36 BULLETIN 1436, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
MISCELLANEOUS USES 
In the past, because of its properties, dogwood has been used for 
bearings tor machinery, dowels, rake and harrow teeth, meat skew- 
ers, toothpicks, vine stakes, hubs of small wheels, barrel hoops, 
walking sticks, hay forks, hog yokes, distaffs for spinning, hames, 
jaws for small vises, engravers' blocks, and cabinet work, such as 
knobs and carved decorations on fronts of drawers. It has also 
been used for fuel (fig. 23), gunpowder charcoal, measuring rules, 
paper knives, and novelties. It is used locally at the present time 
for mauls, wedges and gluts, sled runners and similar products 
where hardness, toughness, and the characteristic of wearing smooth 
are essential. 
Woodsmen, farmers, woodland owners, and settlers who have 
occasion to use sleds without metal runners find dogwood or per- 
simmon runners excellent substitutes, especially sticks with a natural 
bend, like the turned end of the sled runner. The runners become 
extremely smooth from use. 
Some dogwood is used in the manufacture of knitting needles, 
carpet needles, etc. Knitting needles being long and slender and 
requiring smooth-wearing qualities are very satisfactory when made 
from dogwood. The dogwood meat skewer has been replaced by 
the more plentiful beech and maple. 
Jewelers prefer dogwood blocks for bench work, and dogwood 
sticks for cleaning deep-seated lenses, because the wood resists wear 
and at the same time does not scratch glass lenses or other delicate 
parts. 
SUBSTITUTE WOODS 
The increasing difficulty in obtaining good dogwood and per- 
simmon brings attention to a number of woods with similar proper- 
ties which may possibly make satisfactory substitutes for shuttle 
blocks. A number of such woods are discussed below, and in Table 
4 their properties are compared. The values of the flowering dog- 
wood, which has proved itself eminently suited for shuttles, are 
in most cases higher than the values of the other woods, as shown 
in the table, and may be used as a basis for comparison. It is 
impossible, however, from a mere comparison of the mechanical 
properties to tell whether or not a wood will make satisfactory 
shuttles. Only a thorough trial of shuttles made from the woods 
will prove the point. 
Manufacturers interested can readily obtain sufficient bolts to 
make a number of shuttles of some of the woods mentioned. The 
shuttles should be given a thorough trial in looms of textile mills. 
Shuttles of persimmon and flowering dogwood tested under like con- 
ditions at the same time will afford a comparative check on the re- 
sults. The experiment, if comprehensive enough, should prove the 
fitness or unfitness of the new woods for shuttles. It is quite pos- 
sible that several will abrade as smoothly as dogwood or persimmon 
shuttles, and this is one of the chief considerations. 
In 1910 some bolts of western woods were received and made into 
shuttles by a manufacturer, and the shuttles tried in looms. Un- 
fortunately, the bolts were of very poor quality and the test of the 
shuttles was not sufficiently extensive. A number of shuttle-block 
