Chapter VI: Timber and Its Utilisation (2)

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.

If it is necessary to make a cask, the pieces forming the discs used for the heads should be dowelled together, with a bit of pith of reed, or other caulking material between them, and the circumference must be thinned off to an obtuse edge. The staves, to look neat, ought to be nicely rounded as segments of a circle, and the ends should be narrower than the centre if belly is to be given to the cask; but if it is not essential that the cask should be perfectly round, the staves may be of flat plank. It is, however, indispensable that their edges should be cut to the proper angle, or they will not fit closely nor support each other when hooped up; the diagram we give will facilitate this. If there are to be 20 staves in a cask their edges must be cut at an angle of 18°, thus 360 divided by 20 is 18, and the angle of any other number may be found by dividing 360 by the number of staves. The chine groove may be cut with a saw, and it is better that the staves should be always a little narrower at the ends than in the middle, so that the hoops may tighten in being driven on.

{Water casks, to embark.}

To becket a cask, slacken off one or more of the hoops, take a strip of raw hide, slip one end under, twist the middle a little, then turn it, slip the other end under, nick them that they may not draw out, and tighten up the hoop. A kind-hearted American, captain of the "Mechanic," of Boston, who filled our water casks when we were on scant allowance, off the coast of Australia, taught us this expedient. In towing a number of casks from shore to the vessel becket them in this manner at both ends, and on two sides; then put them end to end, and pass a rope on each side through all the beckets. If there are two boats let one tow ahead of the other, so as to leave but one wake; let the bung-hole be _downward_, for if the cask leak, the salt water being heaviest, will not run up into the fresh, nor will the fresh run down into the salt; whereas, if the bung is up, the fresh water may splash out and the water of the sea run in and spoil the remaining contents.

{Bent wood.}

Hoops may be made by taking thin strips of any flexible wood, three or four times as long as the circumference of the required hoop, coiling them as it were, and then binding or clenching them together. These are very strong and flexible (Fig. 3). Jib stay hanks (Figs. 1 and 2) are made of any tough wood, in bars 14in. or 16in. long, 1in. wide, and a little more than 1/2in. thick at one edge, and somewhat less at the other. These are notched about 2in. from the ends, so that when they are bent the ends may cross each other and afford a hold for the lashing that attaches them to the leach of the sail. They are not fastened as the sailor opens them to put them on the stay, and the lashing to the leach rope fastens them sufficiently. Hanks may be made of the fork of a branch (Figs. 4, 6 and 7), and if a double hank is required, a branch with two forks (Fig. 5) will serve the purpose.

In South America stirrups are very neatly made by taking a bar of tough wood (Fig. 1), 1ft. or 14in. long, notching it so as to leave in the centre a piece of the full thickness 4in. long, and leaving the ends of the full thickness, thinning down from them to the notch on each side till the wood can be safely turned up so that the ends meet and form the bow of the stirrup (Fig. 2). The ends are cut to the proper bevel, and fastened by a thong in a hole bored through them. A couple of horizontal bars, 2in. long, fastened above, form a slip for the stirrup leather to pass through. This is a very neat arrangement, but its only fault is its extreme lightness, as, when the horse is in rapid motion, the foot cannot readily find the stirrup if it should be lost for a moment. In this respect, the block of wood, sometimes richly carved and ornamented, used by the Chilians (Fig. 3), is, notwithstanding its clumsy appearance, far superior. Three bars, so lashed as to form an equilateral triangle of at least 5in. inner measurement, will make a good stirrup. The fork of a branch, with a cross piece lashed on it, or suspended so that one of its arms forms the tread or bottom piece, a thong of hide making the other side of the triangle, will answer if sufficiently heavy. The hide of the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or giraffe, when sufficiently dried, may be cut into stirrups, and left to harden. Sometimes the block which forms the stirrup is cut with a projecting spike to form a spur; but the Mexican wooden spurs, consisting of two sticks a little thicker than a pencil, 4in. long, armed with small iron points, and provided with straps as in Fig. 4, are about the neatest and most easily extemporised form we know.

