Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

IAXEMANSHIP 207shape, but smaller, for the froe, are made on thespot. The froe is a tool that seldom is seen outsideof the backwoods. Any blacksmith on the edge ofthe wilderness can make one for you. Its shape isshown in Fig. 49. The blade should be straight(old ones that have yielded to the mallet and becomeswaybacked are hard to manage). Let it beabout 14 inches long, rather thick, and stunt-edged,as it is for splitting, not cutting. Its weight willbe about five pounds. A green stick will do for thehc-ndle.When the right tree is found, throw It in the bestplace for working up, and saw off a cut of 23^2 to 3feet. The butt cut usually is not so good as theupper ones, being tougher. Turn the cut up on end,and, with a single-bitt axe and mallet, mark an indentationstraight across the center of the block.Do not tap hard until you come to the end of theline ; then strike vigorously, and the block will fallin halves. If you struck hard from the first, thesplit might run off to one side. In the same way,split the halves into quarters, and these into bolts orFig. 46.--Splitting Out Fig. 47.—Block forBoltsClapboardsbillets of convenient size for riving (see Fig. 46).A bolt is usually of such thickness, that it will makeeight boards or shingles—say five inches across theoutside.Now split out the heartwood of each bolt by layingthe axe across and tapping it. Heartwood isuseless, for it won't split well. In some trees theheart is so tough that it is advisable, instead of halvingand quartering your cut, to just split in toward