92 LOGGING 
Hardwood wedges of hickory, hard maple, beech, ironwood, 
dogwood and persimmon are frequently used in the southern 
pine region when local timber for their manufacture is accessible. 
They are preferred because they are inexpensive and hold well 
in a cut. They may be made by the sawyers as needed or by 
contract. They are ordinarily 6 or 8 inches long, 2^ or 3| inches 
wide and 1 inch in thickness at the head. 
Felling crews in the Northwest usually carry two long and 
three short wedges and log-makers, five bucking wedges. In 
other regions where the timber is of medium size the sawyers 
use from two to four wedges. From four to five wooden wedges 
per day are required by a saw crew of two men. 
Metal wedges are either carried by the fallers in a small canvas 
sack slung over the shoulder, or one is fastened at each end of a 
piece of hay wire, 3 or 4 feet long. Wooden wedges are carried 
in the hip pockets of the workmen. 
Fig. 12. — A Spring Board used by Fallers in the Northwest. 
MAULS AND SLEDGES 
Iron wedges may be driven with a wooden maul made by the 
camp blacksmith from hard maple, yellow birch or any tough 
wood. A common form used in Maine is made from a round 
tree section, 6 inches in diameter and from 26 to 30 inches long. 
An 8-inch head is left on one end of the section and the remainder 
is trimmed down to a diameter of 2 inches to form a handle. 
The head may or may not be bound with iron hoops to prevent 
splitting. Steel sledge hammers of 8 or 10 pounds' weight are 
used in the Northwest for driving metal wedges. Wooden wedges 
are driven either with an ax or a sledge. 
SPRING BOARDS 
These are used only in the Northwest, and serve as plat- 
forms on which notchers and fallers stand when performing 
their work. The spring board with the spur uppermost is thrust 