{Makeshift axes or adzes.}

Among the native tribes of South Africa, where iron, owing to the small scale on which they smelt it, is very scarce and valuable, considerable ingenuity is shown in the mounting of an axe blade. This is generally a triangular piece of iron, with one of its sides thinned down and ground to a rounded edge, and the other two tapered to a spike. It is well known that weight is an essential quality in all chopping instruments, and the deficiency of iron has therefore to be made up with wood. A stout branch, with another projecting from it at an angle of from 70° to 80°, is so cut as to leave a block of the larger limb attached like a mallet head to the smaller one, as in the uppermost figure of our illustration (p. 382). The spike of the axe head is made red hot, a hole is bored through the knob in the direction of the grain, and the axe is ready for use, and has besides the advantage of being convertible into an adze by simply taking out the iron and inserting it again athwart the hole instead of keeping it parallel with the handle; the two lower figures will give a sufficiently good idea of this. We have seen these tools very efficiently wielded by honey hunters and by native woodsmen and carpenters, who, when tired of work, convert the axe handle into a pipe by taking out the iron, partially stopping the middle of the hole with a few green leaves, putting the tobacco into one end, and applying their broad lips to the other.

The other two figures represent the manner in which a broad chisel may be converted into a serviceable axe or adze, by smoothing off and channelling the front of the knob, and firmly lashing the chisel to it with raw hide either fore and aft or athwartships as required. A plane iron (p. 140) is often made to answer the same purpose. The hoes used by the women in Africa are made in nearly the same manner as the axes, but larger; sometimes they are flat, thin, and oval; sometimes chisel or adze shaped; and sometimes a gouge like form is given to the blade, but in all cases a spike is left at the top for insertion into the heavy knob of the handle. At times this knob is cut where two branches project from it, so as to form a double-handled hoe, an example of which is shown in our engraving of a Bechuana hut on p. 281.

{Hurdle or wattle work.}

It may not be amiss here to give an example of the manner of making a piece of wattled work for a door, a window shutter, a table, a bedstead, or any other purpose. As many stakes as are required are planted firmly in the ground, either in a trench or, which is better, in holes separately made with a "grauwing" stick for the purpose. Rattans, osiers, twigs, reeds, or grass, are then wattled in in the manner shown in the sketch, their ends being either cut off, if they are not flexible enough to bend well, or returned round the outermost stake, and wattled in again if they are. In doing this, care must be taken not to draw the outermost stakes unduly together; and to prevent this it is a good plan to cut a strong stick, with a fork at one end and a notch like gaff jaws in the other, and set it between the stakes to keep them apart, removing it when it is necessary to put fresh wattles over the top, and replacing it when they are to be forced down. Baskets, crates, or gabions of any size, may be made by setting up squares or circles of stakes, and removing them when wattled; or houses may be built by fixing them more permanently and using them as the walls.

We have often admired the simplicity of the equipment of a Javanese ship carpenter; the ponderous maul or heavy axe and adze of our workman is unknown to him; all his tools, axe, adze, maul, hammer, and augers, are made so as to fit successively on one handle about 2ft. in length (see p. 44), and are carried in a canvas haversack slung upon his shoulder. We have seen, perhaps, a hundred Javanese workmen squatting about the decks and sides of our little schooner busy as bees, and tapping away like so many woodpeckers, where one-fourth the number of English carpenters could not have worked without injuring each other.

