Grantville Gazette-Volume XIII Read online

  The British sought to develop a domestic naval stores industry in the American colonies, to reduce their dependency on the Baltic trade. However, through ignorance, there was much waste. Trees were felled which were unsuitable for pitch production, and trees were tapped for turpentine in a manner which caused them to die prematurely. (Cox, 17)

  Wood ash. Burning beech trees (and certain other hardwoods) results in an ash rich in potash (potassium carbonate). Potash is used as a flux in glassmaking (see Cooper, "In Vitro Veritas," GG5). As an alkali, it can also be mixed with fat to make soap.

  At least in America, the production methods were crude, the final product being less than 25% potassium carbonate. "Three to five acres of timber had to be burnt to yield a ton of potash." (Cox, 16). Pearlash is 3-5 times more concentrated (Williams, 74).

  Wood ashes, being sources of calcium, potassium, magnesium and (to a lesser extent) sodium, can also be used as fertilizer, or to neutralize acid soils. Unfortunately, they don't provide nitrogen, because that element is lost in the burning process.

  Cork. Cork lies just beneath the bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber), which grows in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and on the Barbary Coast. Its best known use, of course, is in stopping wine bottles. Cork's key advantage is that it is impermeable to gas and liquids, thanks to the presence of the wax suberin. Cork is also used in life preservers and buoys. Cork can be harvested once the tree is at least 25 years old, and thereafter every decade or so.

  Tannins. Animal hides can be tanned (converted into leather) by soaking them in solutions rich in tannins. The tannins are extracted from the bark, or other parts, of certain trees, such as the oak and sweet chestnut in the Northern Hemisphere, and the quebracho tree and various Acacias in the South.

  Inks and dyes were made from the tannin-rich galls of various oaks. (Logan 189).

  Drugs. In 1535, Jacques Cartier's expedition halted a scurvy outbreak by use of an Indian remedy, an infusion prepared from the bark and leaves of the "Annedda" tree. Scholars are not entirely sure which tree this was; the best candidates are (in decreasing order of probability) the Eastern white cedar ( Thuja occidentalis), the white spruce ( Picea glauca), the black spruce ( Picea mariana), the Eastern White Pine ( Tsuga canadensis), and the Balsam Fir ( Abies balsamea) In the late eighteenth century, the British Admiralty advised that "Spruce Beer" be given to not-yet-Limey sailors. (Houston; Lillard 28-29). Quinine, an anti-malarial agent, is extracted from the bark of the Cinchona trees of the Andes.

  Spices. A number of spices, including cloves (from Eugenia caryophillus) and cinnamon (from Cinnamomum zeylanicum), are produced by trees.

  Oils. The nuts of oil palms, native to West Africa ( Elaeis guineensis) and tropical America ( Elaseis oleifera), produce an edible oil. The nuts of wild trees have been harvested and traded since ancient Egyptian times, and were used by the European slave trade to feed their human cargoes. It was later used by British factories as a lubricant, and this in turn led to the establishment of plantations in southeast Asia as well as in Africa.

  The oils of other trees found other uses, e.g., sandalwood oil as a pharmaceutical and a perfume.

  Timber Requirements

  Firewood. A recurring problem with firewood estimates is failure to specify whether the volume is of solid wood or stacked lumber; for the latter, 25-50% is air. Halstead says the average annual per capita use of firewood in early modern Europe was 3-4 cubic meters (m3). Warde (265-6) says that in Wurttemberg, a "household" (mean size probably 4.25) needed 3.4-10 m3 of stacked lumber. That implies perhaps 1.2 m3solid wood /person. (Estimates of late 18th century annual consumption ranged from 0.4-3.9.) In 1760s America, consumption was about 22 m3/person (Williams 81, 78).

  Shipbuilding. Timber was needed for the masts (pine and spruce), frames (oak), and planks (cedar, pine, oak) of sailing ships. Something like 3,000-4,000 "loads" (each fifty cubic feet of wood, the product of a single large tree) were needed for a Napoleonic 74-gunner. (Wood 14, Cordingly 19) Vast quantities of timber were needed for just the frames of naval vessels: 34,000 cubic feet for a ship of the line, 23,000 for a first class frigate, 8,000 for a sloop, and 1,800 for a schooner. (Wood, 55)

  It was also important to find the right kind of tree for a particular use. For example, for the masts, the builders wanted tall (perhaps 120 feet), straight trees, which were ever more difficult to find in European forests. The American mast trees had to be transported in special cargo ships, with ports in the stern. (Pike, 49).

