1^ 



LOG SCALING. 37 



larly where the quality of logs is extremely poor. For example, 

 the disease of cypress called ''peckiness" is so difficult to discover 

 from external signs that a general reduction for safety is necessary. 



The growth of the pulp industry in Maine has introduced a new 

 factor in the scaling of spruce. Inasmuch as the whole log is 

 used in making pulp, a solid measure is more appropriate than 

 board measure. For this reason many operators use the Blodgett 

 Rule. This requires the measurement of the middle diameter of 

 the log instead of the end diameter. The measurement is taken 

 with calipers. The length of the log is measured and the middle 

 f# point located by a wheel. The diameter is taken outside the 

 barkj the calipers being constructed to allow for an average 

 bark width. The contents of the log are read directly from the 

 beam of the caliper. A deduction for defects is made, as with the 

 Maine Rule. 



In scaling long logs by the Doyle Rule the diameter is measured 

 at the middle or the two ends are averaged. Better results are ob- 

 tained if long logs are measured in short lengths and the diameters 

 taken at the points where the cuts would be made. 



The scaling of long logs on the end diameter by the present log 

 rules, making no allowance for the increase in size, or ''rise,'* is 

 one of the greatest evils of these board-foot rules. For example, 

 an average 36-foot spruce log with a top diameter of 12 inches will 

 scale 178 board feet by the Scribner Rule. This same log, if rise 

 were allowed for or if cut into three 12-foot logs with diameters 

 of probably 12, 14, and 16 inches, would scale 59+86+119 board 

 feet, or a total of 264 board feet — an increase over the scale of the 

 single log of 86 board feet, or almost 50 per cent. This same log, 

 if scaled entire by the Doyle-Scribner Rule, would give 144 board 

 feet. Scaled as three 12-foot logs it would scale 48+75+108, or 

 231 board feet, an increase of 87 board feet, or over 60 per cent. 

 When it is remembered that the saw cut overruns the scale in 

 sound logs, the unjust result of scaling long logs without allowing 

 for ^'rise" or swell is further accentuated. Long logs with small 

 top diameters of course fare worst in this respect. A mill test on 

 184 30-foot sound longleaf pine logs, from 6 to 11| inches in 

 diameter outside the bark at the small end, conducted under 

 A strict court supervision in a case in Texas, showed a mill run 

 with a band saw of 65 per cent in the 11-inch loo:s, and as high as 