{Blocks or pulleys.}

The attention of the traveller is too seldom directed to blocks and tackle. These useful and unpretending economisers of labour are thought to belong to a ship, and therefore to be out of place on an inland journey. Nevertheless, we have found that the possession of eight or ten blocks of different sizes, and two or three coils of rope to suit them, has often done us most essential service; and as a traveller may unexpectedly find them necessary, where perhaps nothing but rope of hide or native vegetable fibre can be obtained, we subjoin directions for making the simplest forms, which we believe will meet most of the probable requirements:

To make a single block, take a piece of good sound wood of medium density, and of a kind that will not easily split. Elm is much used at home: oak will do very well; so will also the stinkwood of Africa, and others of like quality in other countries. Let it be, for instance, 7in. long, 4in. wide, and 3in. thick; suppose it is to carry a rope of 1in. in diameter, properly called a 3in. rope, all ropes being measured by their circumference. Gauge along each of the narrow sides two parallel lines 1in. apart and 1in. from each edge, and draw lines across at 1in. from each end; then, taking a brace and an inch centre-bit, insert the centre so that its cutter shall just come within the cross-line at either end; bore the holes half through, and between them bore two other holes with the same bit, thus taking out nearly all the wood between the lines: reverse the block, and bore in like manner from the other side; take a chisel and mallet and clean away all the intermediate parts, and you will have a sheave hole 5in. long and 1in. wide. Clean it up with a file or rasp. Then, drawing a longitudinal line along the centre of each of the broader sides, mark it at 3in. from one end and 4in. from the other on each side, and, placing the centre of the bit on these marks, bore through each side for the pin-hole.

Then for the sheave select a log of the hardest wood conveniently obtainable; _lignum vitæ_ is generally used, but many kinds of acacia would answer very well. See that it is large enough to cut away all the sap wood, and leave a heart 4in. in diameter; trim this to a circular form, saw off a disc 1in. thick, fix it in a lathe, and with a gouge or half round rasp or file sink a hollow all round the edge. If you have not a lathe, saw the disc not quite off, and, while it is still attached to the log, make the hollow on the edge and saw it off when finished; bore an inch hole in the centre, place it in the shell, drive a pivot of hard wood right through, and you will find that at one end of the block the sheave very nearly fills the hole, while at the other a vacancy of about an inch is left to reeve the rope through.

Then, with a gouge or half round rasp, sink hollows in the outside of the shell along the centre line toward each end, and across the ends, to receive the strop; round off the corners and edges as neatly as you wish, and you will have a serviceable block like Fig. 1 (p. 384). Sometimes iron pivots are used, but these are a trifle smaller than the wooden ones; 3/4in. iron would do, but then an iron socket ought to be let into the sheave as in Fig. 2. Some sheaves have small iron rollers let into them to run round on the pivot, and so diminish the friction; but a traveller need not work to such a nicety as this.

{The snatch-block.}

The snatch-block has already been two or three times mentioned, and perhaps this is a good opportunity to show its form, which is given in Fig. 3. The shell is longer and stouter than that of a common block, and in one side of it is cut the "natch" from which it takes its name; it is iron bound, but part of the strop is fashioned into a hasp, which is opened when the bight of a rope is to be passed into the natch and shut down upon its staple and forelocked to keep the rope from coming out should the strain be suddenly released.

{Signal block.}

Fig. 4 is a very useful kind of block for signalling; it has ten or more sheaves side by side, and as many lines running over them; in fact it ought to have as many sheaves as there are flags. It is kept in the signal locker with the halyards always rove, and each flag bent on to its own line. When required for use one end of the peak down-haul is bent on to the cleat in the centre, as shown in the figure, and it is hoisted to the peak end; the flags required are then sent up, care being taken to hoist each to such a height that they may read properly one under the other in the required order. These being done with are hauled down and others sent up, and much confusion and loss of time is saved by thus avoiding the necessity of bending on and unbending the several flags from one pair of halyards.

{Double block.}

We give also figures of two useful forms of double block. No. 5, on which the sheaves are side by side, is called a sister block. No. 6, in which they are one above the other, is a fiddle block. Notice that in this form the lowermost sheave is the smallest, and thus the rope passing over it is not jammed by the one that passes over the upper.