  Oak, because of its strength and resistance to rot, was the preferred hull wood. Each part of the hull had a certain desired shape, and the trees were chosen to suit (Wood 8). Thus, forest oaks were used for the sternposts and planking, which needed to be straight, while isolated trees, with greater branching, provided the curved "compass timber." (Cordingly 19-20).

  Buildings. "Each new [medieval] house required 12-16 oak logs and a new church might require the wood from 300-400 trees." (Halstead/Trade) Thirty oaks were allowed for a new building in Lippe, Germany, in 1600 (Warde 276). Clark says that around 1700, the average Englishman consumed almost five cubic feet of construction timber.

  In Wurttemberg, ducal ordinances encouraged the use of stone for the first floor. (Warde, 274).

  The influx of displaced Germans into the vicinity of Grantville caused a building boom, and the "massive amount of wood construction going up" led car dealer Keith Trumble to become a nail manufacturer. ( 1632, Chap. 43).

  Charcoal iron. Williams (106), for eighteenth century America, estimates 10-30 cords wood/acre cleared; 20-40 bushels of charcoal [bushel ~20 pounds] per cord [cord=4800-6000 pounds] burnt; 125-400 bushels charcoal per ton pig iron produced. (Cp. Logan 127; Clark)

  An internet discussion of late nineteenth century practice says 30-100 cords wood/acre; 40-50 bushels charcoal/cord, 128 bushels charcoal/ton iron. A single pit might process fifty cords in 7-10 days. (Europa)

  Potash manufacture. "Three to five acres of timber had to be burnt to yield a ton of potash." (Cox, 16). Halstead says that a glassworks used the equivalent of 80 hectares (198 acres) of forest in a year. Warde (300) reports that producing one kilogram of glass required 1-3 cubic meters of wood (both as a source of potash and as fuel).

  Pitch, tar and turpentine. Two thousand pine trees produced about five barrels resin a day. The resin was distilled; the distillate was turpentine, the residue, tar. ( A cord, 3.62 m3, of wood yielded 40-50 gallons tar.) Removing more volatiles from the tar by a further distillation yielded pitch, which cost twice as much (Williams 84-88).

  Prices

  The price of wood is very much dependent on transport costs. Warde (312) says that "the hospital of Markgroningen bought wood from the rafters at Bissingen for around 3 fl. per fathom [3.3 cubic meters] in the late 1590s, wood that could be purchased for as little as 0.07-0.14 fl. upriver in the Black Forest. . . ."

  In Amsterdam in the 1640s, 100 pounds of "Sappan Wood" (a Philippine dye wood) could be purchased for 11-18 guilders. In 1632-35, the price of "Yellow Wood" ( Podocarpus latifolius?) was 4-6 guilders, whereas Pernambuco Wood was 43-45. (Posthumus)

  Potash is made from wood. In 1632-35, the best Danzig potash cost 13.2-20.25 guilders per 100 pounds.

  New Uses for Wood Products.

  In railroading. Early locomotives were wood burners, and we are talking about a lot of wood; say, 140 cords per track mile per year. The "iron horses" pulled rolling stock which, in the nineteenth century, were primarily made of wood. While they steamed along steel rails, those rails were supported by wooden ties. American railroads used 39,000,000 cross-ties in 1870 alone. Wood was also used to construct bridges and stations. (Cox 100, 113). For more information on wood-burning by locomotives, see my "Saddling the Iron Horse" (GG7) and the "Locomotive Addendum" posted to www.1632.org .

  Corduroy and plank roads. While there was limited pre-RoF use of wood in constructing roads over swamplands, the heyday of the wooden road, the "Farmer's Railroad," was in the ninetee
nth century. Corduroy roads used whole or split logs; plank roads, obviously, used planks and gave a smoother ride. The wooden roads appeared first in Russia, then in Canada, and finally in the United States. A fuller discussion appears in my article "All Roads Lead to Magdeburg: Roadbuilding in 1632" ( Grantville Gazette, Volume Seven).

