by Eric Flint
The rails themselves could also be unconventional. On occasion, they were wood (e.g., peeled spruce logs) instead of iron or steel. (Pike 162-3, Brown 322, 329). If so, the wheels of the engine and log trucks were likely to be double-flanged, so they could hold on better. (Clarkson, 57).
Portable plank roads. These can be used for short distances, and are most useful in marshy areas. (Brown 323).
River drives. This refers to simply floating the logs downstream. This clearly is most suitable if the wood has good floatability. Such woods include spruce, white pine, Norway pine, yellow poplar, aspen and willow. On the other hand, oak, birch, elm and ash are all of a density unsuitable for river driving. (Brown 348-9).
Log driving was practiced in the seventeenth century, at least in Sweden ("Klaralven," Wikipedia). And the down-timers are familiar with the trick of holding water back in splash dams, and then releasing it all at once, so that boats can navigate a relatively shallow stream. The same can be done with logs. However, there were some interesting later innovations.
For example, in nineteenth-century America, booms were used both to store logs upriver and capture them downriver, but there were frequent legal disputes with other river users . Clarkson describes the flexible pocket boom and the crib boom (53). Levi Pond invented the sheer (fin) boom in 1862; it had a moveable fin hinged to a fixed boom. The presence of the fin meant that the boom could be opened to allow river traffic to pass. (Cox, 84-5, 121).
In America, rafting was more popular than log driving until the early nineteenth century, possibly because of the logistical problems of sorting out the logs and paying for the drive (Williams, 98-99).
River rafts and barges. Wood which can't float well can be carried downstream on rafts or barges. If the current is slow, these can be towed by animals on towpaths. The principal up-time improvement would be to replace the animal teams with machinery, most likely a steam-powered tug. Rafts, of course, were disassembled and sawn. Indeed, even barges didn't have to be returned upstream; flimsily constructed "arks" took a one-way trip to the sawmill.
Clarkson (48-9) says that an average American log raft could carry about 70 logs (25,000 board feet). Clarkson describes how the logs were fastened together, and how the rafts were steered.
Rafts and barges couldn't be used on the smallest waterways. So if the wood couldn't float, and wasn't near a large enough stream, it would have to be transported overland or left standing.
After 1691, Rhinelanders made use of giant log rafts—up to 320 meters long, 50 meters wide, 2.2 meters thick, each comprising up to 28,000 cubic meters of wood. A single raft might have a crew of over 500 men. Obviously, you needed a wide, clear waterway to ship this way. (De Vries, 424).
Ocean rafts. The rafting of timbers from America to England was first proposed in the eighteenth century. However, it was easier said than done; both storms and teredos were troublesome. There has been more success with rafting logs along the Pacific Coast of North America. (Brown, 382-6).
Transport costs can be reduced by peeling off bark (Pike 263), or sawing the logs near the point of origin (it is cheaper to ship timber)(Halstead), or by seasoning the wood (reducing its moisture content) before shipping (Gordon?).
* * *
The purpose of transport methods is to get the timber to the sawmill. The alternative is to bring the sawmill to the timber. Portable sawmills have existed since the Seventies; they are used mostly for 'salvage logging', that is, recovering logs left behind by earlier loggers. (Raphael 154-6)
Other New or Improved Wood Handling Equipment and Methods
Ax. Robert Pike says that it was the ax which conquered the American wilderness. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the European ax was modified to make it more suitable for American wilderness life. According to EA, "Ax," the blade was made thinner, broader, and sharper, and the handle was set forward in the blade." The preferred handle wood was hickory. As to the ax head, this was ultimately made of steel. (Lillard, 20-21; Cox 64; Pike 15-9)
Ideally, the handle was inserted into the ax head (hung) at just the right angle to suit its user. Even when machine-made handles became available (1853), they were sold separately from the ax heads, so the customer could hang his ax.
The curved ax handle was an American innovation, which reduced the shock of the stroke.
The ax evolved into several specialised forms: the single-bitted pole-axe, the double-bitted axe, and the broad ax. (Pike, 15-20).
The Peavey. You've seen this if you ever seen a movie in which lumberjacks were trying to break up a logjam. It's a staff with a spike at one end and a side hook on the other. It was invented in 1858. (Lillard, 151, Cox 131; Pike 106)
Chain Saw. In the twentieth century, the powered chain saw replaced hand tools as the preferred means for felling and bucking (sectioning) trees. With a power saw, one man can cut twice as much wood.
There are certainly a number of chain saws in Grantville. However, there are a lot more trunks in Thuringia than there are chain saws! So the existing ones will be most useful, in the long run, as models for would-be reconstructors.
Sawmills. Before there were sawmills, wood was sawn in a pit by a two man team. They used a long saw with two handles. A grating was placed over the saw pit, and the "top sawyer" stood atop it, and pulled the saw up. The other, the "pitman", was underneath the grating, and pulled the saw down. (Pike 39). Pit saw productivity was 100-200 board feet per day. (Williams, 96, 247; Clarkson 14)
The first reference to a sawmill is from 1204 (Halstead). Sawmills replaced human power with animal, water, wind and, ultimately, steam power. Animal power had the disadvantage that the animals had to be fed. Water power was available only in certain locations (near streams which provided a sufficient "head" to turn the water wheel), and was subject to interruption by droughts, floods, and freezes.
