Properly seasoned timber, placed in a dry situation with a free circulation of air round it, is very durable, and has been known to last for several hundred years without apparent deterioration. This is not, however, the case when exposed to moisture, which is always more or less prejudicial to its durability.
When timber is constantly under water, the action of the water dissolves a portion of its substance, which is made apparent by its becoming covered with a coat of slime. If it be exposed to alternations of dryness and moisture, as in the case of piles in tidal waters, the dissolved parts being continually removed by evaporation and the action of the water, new surfaces are exposed, and the wood rapidly decays.
Where timber is exposed to heat and moisture, the albumen or gelatinous matter in the sap-wood speedily putrefies and decomposes, causing what is called rot. The rot in timber is commonly divided into two kinds, the wet and the dry, but the chief difference between them is, that where the timber is exposed to the air, the gaseous products are freely evaporated; whilst, in a confined situation, they combine in a new form, viz. the dry-rot fungus, which, deriving its nourishment from the decaying timber, often grows to a length of many feet, spreading in every direction, and insinuating its delicate fibres even through the joints of brick walls.
In addition to the sources of decay above mentioned, timber placed in sea water is very liable to be completely destroyed by the perforations of the worm, unless protected by copper sheathing, the expense of which causes it to be seldom used for this purpose.
In modern houses the labours of the Builder, the Mason, and the Plasterer, would be of little use unless they were accompanied by that of the Carpenter, since a very large proportion of every building consists of the woodwork of which its interior structure is greatly composed.
As it is one of the most useful, so the Carpenter’s may be considered the most ancient of trades, for nearly all other handicrafts require the preparation or manufacture of the materials, but the Carpenter originally found his materials in the forest, and at once set to work to construct various articles from the trunks and stems of the trees best suited for the purpose. We can only imagine one trade older than that of the Carpenter, and that is the Tool Maker, and as the earliest tools, or at all events some portion of them, were probably made of hard wood, the Tool Maker may in some sense be said to have been a Carpenter also.
Axe. Adze.