  Aircraft. Wood has high strength and stiffness in proportion to its weight, which is a very good thing if you are trying to build an aircraft. This is particularly true for the "aircraft woods," such as Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, Noble fir, canary whitewood, kara redwood, white pine, western hemlock, and birch. (Desch 148). Balsa, the "lightest" commercial wood, is used primarily in models. However it has been used in full-scale aircraft. Since it's soft, it's ideally sandwiched in-between hardwoods. (Lienhard)

  The biggest problem with wooden aircraft is rot. Not just of the wood itself, but also of the glues used.

  Toothpicks. Pike (32) says that the toothpick was, "next to the spittoon, . . . the greatest social invention of the [nineteenth] century."

  Telegraph and Telephone Poles. Telegraph companies erected 300,000 poles in 1882. (Lillard 147).

  "Balloon Frame" and "Platform Frame" Houses. Houses can be built using just light, dimensional lumber, nailed together. These "balloon frame" houses were popular in nineteenth century America, once machine-made nails were available, since the houses could be assembled cheaply and quickly, without the assistance of carpenters. No dovetailed joints, no mortise and tenon. (Cox, 72-3)

  In the late twentieth century, the predominant light form construction system is platform framing. This, too uses dimensional lumber. However, in balloon framing, the uprights (studs) run all the way from the base of the first floor to the top of the highest floor. In contrast, in platform framing, the uprights are one floor tall; that is, each floor is built on the platform formed by the floor beneath it.

  The framing can be strengthened either by diagonal braces or by panels.

  New Wood Products

  Let me begin with a caveat: some of the products mentioned here, such as latex and maple sap, are new to the Europeans, but not to native peoples.

  Paper. During the seventeenth century, paper was made from fiber crops, such as cotton and flax (linen). Wood wasn't pulped to make paper until the nineteenth century, and this substantially reduced the cost of paper (and hence of books).

  Wood can be pulped by purely mechanical means, or alternatively the wood is chipped and then digested chemically (with sulfite, caustic soda, or sulfate). It took one cord of pulpwood to make one ton of pulp. (Pike 269).

  Activated charcoal. The highly porous form of charcoal known as "activated charcoal" is able to absorb gases and liquids, and therefore has been used in water purification plants, gas mask filters, and in the emergency treatment of certain poisons.

  Plywood. Plywood (a re-invention; legionairies carried plywood shields) is the result of gluing together three or more thin sheets of wood, cris-crossing the direction of the grain. The wood sheets can come from different trees; the plywood of the De Havilland Mosquito combined balsa and birch.

  For maximum strength, the glue should be applied so it penetrates deeply into the lumens of the wood. In general, that means the wood must be sanded, preferably mechanically.

  The choice of glue is also important. Hide glue (which is gelatine based) is water-sensitive, and also attacked by bacteria and fungi. Casein glue is moisture resistant, but still subject to rot. Nonetheless, it was the glue of choice in the aircraft of the Thirties. Synthetic resin glues, such as phenol-formaledehyde, urea-formaldehyde, resorcinol formaldehyde, and epoxy, will eventually be available in the 1632 Universe.

  Fiberboard and Particle Board. In fiberboard, wood is separated into fibers, which are rejoined with a resin. In particle board, wood particles (sawdust, wood shavings or wood chips) are glued together to make a composite wood.

  Sawdust or "wood wool" (loose wood fibers) have been incorporated into cement to form composites, usually to form panels. (Farmer, 58). The cement serves, like a resin or glue, as the binding agent.

  Wood pyrolysis products. When wood is pyrolyzed to make charcoal, a number of other chemicals are produced. These include acetic acid, methyl alchohol ("wood alcohol"), and acetone.

  Cellulosic polymers. The wood pulp can be used in the production of rayon, cellophane, cellulose acetate, cellulose butyrate, carboxymethylcellulose, and so forth.

  Latex and Rubber. Certain trees can be tapped to collect latex, a milky sap. The latex of the Brazilian rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, can be used as is (e.g., disposable gloves) or coagulated to make rubber. Other latex products include chicle (from Manikara chicle), balata (from Manikara bidentata), and gutta percha (from Palaquium gutta).

