The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-09-07
SHINGLES.


Letter from East Saginaw, Mich.l
The Oldest, brashest logs are selected
for shingles, provided always they are
not sound. If they are sound they will
make lumber; if they are doty, worm
eaten, fre-burnt and disreputable gen.
orally, they are worked up into shin
giles. The prime consideration in
single timber is to get wood that is
sound and brash. 1t must be sound to
make tight roof, and it must be old
and brash to prevent warping. A log
may be doty in places, and even hollow,
and yet have considerable good timber
in it suitable for shingles. The logs
selected, they are run in" and sawed
into "bolts" sixteen inches long by a
cross-cut saw worked by steam power.
These bolts are then placed on end and
pushed against large circular saw in
motion, and the good parts cut out In
the most-economical shape, as the OPP
orator judges of it by looking at the
end. The refuse goes to the furnace
room, and the select blocks are carried
to the shingle-machines at the other
end of the room, where they are set on
end in sort of wise, and giggle rapidly
back and forth against circular saw,
the block being thrown out at the top
and bottom, alternately, by an eccen-
trio movement, for the butt and top of
the .shingle, at the same time 1t is
moved back to the saw, each movement
making o single. OF course, these
shingles are of all widths, and some
taper in width; some have knots and
shakes and doty strips through
them, and sometimes these defects
run parallel with the sides of the
single, and sometimes they do
not. Sitting near the man who oper-
ates the block from which the shingles
are made is the "ioiner,' man who
picks updhe shingles nimbly and holds
their edges an instant against planer
that runs so rapidly it appears to be
standing still, and then losses them
where they belong. All perfect SHIN
gles-that is, shingles of sound, UNI
blemished wood, and with parallel
edges and square ends, no difference
whether they are wide or narrow, are
pitched into one hopper and go below
to the binder" These are AL"
Shingles that are perfect in every re-
SpScJ except tniJ tneY nave SLldll souH'i
knots in the upper half, ape pitched in
to another hopper or chute and go be-
low to another binder" These are
"a" Shingles that are perfect in
every respect except that the butt is
not on a right angle with the sides, are
pitched into another chute and go be-
low to boy who lays them on a gauge
and pushes them against a saw, 10y
which they are squared, after which
they are thrown on conveyer and go
to the binder of "A+l" shingles. Shin
giles that have doty streak or crack or
knot near the middle, are jointed and
pitched over the planer to man who
holds them against a circular saw until
they are ripped up and these defects
cut out. Then, if this operation leaves
the sides and butts at right angles,
they are sent below to the binder, but
if these defects run at an angle, the
butts must be squared, and they are
sent down for that purpose first Shin
giles that are feather edged" knotty,
dotv, shalIy and incapable of being
made over into anything good are sent
down a chute and come out in bundles
by a strange travesty on language
marked mo