First lessons in wood-working . ve seen, in our previous exercises,that it is much easier to cut and splitwood lengthwise than crosswise. We will nowlook into this matter more closely. If we examine with a microscope the struct-ure of the trunk of a tree, we find that thewood consists of fibers or threads runninglengthwise of the trunk and adhering to eachother more or less strongly. In many plantsthese fibers are longer and more easily sepa-rated than in trees, and they are used fortwisting into ropes and into threads to be usedin weaving. By examining specimens of hempand of flax, you will l
First lessons in wood-working . ve seen, in our previous exercises,that it is much easier to cut and splitwood lengthwise than crosswise. We will nowlook into this matter more closely. If we examine with a microscope the struct-ure of the trunk of a tree, we find that thewood consists of fibers or threads runninglengthwise of the trunk and adhering to eachother more or less strongly. In many plantsthese fibers are longer and more easily sepa-rated than in trees, and they are used fortwisting into ropes and into threads to be usedin weaving. By examining specimens of hempand of flax, you will learn something ofthe length and strength of such fibers. Insome kinds of wood these fibers adhere soloosely that they can be separated by heat,moisture, and bruising. The fibers of bass-wood and some others are thus separated, to 14 Wood - Working. 15 be used in making paper. Fig. 6 shows theappearance of the fibers of Scotch Fir, a speciesof Pine, under the microscope. Now, whilethese threads have singly considerable strength,. and still more, of course, when a number ofthem are taken together, their adhesion toeach other is not so great. On the next page 16 Manual Training. is shown a round pine stick, six inches thick,with the bark on, just as it grows in the tree,and we will cut off some pieces to illustratewhat has been said. The stick is cut squareacross at the ends, and you can see the ringswhich mark how much the trunk grows eachyear. First I cut off a cylindrical piece sixinches long, Fig. 7. Next, from this, I splitoff with an ax or a draw-knife some piecesa quarter of an inch thick, beginning at theoutside, and splitting wider and wider pieces.
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