File:The American boys' handybook of camp-lore and woodcraft (1920) (14802698663).jpg

Identifier: americanboyshand00bear (find matches)
Title: The American boys' handybook of camp-lore and woodcraft
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Beard, Daniel Carter, 1850-1941
Subjects: Camping Camping -- Equipment and supplies
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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e out of line.When this occurs it will cause a binding strain* on theblade which tends to stop the force of the blow. If the edgesare at all out of line, the probabilities are one will knock ahalf moon out of the blade in the first attempt to cut frozentimber. The best axe in the world, with an edge badly outof line, cannot stand the strain of a blow on hard frozenwood. While grinding the axe take a sight along the edgeevery once in a while to see if it is true. The Best Time to Cut or Prune Trees Is when the sap is dormant, which I will explain for myyounger readers is that time of year when the tree is notfull of juice. The reason for this is that when the sap orjuice is in the wood when cut, it will ferment, bubble andfizzle the same as sweet eider or grape juice will ferment,and the fermentation will take all the life out of thelumber and give it a tendency to decay; again to translatefor my younger readers, such wood will rot quicker than woodcut at the proper season of the year.
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22 ^ i- *^- c C^; c 0)^ Ni X \ ^ 5 A \ ? AXE AND SAW 231 With pine trees, however, this is not always the case,l)ecause the pitchy nature of the sap of the pine prevents itfrom fermenting Hke beech sap; in fact, the pitcli acts as apreservative and mununifies, so to speak, the wood. Pineknots will last for a hundred years lying in tlie soft, moistground and for aught I know, longer, because tliey are fatwith pitch and the pitch prevents decay. Beech when cut in June is unfit for firewood the followingwinter, but authorities say that the same trees cut in Augustand left with the branches still on them for twenty or thirtydays, will make firmer and liveher timber than that cutunder any other conditions. An expert lumberman in ten minutes time will cut down ahardwood tree one foot in diameter, and it will not take himover four minutes to cut down a softwood tree of the same size. Cle.\r Aw^ay Everything Before attempting to chop down a tree; in fact, beforeattempting to chop a

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