358 



TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



equal to the strains brought to bear upon it; the 

 stays, shrouds, and other rigging being quite sufficient 

 to hold it against any ordinary amount of pressure* 



After the spars have been withdrawn from each 

 season's fall of trees, the remainder are hewn into a 

 square form, producing logs varying from 14 to 26 inches 

 square, and from 18 to 40 feet in length (Fig. 29). 

 These pass through a sorting for quality, to suit the 

 market, but there are no official brands by which the 

 surveyor could at once identify them. Good, sound, 

 practical judgment is therefore most essential for 

 making a selection of this wood. 



J!!;;i::tili::Ji::''(ii*;ifeyailMiliiiii;ii4fe 





FIG. 29. 



Occasionally we see quoted some " waney " timber 

 for board purposes, or " waney board timber." These 

 logs are not so perfectly hewn or squared as the ordinary 

 timber, and are usually short butts of trees, which are 

 very clean in the grain, free from knots, and solid at the 

 centre. These are probably procured from fine trees that 

 have been broken in their fall, and are doubtless about 



* Masts made of Yellow Pine can seldom be relied upon after eight or ten 

 years' work, especially if tliey have been used in the tropics, where the intense 

 heat and rains deteriorate them very rapidly. Every care should therefore be 

 taken to preserve them, first by p xinting them only after thorough seasoning, 

 and then at intervals of a year or so. The covers at the wedging decks should 

 also be carefully looked to, and kept in good condition, to prevent damp from 

 affecting the mast at that part. The introduction of iron and steel for the lower 

 masts of ships heis now almost entirely superseded the use of wood, both in the 

 royal and the mercantile navy. 



