276 A MANUAL FOR NORTHERN WOODSMEN^ 
NOTES ON WESTERN VOLUME TABLES 
The tables which follow are representative and the 
most reliable in existence; all are in use in work of impor¬ 
tance. No one, however, either East or West, should 
harbor the idea that such tables will work his salvation. 
Few will require caution as to the difference between 
log scale and saw product. It is well understood that de¬ 
fect has to be specially allowed for. The big part break¬ 
age plays in the yield of Coast timber was emphasized in 
earlier pages. 
The fact that trees may have been scaled for a volume 
table by a scale rule different from the one by which 
timber in question is actually to be scaled will be con¬ 
sidered of consequence only if the two rules vary enough 
to signify among the inevitable errors of estimating. If 
that is the case a comparison should be worked out, not 
a difficult undertaking. Then varying practice in appli¬ 
cation of the scale rule itself might make noticeable 
difference. The general conclusion is that, before trust¬ 
ing any volume table on responsible work, the cruiser 
had better test it to see how it fits his timber and practice. 
Further, it is indispensable, when such tables are relied 
on, that the exact nature of the table itself should be un¬ 
derstood and field practice governed accordingly. Three 
different kinds of tables are, in fact, represented. 
In No. 23, for lodgepole pine, total height of the tree 
is used as the basis of height classification. Some men 
will find it strange to work in that dimension; it is habitual 
with others, however. The general reliability of tables 
of this kind was discussed on pages 170 and 171, and it 
is necessary here to add only a suggestion on the head of 
timber utilization. When the table in question was made 
up, the logs were scaled to a diameter of 6 inches at the 
top. If actual utilization in a given locality falls short 
of that, a very few measurements on down trees will 
enable a man to make proper deduction. If, for instance, 
actual utilization of lodgepole pine should fall one log 
length lower than the standard, a 6-inch 16-foot log. 