{Makeshift lathes}

In the manufacture of a number of wooden articles, such as the sheaves of blocks, bowls, round balls, &c., the aid of a makeshift lathe will be required. There are several forms of lathe made use of in different countries. No. 1 in the annexed illustration is the best we know of for the use of the traveller or explorer. To make a contrivance of this kind proceed as follows: Prepare three squared posts, bore an auger hole through the top of each at about 5in. from its head; to these holes fit a spindle made of some hard tough wood, in such a way that it will just easily play round in the holes without shaking about; cut a slice from a log about 7in. in diameter; trim it until it is quite round; cut a tolerably deep groove round the edge, and bore a hole in the centre for the spindle to come through. Now, from a piece of pointed iron rod or bar make a pivot pin, as shown passing through the head of the post which stands alone; fit this in the hole so tightly that the driving of a single wedge prevents it from sliding forward or back. All the posts must be firmly fixed in the ground at an even depth, and at the relative distances shown in the engraving. In the end of the spindle opposite the pivot pin three sharp iron spikes, made from nail points, must be driven; these hold the work in its place when revolving. This it is made to do by the action of the spring overhead, which is usually made from a tough elastic pole or bamboo cane. The end of the spring is fitted with a long strip of hide or a rope, which, passing once round the grooved slice of log, is attached to the end of the treadle. This is made from a naturally-forked branch, with a bit of plank lashed fast to it for a foot board. The chisel rest is made by driving a post into the ground in front of the work, making a saw-cut in its head, and then driving a bit of thin board or a piece of broad hoop iron into it, in the form of the letter T. The spindle is prevented from moving too far back by having pins driven through it before and behind the tail-post.

The lathe represented at Fig. 2 is common throughout the East. It is by the use of this contrivance that we have seen the long and beautifully straight pipe tubes, for which Stamboul is so justly celebrated, made. We have also seen the turners of Poona, in India, making their wonderful nests of almost air-tight boxes by the aid of the bow-lathe (Fig. 2). It is erected much on the principle of Fig. 1; but is usually placed so close to the ground that no one but an Asiatic could work conveniently at it.

{Grinding stones, to mount.}

Few border stores will be found without a Newcastle grinding stone, and very few expeditions of any magnitude omit including one or more in their list of useful matters. There are several modes had recourse to for setting up a grinding stone, but we usually adopt one of the plans shown in the accompanying illustration. Fig. 1 represents a natural fork set up in a slanting direction, and then treenailed against the trunk of a tree. To mount the stone, a straight bar of wood or iron, squared in the centre, must be wedged tightly in the square hole of the stone. If the axle is of wood, the two ends must be rounded, in order that they may revolve freely in the notches cut for their reception in the support. A wooden winch handle must then be fitted to one of them. If the axle is to be of iron, it should be first heated in the fire to a red heat; the form of the handle bent in it by hammering; the centre squared, and roughened at the edges by the use of a cold chisel; and the two bearing or revolving surfaces made round by the use of the hammer and file. Wooden pins or iron staples will serve to keep the axles from rising out of the notches and becoming displaced. A suspended bullock's horn, with a hole in the small end, through which a wisp of tow or moss is loosely pulled, makes a very good water drip, to prevent the tools from losing their temper when being ground. Some prefer putting a wooden trough, to contain water, under the stone. This is a mere matter of taste.

{The use of forked sticks.}

A vast deal of trouble may be saved when various useful articles are being made from wood, by a judicious selection of such branches as nature has already fashioned to the hand of the bush carpenter. The above illustration will serve to give an example of this; it represents a set of pack-saddle crooks. To make these, it is only necessary to cut with the axe four stout hooks and two straight bars; bore or burn a hole through the upper end of each hook, lash them together in pairs with strips of raw hide or rope, and lash on the side bars as shown in the engraving. The hooks are then ready to be placed on the pack saddle, to which they are secured by a girth, which is attached at each end to the side bars of the hooks. We have found these contrivances most useful for carrying dead game, packs, or bundles of poles.