Wind power, harnessed by windmills, could only be used where there were steady winds. The first wind-powered sawmill was patented and built by Cornelis Corneliszoon in the 1590s. ("Sawmill," Wikipedia).
In America, at least, communities strongly encouraged sawmill construction. "[T]owns made grants to and townsfolk held share in what was ... a cooperative enterprise." The grants were of the privilege of using a particular river site, and sometimes also of cash, land, or lumber. In 1650-99 New York, two sawmills were constructed before settlement of the site in question, three within only 5-9 years after (Williams 94-5).
Sawmills were improved, over the last few centuries, in two major aspects. First, with respect to the motive power. Steam engines were first used to drive American sawmills in 1803, and the typical 1838 engine was twenty horsepower. That was still five to ten times as powerful as the water wheel, and more dependable to boot. At least when it didn't explode. (Cox 67-8). Steam engines, burning wood or coal, could be located anywhere.
That didn't mean that water power became completely obsolete. Even in the twentieth century, there are water-powered mills. However, the old wooden wheel has been replaced with one made of iron. (Pike 178-9)
Another major area of improvement was in the saw design (Pike, 175-82). In a sawmill, the saw is held stationary, and the log is moved against it. A reciprocating sash saw moves back and forth across the log. A circular saw has its teeth on the edge of a disk, and it cuts as it spins about its axis. A band saw has a flexible blade which rides, belt-like, around two wheels.
There are several considerations in choosing a sawing mechanism. These include speed, durability, log size capacity, and the size of the kerf. The kerf of a saw is the width of the saw cut. This is usually wider than the saw blade itself because the teeth are usually formed so that they curve, alternately, to one side or the other. This helps prevent the blade from binding (getting caught in the wood). The greater the kerf, the more wood is wasted as sawdust.
The sash saw is the only kind seen in down-time sawmills. A sawmill using a water-powered sash saw could produce 500-3,000 board feet a day. The speed was of course depende
nt on the rapidity of the reciprocation; even early nineteenth century mills achieved fewer than eighty strokes per minute. Somewhat unfairly, they received the nickname "up today and down tomorrow" saws. (Clarkson 16; Williams 96, 247)
The earliest improvements retained the reciprocating action. First of all, several blades could be ganged together (connected to a single frame driven by the water wheel) so that a log could be completely cut in a single pass. Secondly, the heavy frame of the sash saw could be dispensed if the saw was made a bit thicker, resulting in a "muley saw." Being lighter, it could move faster, doubling the output (Cox, 66).
The circular saw (buzz saw) was invented in the late eighteenth century, but wasn't used in sawmills until the nineteenth century. Its great advantage was speed; the sash and muley saws only cut on one stroke, while the circular saw's cutting action was continuous. However, it could only saw a log whose diameter was less than half that of the saw itself. The size of the saw, in turn, was limited by the quality of the metal. Early circular saws also had a tendency to wobble, and hence a very large kerf. They also tended to overheat, warp and jam. (Clarkson 19-22; Pike 179, Cox 66-7)
The log diameter problem was ameliorated by the use of two circular saws, one above and the other below the log. (Pursell 157) And the kerf was somewhat reduced when suitable steels became available. But the circular saw nonetheless was clearly not a final solution.
The band saw became practical in the late nineteenth century, when metallurgy had advanced sufficiently that the long, flexible blade could survive the rigors of sawing. The band saw's first advantage over the circular saw was its narrow blade (and hence narrow kerf). In a nineteenth century American sawmill, about 31% of the wood cut with a circular saw was converted into sawdust. A contemporary band saw would have wasted only 8%. (Hawke, Nuts and Bolts of the Past, 204-5; Cox 41, 66). The second advantage of the band saw was that it could cut even the thickest logs.
Like the circular saw, the band saw was fast. Steam powered circular or band saws of the late nineteenth century could produce over 100,000 board feet per day. (Pursell 157). The world record is 221,319 board feet (714 logs) sawed, with a band saw, in eleven hours (Pike 180).There is a "Band saw" article in Encyclopedia Americana, and it gives recommendations as to the thickness of the blade, and its speed of movement. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any metallurgical specifications. The band sawmills of West Virginia are also described by Clarkson (23-33), which is in the Grantville (Mannington) Public Library. So far as the saw is concerned, it just says, "high grade steel."
After the band saw became the principal sawing mechanism, circular saws remained useful for edging work. (Pike 175).
Besides the saw itself, and the motive power, one must also consider how the log is delivered to the saw. This was originally done by hand. Later, a mechanical device was used to turn logs over as needed. Also, steam power was used to drive "live" rollers, which in turn drove the logs onward. (Pike 179)
Planing Machinery. In 1632, planing (the smoothing of the surface of the lumber) was done by hand. Planing machinery was developed in the nineteenth century.
