180 “QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1899. 
Bush Work. 
By A. J. BOYD. 
PALINGS. 
Goop palings of even thickness and of fair width are always saleable in a 
country where everyone who builds a cottage on his sixteen-perch allotment 
encloses the land with a close paling fence. Speaking of a fair width, some 
have an idea that a very wide shingle or paling is an advantage. So far from 
being an advantage, it is a positive disadvantage to both splitter and consumer. 
A thin shingle, 8 or 10 inches wide, if put into a roof with a single nail, is sure 
to curl up at the sides and destroy the regularity of the work, besides which, 
as it does not lie flat on the roof, it leaves an opening for wind and rain. If 
two nails are used, the time and expense involved are not compensated for by 
the extra width, The sawmillers know this, and rarely produce a sawn shingle 
wider than 4 inches. It is the same with palings. A very wide paling, unless 
it is of great thickness, will curl in the sun and draw the nail, unless hoop iron 
has been used as an additional security. When that precaution has not been 
taken, the paling falls and leaves a convenient gap for the nocturnal predatory 
incursions of the ubiquitous goat, the musical Thomas puss, or, in the bush, 
the vagabond wallaby and paddymelon. But this is all by the way, and merely 
serves to emphasise the advice not to split either your palings or shingles too 
wide. 
Now, let us suppose that we have an order for a couple of thousand sound 
ironbark palings. ‘The first thing to do is to select our tree, and the best for 
the purpose will be one with a small pipe, thus avoiding waste as much as 
possible. A straight running but “wavy” grain is the best if can be got, 
as the palings run from such a tree will run very evenly of the same thickness 
throughout. That thickness should be from + to 3 inch, unless specially thick 
ones are required. 
Ineed not repeat the instructions given for felling, cross-cutting, and 
busting into billets. That has all been given in the two previous articles. For 
- running out palings no “horse” is required, as must be obvious from the 
length of the billet. Instead of this, lay a log or a billet on the ground parallel 
with the unased part of the trunk of the tree, at such a distance from it as to 
admit of a billet being inserted after the fashion of a lever on a fulcrum. The 
further from the tree the log is placed, the less will be the height of the end 
of the billet, so that the splitter can always accommodate his work to his own 
height. The billet being in position, the next thing is to use the tools im the 
manner best adapted to easy and speedy work. The position of the splitter is 
shown in Fig. I. Every man has his own idea of the most comfortable 
position for working, but, whatever position is adopted, the billet must rest 
firmly, otherwise any stiff wrench will throw it from side to side, power is lost, 
and also the splitter’s temper. I watched a young fellow trying to split some 
palings at Pimpama last year. He had the proper tools, but had never seen 
the work done. He had his billet on the ground, and entered his “throw.” 
Then he had a picnic. ‘The billet dragged him all over the place; and when 
after an immense amount of unnecessary labour he got his paling off, it was 
3-inch thick at one end and 8 inches at the other, and he had to carry the rest 
of the billet back to its starting point. 
“How many do you think I ought to get in a day ?” he asked. 
“ Well,” I said, “you ought to get about 400—you will get about 40.” 