{Hand-barrow.}

A very useful description of makeshift hand-barrow can be made from four forked branches arranged as shown in the following illustration, and lashed together with strips of raw hide. We first saw these contrivances in use on the borders of the Mena country, where the natives used them for the purpose of carrying a peculiar description of clay, which was collected among the ravines between the hills, and used for the manufacture of pottery. These barrows, from their lightness, elasticity, and great strength, answer admirably.

{Camp furniture.}

Excellent camp tables and stools can be made by selecting such branches or tree trunks as have grown in either three or four prong form, as shown in the engraving (Figs. 1 and 2 represent a table and stool). The tops are made from slices cut from convenient-sized logs. The table top is supported and strengthened by having natural grown knee pieces treenailed to the sides of the main upright or pillar. A small stool is best made by cutting away the top of the pillar until it is made to fit, a large auger hole bored in the centre of the seat, when driven in, the pillar head is split with a chisel, and then wedged tight. Should a larger table leaf be required than an ordinary log slice will afford, one may be built up by boring holes in the edges of boards, and treenailing them together, as shown in Fig. 3 (p. 389).

{Gate latches.}

Latches for gates and doors can be made entirely of wood, as represented in the illustration A, in which Fig. 1 shows the latch in use, and Figs. 2 to 7 the form to which each part must be cut before being put together. The illustration B represents another form of wooden door latch well adapted for cupboard fastenings, and three makeshift modes of forming box hinges. Fig. 1 is the swivel hinge; Fig. 2 the salt-box hinge; and Fig. 3 the claw hinge. Their mode of construction will be at once understood on reference to the illustration B.

The knee-like bends and forks so often found to exist in the branches of trees are often taken advantage of in the manufacture of makeshift ploughs. The preceding and following illustration represent a native and settler's makeshift plough.

{Agricultural implements, &c.}

Many useful agricultural and other implements can be made by the use of forked sticks, some of which are shown in the above illustrations.

A strong fork, with treenails driven through holes bored in its ends, makes a very convenient yoke for carrying pails of water or other heavy weights, as shown in the accompanying illustration.

It not unfrequently happens that pigs, when the settler is fortunate enough to have any, are apt to cause much mischief among the young canes or maize plants. To prevent them from doing so, prepare a good number of "hogs' cravats" from stout forked sticks, as shown in the annexed illustration, put them on, and a fence of very moderate strength will keep the pilferers out effectually.

Many descriptions of trees will be found on which the branches grow in a species of crown at each joint of the trunk. The holly and some kinds of pines are familiar examples, and are commonly found in this country. From a piece of the main stem of a young tree of a suitable size, a contrivance called a "supple jack" can be made by cutting off the radiating branches to a convenient length, removing all the bark, and then pointing each projecting spine like a skewer. When the jack is hung up by its small end it forms a most convenient contrivance from which to suspend dead game, fish, or odds and ends. To hang a bird to the jack pass one of the pointed hooks up through the angular space between the lower mandible, and bring it out at the beak. A fish is best suspended by entering the hook at one of the gill covers, and bringing it out of the mouth; hares or rabbits by passing one hind leg through a space formed by cutting a slit behind the back tendon of the other. The legs thus form a loop to slip over one of the hooks of the jack. The foregoing illustration shows the jack in use. Saddle rests, wall and tent pole hooks, &c., can be made from knee, elbow, or hooked branches of trees. They can be attached to any fixed point either by the use of treenails or lashing, as shown in the preceding illustration.

The maple and some other kinds of trees are not unfrequently found with large projecting excrescences growing on their trunks; these, when carefully chopped off with the axe, will be found to have a hard, dense crust or shell next the bark, whilst the main body of the wood is soft and easily scooped out. From these abnormal growths excellent bowls may be made. Some of them are sufficiently large to admit of vessels capable of containing from eight to ten gallons being made from them. Very excellent platters or shallow trays can be obtained from the same source.