The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-11-26
LUMBER YARD SKILL
SCIENCE N euslDiNo THE HUGE
STACKS OF TIMBER

Il n
SCIENCE N sU.lp,No THE HUGE
STACKS OF TIMBER
Each Variety Of Wood Requires .
Particular Treatment Of Exposure
That 1t May Become Properly Sea-
| soned.
It would certainly ssem to tho unob-
servant man that Of sll places In the world
city lumber yard was the dullsst. That
there Is romance or any conceivable inter
est in heaps Of timber, stacked high up in
the air, he would hardly admit. Even
those who get their bread and butter in
the trade acknowledge no enthusiasm and
hardly know how to describe what their
workmen do. Until you enter into its
mysteries, therefore, the lumber trade ID
very prOsaio and lumber yard but q
sleepy place, hardly worth moments no.
tice.
Once In amid the stacks, however, the
POINT Of view changes. What at distance
seemed simply wood without distinctions
now is seen to be timber Of many different
sorts. Each variety has Its heap or heaps;
each heap is now in process of "seas0n-
ing" Some Of these stacks may lie there
for months, some even for years, growing
meanwhile more and more valuable, for
1t is age, sun baths, the effect of the at
mosphere, that improve lumber week in
and week out A lumber yard, carelessly
arranged as 1t may seem to be, Is never
th0vn I'm {aOkt ~ 1t@ e.
heaps arc by no means "just wood, as
they appear to the casual passerby. On
the contrary. they are scores Of varieties,
each subject to some especial treatment,
each piled In some especial manner, some
to wait over so many weeks to be sold at
certain figure, so many more weeks II
designed to bring higher price.
Towering up in the air 80, 40 feet, some
times SO, again even 80, stretch these lum-
Der heaps. Each variety needs . treatment
of its own. Some must lie in the open
air, exposed to all fashions of wind and
rain, others after little time must be put
under sort Of covered shed-a shed that
has only buck and Eyebrow" roof that
projects far over In sort Of hood and al
lows a free and constant circulation of
wind and air.
Verify, there is science in this stack
Ing of wood, q science that does not ap-
pear or show itself at the first glance. The
lumberman Is not only he who up In the
North woods in tho far east or west, down
south or In the tropics selects, cuts down
and news, but quite as much the man in
the heart Of New York city who heaps up
the sticks and by arranging them deftly
and, knowing just what they need cares
for and cures them until out they come
we'll seasoned lumber.
There is even trick and pretty art in
stacking these lengths of wood. each hun
dreds Of pounds In weight. Danger hangs
over the men who mount the piles and
from their elevated perches pull up or
swing down the huge "sticks.' The bal
ance of the workman up aloft is not easily
preserved. The weight Of the "stick" may
cause him to topple at any instant. Espe-
oially when ''letting down" must he see
to 1t that he let's go at precisely the right
second, else the "stick" will drag him
along with it, despite his efforts and strug-
giles. On top Of lumber pile very truly
does the city lumberman take his life into
his own hands. And yet such ia their skill
that an accident seldom happens. These
men juggle with the sticks at once SO
clumsy and so heavy with the ease Of
japanese master of tricks The lengths of
wood are handed up end first. The man
on the ground raises one, men on a stag
ing above grasp'it, draw 1t up and swing
It's end to o staging beyond. Two stag
ings usually suffice. When pile Is not at
Its topmost. one Is all that Is necessary.
These stagings are built out from the lum-
Der itself and form what would seem to be
precarious and unsafe platforms. They
are none too steady at the best. Yet some
how they never break, and the one danger
q man has to fear is losing his balance and
falling from them,
A lumber stack Of we'll seasoned oak
some 80 feet high may be easily worth
$1,000. One inch maple (for the purposes |
of comparison) that has laid In stack for |
one year would be valued at about one
half the price Of the oak. Spruce, again,
is figured, under similar conditions Of
seasoning, at about three -flfths the figure
Of the maple. But all this depends. Cir
cumstances govern the value of the woods.
The seasoning" gradually drives out the
water and reduces the weight. 1t is we'll
worth knowing, as an independent fact,
tlntU ~ poi UchO Vi" VAO "ol$Hu VI q kTOCu
tree consists of water.
The technical terms about o lumber
yard arc curious and interesting. A heap
of wood is piled up for two months. The
foreman says it Is "stuck there for so
days" He piles up his oak sticks (some
of which weigh full 800 pounds each)
with bit Of board-rather two bits Of
board, one at each end-between each stick
and that above it, This is called "stick-
ing in courses" the word courses" be-
ing used in place Of "layer." This has
for It's object tho separation Of the boards
during seasoning, SO that the air can get
at every part Of each. When cypress comes
to be stacked, the boards are separated by
pairs, instead Of ono from the other In
tho lumber trade these are ''stuck two
Deep"
Thus 1t will be seen there are sundry
oddities, number Of strange little things
about the piling and the curing of lumber.
Tho trade that seems SO simple comes,
after all, to DO one of considerable science.
There are score of matters lumberman
Of New York has to know.
Spruce, for example, the cheaper quail
hes, does not need seasoning, but pine
must dry. Hemlook is, of all, the cheap
est. Then como poplar, pine and maple,
ash, cypress, chestnut, birch and oak.
Over these in point Of value are tho cabi-
net woods-mahogany, walnut, rosewood.
sbony, fine grades of birch, curly maple,
Iurly birch and others yet rarer and more
costly.
The great lumber yards that one sees in
his travels about town, however, do not
larry these expensive woods. Keeping
such for sale Is quite q separate and dis
inot business. Such woods require special
u keep them in, and small
pieces of many of them mount up in cost.
The ordinary woods one sees in lumber
'ard take care of themselves to q great ex-
ent.
Yet the pick and choice of these even
iced some sort of shelter. The sticks that
iced the most curing are heaped up in
he'd. This shed is built in stories, or
loors, and the putting up and taking
lown of, say, oak lengths from high up
S an interesting sight.-New York Trib-
me.