Year: 1862

Few Thoughts ON Rail Making.


Rail Aaki"g-Time TO Cut the Timber


Hoe to Cut tt What Timber to


Cut-How to Split it.


Ed. lowa Nomestead:-As scarcity Of
material for fencing, is the great hin
drance to the settlement and cultivation
of Iowa, and as the larger part of the
fences of Iowa will c:ntnue for some
time to be made Of rails aud posts, a
short article on the subject of rail mailing,
may be beneficial to the readers of the
Homestead / viii! say at the commence.
meut, that I am no: sn aspirant for the
Office Of President, or any other office,
even down to road supervisor; but as
have practiced the useful art of rail max
ing every year, more or less, ever since
l was able to WELD an axe, or swing a
maui, and for the last twenty three years
in Iowa, l hope to be able to give some
information to beginners.


Time to Cut the T1mber.-I formerly
cut all the timber for rails in the winter
mostly in January and February. aud
would finish splitting by the middle Of
March or 6rst of April. Burr oak and
White oak rails last we'll, except the
sap rails, or sap part Of the rails. Many
of the Burr oak rails, now twenty three
years old, are apparently about as sound
as ever; but the Red or Yellow oaks most
ly rotted in S or 10 years. For the last
10 years have had moro or less tall,
straight Yellow oak trees die, or show
symptoms Of decay caused, I think, by
worms working under the bark next to
the wood; these 1 have cut in June, ard
split into rails-peeling of the bark as
they we're split. They are all sound and
show. no symptoms Of decry. I made
fifty or one hundred Yellow oak posts.
and peeled them as above After FIVE
years they were reset, with prospect of
lastirg ten or fifteen years longer. l
think it will do equally well, or better,
to cut the timber in the winter, and let
it lie till May or June; then split it up,
and pile up the rails to dry, or nail them
on the posts. l made nearly thousand
rails last June. that were Gu. before the
sap raised. They peeled easily, and the
bark was worth, for wood, more than
twice the cost Of peelins it.


| cut many Of my stumps nearly level
with the ground, and the most Of them
net more than six inches or foot high.
If the tree wns injured with the fire, or
rotten, or hollow at the butt, | cut one,
or several cuts off stove length, and split
it up; it is cheaper aud better to burn
than corr, and is fine to keep the better
part Of creation 10 good humor about har-
vest time. rhe timber should not only
be cut down, but sswed up in the winter,
! and the tops and crooked, kuotty parts of
the trunk worked up for wood. The rail
cuts should be rolled out as they arc
sawed of; they will then dry at the ends
and hold the wedges from bounding. or
flying out, when struck in splitting, For
post and rail fences, especially out Of our
tough, twisting timber, rails should be
made but eight feet long. 1t will make
more fence, and better fence, and with
less labor, than if made longer; and il any
part Of the cut is too rough to make good
rails, it is but foot too long to make a
post.


What Timber to Cm.-ln the first
place cut all the dead and fallen timber
that is not too much decaycd; next, so
through your timber while the leaves are
green, and mark all the trees that show
signs of decay to cut the next winter
Next, take the largest timber, unless
you want it for some special purpose
The large timber will not grow so fast as
the younger timber, and will last longer;
take the most lasting timber, and the
most twisting, aud hardest to split, for
posts, unless you are going to mortice
them; then you want straight timber -
Red elm makes the best of rails if kept Of
the ground, but will not do for posts.
have grove of small, young timber
mostly of Red elm and Yellow oak The
timber was quite thick, from which
wished to make about two thousand rails
l selected the least thrifty trees. where
several grew in clump, and where two
or three grew from the same root left
the best one; and where trees had one OF
several forks, | generally cut them; they
will easily split through the forks when
young, but will not when old. 1t this
way got my rails, and improved the
appearance of my grove.


Hoo to Split ik-Timber that has
been chopped or sawed, and the cuts rol.
led apart for two or three months so tina,
the ends dry, hold the wedges much
better than if just cut. Timber that is
knotty splits better from the top end o:
the cut. Start it from the butt, and it
will run round the kuots aud the heart.
If free from knots, either end will do to
open cuts, particularly tough, twisting
ones. Start it by checking with the axe
across the ead through the heart, so as
to divide it in as near equal parts as pos
sible; then drive one iron wedge near the
top, and the other near the bottom edge
of the cut where it was checked; drive by
striking each alternately; then take the
axe and cut little out of the edges Of
the opening a little below the middle Of
the cut, then insert very large, long,
we'll seasoned and we'll tapered wooden
wedge, made Of very hard wood, and
drive it home. If that does not open it,
set one iron wedge about one fourth OF
an inch in the wood from the end Of the
wooden wedge, to keep it from bruislng-
the wooden wedge. If that does not
opcr it, drive the other iron wedge. IN
like manner on the other side Of the
wooden wedge; it is better to open as
much as possible from the end; twisting
timber slivers great deal worse by hay
Ing the wedges driven all along on the
top edge of the cut. 1t pays to open
| tough cats with powder. After the cut
is open, if it is large and not tw'stins' o,-
vide it into quarters, by turning the Dark