TIMBER. 



It is fcldom that wc meet with cither a fcaffold-pole or a 

 fcaffold-board (fuch as arc ufod by builders) that is rotten, 

 .dthough thcv are of fir, and are alternately wet and dry, 

 and defcend'from father to fon for feveral generations. 

 The reafon is, they are never pa'nited. 



Examine any old bnilditig, and it will be found that no 

 part of the wood or timber is in a found ibte, excepting 

 that which has efcapcd the painter's bru(h. The wainfcot, 

 doors, windows, &c. will be found to be rotten, when the 

 floors and ilairs, although alternately wet and dry from 

 periodical wnlhing, arc pcrfedly found, becaufe they have 

 never been painted. 



It is a common praftice in London to cover the bafe- 

 ment floors with painted oil-cloth; and it is aftonidiing to 

 fee how foon, in thcfe cafes, the floors are rotten, and which 

 is called the dry rot, but which is never once fufpefted to 

 be the ftoppage of circulation by the ufc of the oil-cloth. 

 Were cirpets fubilituted for the painted cloths, no fuch 

 effeft would take place. 



The dry rot in buildings, and particularly in the navy, 

 is comparatively a modern difeafe, and has very much m- 

 creafed lince the pernicious praftice of painting has become 

 fo general. The ancient city of Chefter, where fo much 

 timber was introduced into the outfidcs of the buildings, 

 and which is now black with age, but never painted, is a 

 (Iriking illuftration of this theory. The fame may be re- 

 marked of the villages at a diftance from the metropolis, 

 where the outfide wood-work of the buildings, fuch as 

 doors, windows, window-lhutters, weather-boarding, &c. 

 which have never been painted, are neverthelefs found, and 

 vet fome of them fo ancient as to defy all enquiry as to 

 their age. How diiTerent this from the gentlemen's houfes 

 near London or other great towns, wliere the gates, ports, 

 rails, and pallifadoes are kept conftantly well palnteti, but 

 are feldom found to laft longer than ten or a dozen years at 

 mod! 



Paint indeed conceals from the eye the deftruftion which 

 it occafions ; and our readers will doubtlefs by this time 

 begin to fufpeft their former opinions of it to be erroneous. 

 We fliall therefore only mention two other inftances, which 

 came under our own obfervation, to (hew that wood never 

 ought to be painted, except for the purpofe of ornament. 



A few years ago, fome old houfes were pulled down near 

 the Monument in London. Several of the principal timbers 

 %vere fo fcorched and burnt on the outfide, that an enquiry 

 took place as to the caufe of it ; and it was clearly afcer- 

 tained, that tlie timbers in queftion mult have been preferved 

 from the ruins of the great fire of London in 1666, fo that 

 this wood muft now be much more than 150 years old ; yet 

 the writer of this article lately faw that fame fir-timber 

 fawed out into deals, and again ufed as new (luff, being to 

 aH appearance as found as ever. The only perceptible dif- 

 ference was in the colour, which was darker than deals ge- 

 nerally are. 



The other inftance referred to is the late old Jewr)' chapel 

 in London. When that building was taken down, the pews, 

 which were of oak, and the feats, which were deal (but 

 never had been painted) were found to be in fo perfeft a 

 ftate of foundnefs, that they were removed to the new build- 

 ing in Jewin-ftreet, and where there is no doubt they will 

 remain as long as the building itfelf, although thofe faid 

 deal feats are known to be confiderably more than one hun- 

 dred years old. 



The mod efFeftual method of preferving timber from de- 

 fay is to char it ; but when the purpofe to which it is to 

 be applied will not admit of that operation, the next beft 



method is to wafh it over with charcoal and water, fimilar 

 to white-waftiing. Either of thefe methods wil' certainly 

 preferve it from the dry rot, charcoal being the greateft an- 

 tiputrefcent known, and no moirture within the influence of 

 its ackion will become putrid or decompofed, and we have 

 already fhewn that this muft take place before wood will 

 perifli. It may be further obferved, that vegetation can- 

 not take place where charcoal or charring is ufed, and 

 the dry rot is always accompanied with that fpecies of 

 vegetation called fungi, and this fungus never occurs till 

 decompofition or decay has begun. 



When boarded floors are to be laid upon or very near the 

 ground, it fhould be ftrewed over with dry aflies, and the 

 joifts and underfide of the boards either charred or payed 

 over with charcoal-wafli, as before direfted. The lame 

 (hould be done with the fide of the wainfcot next the 

 walls. 



As painting is indifpenfable from the fafhion of the times, 

 to doors, window-fhutters, wainfcot, &c. it would be well 

 to have them painted once over in the carpenter's (hop when 

 the (luff is perfeAly dry, and finiflied afterward in the build- 

 ing for which they are prepared. 



If the beft feafoned ftuflF be put up unpainted in a new 

 building, the quantity of moifture it will imbibe from the 

 brick- work, plafter, &c. before it can be painted, will de- 

 feat all former care of well feafoning. 



As to fafhes, mahogany is unqueftionably the cheapeft 

 article they can be made of ; for deal, when painted only a 

 few times, w ill have coft more than the difference of price of 

 that very fuperior wood, both as to look and durability. 

 Air that is Itagnant is equally pernicious as ftagnant moif- 

 ture. When it is in that ftate, it foon becomes decompofed, 

 and the hydrogen gas fixing upon wood, ropes, paper, and 

 other vegetable fubftances, quickly brings on their deftruc- 

 tion. Ventilation, and the ufe of charcoal, are the beft pre- 

 ventives. 



The above hints will be fufficient to guide the intelligent 

 workman in all other cafes. 



Though it does not properly belong to this article, it 

 may not be amifs to mention, that thefe obfervations are 

 quite inapplicable to the prefervation of iron. Iron decays 

 from the effeft of external moifture, and the aftion of the 

 atmofphere upon its furface, which produces oxydation, 

 and which is the fole caufe of its decay. This is only to 

 be prevented by painting. 



Timber, Preferving of. When boards, &c. are dried, 

 feafoned, and fixed in their places, care is to be taken to 

 defend and preferve them ; to which the fmearing of them 

 with linfeed-oil, tar, or the hke oleaginous matter, contri- 

 butes very much. 



The ancients advife the fmoke-drying of all inftruments 

 made of wood, by hanging them up in the chimnies where 

 wood-fires are ufed. The whole benefit arifing from this 

 feems to be, that the oil of the burnt wood enters, as it 

 afcends in the fmoke, into the pores of that which is pro- 

 pofed to be preferved. 



The Dutch preferve their gates, portcullices, draw- 

 bridges, (luices, &c. by coating them over with a mixture 

 of pitch and tar, on which they ftrew fraall pieces of cockle 

 and other (hells, beaten almoft to powder, and mixed with 

 fea-fand, which encrufts and arms them wonderfully againft 

 all alTaults of wind and weather. 



Timber felled before the fap is perfeftly at reft, is very 

 fubjeft to the worms ; to prevent or cure which, Mr. Eve- 

 lyn gives us the following fecrct, as moft approved : Put 

 common fulphur into a cucurbit, with as much aquafortis 



as 



