THE TREATMENT OF TIMBER BY STEAM AND SAW.
Saws and drills.
STOCKS AND DRILLS.
We have seen Africans, in Portuguese service, working a common handsaw very efficiently by fixing a cross handle to the end of the blade; then two men would sit opposite each other, and holding the log between the soles of their feet, as shown in the full page illustration, would work the saw between them. For rough work this serves well enough. In such case let them have a saw with teeth widely set, and pretty much their own way; but if you want anything well done do it yourself. Saws for natives need not have much temper, and the teeth should be set very wide, so as to do a great deal of what carpenters call “sawing wood.” The Germans are very fond of using frame saws, like that shown in the same illustration—a long, narrow strip of soft steel, stretched tightly in a heavy rectangular frame of wood. Such a saw could be extemporised with a few feet of iron hooping, with teeth filed on it. It would do for soft wood, but on hard wood would wear out quickly; nevertheless, it might last long enough to do the required work. We had three small web-saws, assorted sizes; they are very handy to carry, frames (like that in our full page illustration—“[Boat building at Logier Hill]”) are easily made when wanted, and they should not be neglected if weight or bulk in carriage is objectionable. Stock and bow drills may be easily made, as in Fig. 1. The arm of a tree will afford a socket above, and the wood or iron to be bored must be firmly fixed below; a good sized disc of heavy wood, the sheave say of an old block, or a piece sawed off a hard tree, acts as a fly wheel. For smaller work a cotton reel (Fig. 2) does well for the bow strings to work on; in this case the stock ought to be of iron, purchased at home. The Bowditch islanders lash their drill on alongside the stock (Fig. 3), but we can hardly sanction this plan, though it might exceptionally prove useful. If weight and not rapid motion is desired, make the drill stock of a heavy log (Fig. 4), with the pivot going up through the upper socket, and fit a crank on it.
HOOPING AND BUCKETING OF CASKS.
Coopers’ work.
We have had at times not actually to make casks ab initio, but what comes to very nearly the same thing, to pick out the materials of old ones “shaken out,” when we abandoned a camp, to tie them in bundles, and carry them as best we could till they were again required. Sometimes it is impossible to gather all the individual parts of one cask, and heads and staves must be taken as they come. In this case, pick out two heads of the same size, or pieces which will make two. Measure their diameter, and as the circumference is, for practical purposes, three times as much, measure across the ends of the staves on the inside of the chine groove, until their united widths fully equal three times the diameter. If you have another cask a little larger, set up the staves inside it; or if you have one somewhat smaller, arrange them outside, and put on temporarily a larger hoop, or lash them with a turn or two of rope. Then take the hoops which you have selected for the cask, and get the larger ones over the end, drive them down tolerably tight, nearly to the centre. Then, taking one of the heads, bore a couple of gimlets into it to hold it by, or screw on it a clamp, across the grain, so as to hold all its pieces fair and level. Let this down edgewise into the belly of the cask, then, drawing it up, enter one edge of it into the chine groove, and, slacking the hoops if necessary, lift it till it fits in all round. If you find any difficulty in this, take a knife blade, or thin piece of hoop iron, pass it through one of the interstices of the staves under the head, and lift it till it enters the groove. If this is done at the four quarters, it will be impossible for the head to fall down inside. Drive the lower hoops down, and when the staves begin to close up, take out the knife or hoop iron and tighten the hoops with the hammer and driver. Then turn up the cask, and if you wish to close it at once, do the same with the other end, if not, drive the hoops on leaving it open, and slack them up when you want to put the head in. Put knives or thin iron between the staves, as before, to keep the head from slipping down, and withdraw them before you tighten up. If you have not another cask to set up the staves in or upon, take one of the hoops and support it as a horizontal ring by tying it to small trees or posts, or set up the head itself on a pole, breast high, for the staves to lean against, or dig a circular trench a few inches deep in the ground to set the staves in. Remember that if iron hoops are worn or rusted or bent much, and have to be straightened out, they are very easily broken or burst by driving too tightly. Of course they can be mended by punching holes and riveting a piece in; but they require good punches and a matrix, for which a piece of hardened wood may be substituted, and some skill and patience. Always heat both the iron and rivets, and do not punch holes or clench rivets cold. Wooden hoops are generally withies or saplings, split down the middle, and left with one flat side and one round. The ends are thinned a little, and notches cut on the upper edge of one and the lower of the other. These are made to catch each other, either with a short overlap, as in Fig. 1, in which case the two parts lie parallel with each other, or with a long joint (Fig. 2), in which each takes a half turn round the other, between the notches. The joint is then served either with slips of osier or split rattan, or other substitute for cord.