  Maple syrup. The American Indians were quite familiar with tree sugar. By the mid-1600s, the sweet (2-6% sugar) sap of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) was bartered to European settlers by Indians of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River regions. The sugar maple tree can be tapped once it is forty years old, and a single tree will produce 10-70 gallons of sap each year. It takes over forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. (GSFC )

  Indirect Utility of Forests

  Forests have uses other than as a source of products. At least one of them is well known to the down-timers; they provide cover for animals. Others are mentioned in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (EB11). They moderate the climate, help prevent soil erosion and consequent flooding, and act as windbreaks which protect crops from storm damage. (see also Baker, 74-5). Chances are that the down-timers are aware of these utilities, too. However, they don't have a clearly articulated concept of trees as nodes in an ecological web.

  Transport Methods

  A forest does you no good, as a source of timber, if you can't economically transport the logs to where the wood is needed. In the seventeenth century, the only economical long-distance shipping method was by water. Even "in [late eighteenth century] England it was reckoned that any tree more than 40 miles from water transport was of no use for the navy," and in France there then were legal restrictions on private felling of oak trees within fifteen leagues of the sea or six leagues of any navigable river (Cordingly 19). Shipping coal, another bulk commodity, by water (down the Tyne and up the Thames to London) caused the price of Newcastle coal to increase 6-9 fold (Unger 8-9, Allen 8).

  Unger's response to historians who said that there was a timber or energy crisis in early modern Europe was that a large part of the delivered cost of wood (or coal) was its transport cost, and hence it would be more apt to speak of a "transport crisis."

  Short-haul transportation. Logs can be dragged (hauled while lying on the ground; "snaked"), skidded (hauled with one end up), or carried (both ends up) to a collection point of some kind. For dragging or skidding, they are attached to a chain or cable which is pulled by animals (oxen, horses or mules), a vehicle (steam or gasoline powered), or a stationary engine. The logs can be carried on an animal-pulled sled (on snow) or logging cart (a cart with a single pair of very large diameter wheels)(Wood , 111-18), on a logging truck, or even on an aerial cable (skyline)(Raphael 138-43). Or they can be floated, on a stream or even a log flume. There is even the possibility of ballooning or helicoptering logs from the woods to the collection point. (Pike 271; Raphael 143-54)

  Clarkson Fig. 217 shows the details of a skidding harness, and Fig. 226, the arrangement of an aerial cable for skidding logs.

  In the seventeenth century, short-haul transportation was limited to animal and water power. The likely uptime innovations will involve the use of enginery and perhaps also the aerial cable. (Brown 125, 190).

  An example of a nineteenth-century machine is the Lombard steam log-hauler. It looked like an ordinary locomotive except that it had crawler treads. It could haul a couple of hundred tons at a speed of 4-5 mph. (Pike, 170-4; Patten). It ultimately was replaced by gasoline-powered tractors.

  We turn now to long-haul transport methods, using roads, railroa
ds and rivers.

  Logging Railroads. While logging railroads occasionally used animal power, locomotives were preferred. (Brown 329) The issue of logging locomotives was touched upon in Carsten Edelberger's "Railroading in 1632" and my "Saddling the Iron Horse" (both Grantville Gazette, Volume 7). In essence, because logging railroads were temporary, and had to cope with sharp curves and steep grades, it was advantageous to use geared locomotives (Shay, Climax, Heisler, Baldwin, Dunkirk) instead of the conventional rod type.

  Clarkson provides a lot of information about logging locomotives. For example, he gives these specifications for the Northeast Lumber Company's Shay No. 3 engine: running on 36" track, driving wheel diameter 39", three cylinders (diameter 10", stroke 10"), boiler (39 3/8" diameter, 180 p.s.i.), firebox (54 3/4" long and 38 5/8" wide), wheelbase (truck 4'2", engine 26'5"), 104 tubes (2" diameter, 8'11" long), grate area 14.7 square feet, heating surface (482 square feet in tubes, 67 in firebox), wheelbase (4'2" truck, 26'5" engine), factor of adhesion 4.55, weight 80,300 pounds, maximum tractive power 17,660 pounds, water capacity 1200 gallons, fuel capacity 1.75 tons soft coal. (Fig. 111; see also Figs. 112, 128, and pp. 55-61.