TIMBER, (Encycl.) Of all the different kinds known in Europe, oak is the best for building; and even when it lies exposed to air and water, there is none equal to it. Fir-timber is the next in degree of goodness for building, especially in England, where they build upon leaves. It differs from oak in this, that it requires not much seasoning, and therefore no great stock is required before-hand. Fir is used for flooring, wainscoting, and the ornamental parts of building within doors. Elm is the next in use, especially in England and France: it is very tough and pliable, and therefore easily worked: it does not readily split: and it bears driving of bolts and nails better than any other wood; for which reason it is chiefly used by wheel-wrights, and coach-makers, for shafts, naves, &c. Beech is also used for many purposes: it is very tough and white when young, and of great strength; but liable to warp very much when exposed to the weather, and to be worm-eaten when used with-
Timber. in doors; its greatest use is for planks, bedsteads, chairs, and other household goods. Ash is likewise a very useful wood, but very scarce in most parts of Europe; it serves in buildings, or for any other use, when screened from the weather; handspikes and oars are chiefly made of it. Wild-chestnut timber is by many esteemed to be as good as oak, and seems to have been much used in old buildings; but whether these trees are more scarce at present than formerly, or have been found not to answer so well as was imagined, it is certain this timber is now but little used. Walnut-tree is excellent for the joiner's use, it being of a more curious brown colour than beech, and not so subject to the worms. The poplar, abel, and aspen trees, which are very little different from each other, are much used instead of fir, they look well, and are tougher and harder.
The goodness of timber not only depends on the soil and situation in which it stands, but likewise on the season wherein it is felled. In this people disagree very much; some are for having it felled as soon as its fruit is ripe, others in the spring, and many in the autumn. But as the sap and moisture of timber is certainly the cause that it perishes much sooner than it otherwise would do, it seems evident that timber should be felled when there is the least sap in it, viz. from the time that the leaves begin to fall till the trees begin to bud. This work usually commences about the end of April in England, because the bark then rises most freely; for where a quantity of timber is to be felled, the statute requires it to be done then, for the advantage of tanning.
The ancients chiefly regarded the age of the moon in felling their timber; their rule was to fell it in the wain, or four days after the new moon, or sometimes in the last quarter. Pliny advises it to be in the very article of the change, which happening to be in the last day of the winter solstice, the timber, says he, will be incorruptible. Timber should likewise be cut when of a proper age; for when it is either too young or too old, it will not be so durable as when cut at a proper age. It is said that oak should not be cut under 60 years old, nor above 200. Timber, however, should be cut in their prime, when almost fully grown, and before they begin to decay; and this will be sooner or later, according to the dryness and moistness of the soil where the timber grows, as also according to the bigness of the trees; for there are no fixed rules in felling of timber, experience and judgment must direct here as in most other cases.
After timber has been felled and sawed, it must be seasoned: for which purpose some advise it to be laid up in a very dry airy place, yet out of the wind and sun, or at least free from the extremities of either; and that it may not decay, but dry evenly, they recommend it to be daubed over with cow-dung. It must not stand upright, but lie all along, one piece over another, only kept apart by short blocks interposed, to prevent a certain mouldiness which they are otherwise apt to contract in sweating on one another; from which arises frequently a kind of fungus, especially if there be any sappy parts remaining. Others advise the planks of timber to be laid for a few days in some pool or running stream, in order to extract the sap, and afterwards to dry them in the sun or air. By this
means, it is said, they will be prevented from either chopping, casting, or cleaving, but against shrinking there is no remedy. Some again are for burying them in the earth, others in a heat; and some for scorching and seasoning them in fire, especially piles, posts, &c. which are to stand in water or earth. The Venetians first found out the method of seasoning by fire; which is done after this manner: They put the piece to be seasoned into a strong and violent flame; in this they continually turn it round by means of an engine, and take it out when it is everywhere covered with a black coaly crust; the internal part of the wood is thereby so hardened, that neither air nor water can damage it for a long time afterwards.
After the planks of timber have been well seasoned and fixed in their places, care is to be taken to defend or preserve them; to which the smearing them with linseed oil, tar, or the like oleaginous matter, contributes much. The ancients, particularly Hesiod and Virgil, advise the smoke-drying of all instruments made made of wood, by hanging them up in the chimneys where wood-fires are used. The Dutch preserve their gates, portcullices, drawbridges, sluices, &c. by coating them over with a mixture of pitch and tar, whereon they strew small pieces of cockle and other shells, beaten almost to powder, and mixed with sea-sand, which incrusts and arms them wonderfully against all assaults of wind and weather. When timber is felled before the sap is perfectly at rest, it is very subject to the worms; but to prevent and cure this, Mr Evelyn recommends the following remedy as the most approved: Put common sulphur into a cucurbit, with as much aqua fortis as will cover it three fingers deep; distil it to driness, which is performed by two or three rectifications. Lay the sulphur that remains at bottom, being of a blackish or sand-red colour, on a marble, or put it in a glass, and it will dissolve into an oil; with this oil anoint the timber which is infected with worms. This, he says, will not only prevent worms, but preserve all kinds of woods, and many other things, as ropes, nets, and masts, from putrefaction, either in water, air, or snow.