Stoves and Fireplaces. Even in the mid-twentieth century, over 50% of world wood consumption was for fuel. If wood must be burnt, it is better that it be burnt efficiently. Some American fireplaces used ten to fifteen cords of firewood annually, but wasted four-fifths of the heat generated. (Cox 62) Desch (183-4) says that open fires, and primitive stove and ovens, waste over 90% of the fuel value of the wood. Benjamin Franklin's stove (1714) was specifically intended to conserve wood. (Cox 63)
Accelerated Seasoning. Wood will warp if its moisture content is too high, relative to ambient conditions. Seasoning dries out the wood. However, if the drying is too rapid, the outside of the wood will shrink so much faster than the inside that the wood will split.
In the seventeenth century, wood was seasoned by leaving it out in the air. (Sometimes trees were killed by girdling, but not cut down, so that the wood seasoned in the dead trunk.) The thicker the timbers, the longer it took; as much as seven years to season the "hearts of oak" for a sailing ship. Shipyards had to keep "large stocks of valuable timber seasoned and seasoning."
EB11/Timber says that one can place the timber in "well-ventilated rooms kept at a temperature of from 80° to 150° F," reducing the seasoning time to one-tenth of that required for natural seasoning. It also mentions a pretreatment in which water is used to force out sap.
According to Gordon (144), "by carefully controlling the drying rates in large kilns the time for seasoning can be reduced to a matter of days or weeks."
Moreover, the use of laminated woods (see plywoods, above) reduces seasoning time. The thinner the wood, the faster it can be seasoned (the moisture gradient in the wood isn't as steep).
Preservatives. Wood is subject to attack by fungi and various invertebrates (insects, marine borers), Tar (itself a wood product) has been used as a preservative since ancient times. Another early preservative, creosote, was originally a wood tar derivative, but was later made from coal tar.
Modern wood preservatives can extend the life of lumber by five to ten fold. One group of preservatives are copper salts, which include copper naphthenate, alkaline copper quarternary (ACQ), chromated copper arsenate (CCA), copper azole (CA), and ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ASCA). Unfortunately they are all toxic to humans. That is also true of pentachlorophenol. One non-toxic alternative is borate, but borate can be washed out of the wood and so it unsuitable for outdoor use.
Preservatives can be applied by non-pressure methods such as brushing, spraying, dipping or steeping. Pressure processes can achieve a deeper penetration, but require a greater investment in equipment.
Fire retardants. Wood-eating lifeforms aren't the only danger wood faces; fire is another. Wood can be impregnated with fire retardant. (EA).
Indirect Effects of Up-Time Technology
The development of the coal industry will reduce the demand for wood (and wood charcoal) as a fuel, while steel smelters and concrete mixers will partially replace wood construction in ships and buildings, respectively.
Potassium carbonate can be made by electrolyzing potassium chloride in water, producing potassium hydroxide, and then carbonating with carbon dioxide. This process will ultimately doom the "potash" industry.
Barbed wire fences are a substitute for wood fences, and allow the co-existence of farmers and cattle ranchers.
Better transportation networks (asphalt roads, and railroads) will make it easier to log timber in areas which were previously considered inaccessible, and will also reduce the costs of shipping timber and lumber to communities remote from both the coast and navigable rivers. Water transportation will also be improved by the introduction of steamships.
Steam and electricity will make it possible for trees to be hewn and sawn much more rapidly than before.
Improvements in medicine and sanitation will result in population growth, and thus in increased demand for all products.
Down-Time Forest Law and Practice
The modern agroscientist defines a forest as an "area of land on which forest trees are the dominant vegetation." A "tree,", in turn, is a "woody plant ten or more feet high at maturity," while a "forest tree" is one which normally grow so close to other trees "that their crowns do not have room to expand to their full width... and [which] lose their lower branches. . . ." (Chapman 3). Lay folk think of a forest as a large area which is heavily wooded.
The word "foresta" first appears in the laws of the Lombards, where it referred to woods which had been placed off limits (Latin forestare, to exclude) to all save the king and his favorites. The purpose of this "afforestation" was to protect game so it was preserved for the royal hunt. The forest wasn't necessarily densely wooded; it merely needed to be land which supported suitable wildlife (especially deer) and marked as under royal protection.
Under English forest law, which was established by William the Conqueror, one class of offenses was that
of trespass against the vert (vegetation). These crimes included felling trees, especially if the land was entirely cleared (assarted) for farming; fencing off any part of the land (purpresture), or erecting buildings upon it. Forest law was moderated (for a price) by granting the right to take firewood (estover), or to pasture animals (pannage; agistment). (Harrison, 69-75; Wikipedia).
As in England, in the medieval period, forest management in Germany was primarily limited to the protection of the hunting rights of the nobility. (Fernow 35) When Grantville arrived in Thuringia, most of the forest land was owned by the aristocracy, and a license was needed to hunt there. A law blissfully ignored by the up-timers. ( 1632, Chap. 43).
