters " of the log is taken separately 

 and sawed into boards cut as radially as possible. There 

 are several possible ways of sawing "quarters," but a little 

 study of the diagram and of blocks of wood will show that 

 cutting as in A and D, Fig. 56, is to be preferred for 

 " quarter-sawing " the choicest woods, because it will re- 



