Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

AXEMANSHIP 211C D is pivoted in a slot by a wooden pin. (Wehad a chisel, but no auger; so we burned the holeout with a red-hot poker). Its head, C, may becut as shown or formed of the stub of a naturalfork. The end D is high enough to clear theground, and at such distance from A that the operatorcan press against it with his foot, and thusclamp the head down on a shingle which is laidfrom C to A. A bowstring runs from C to thespringy stick E inserted in the log a few feet backFig.53.—Shaving Horseof the clamp, to hold the latter back out of thevvay when not in use. For ordinary cabins, theclapboards or shingles do not require shaving.Shingles are best made of soft wood (cedar isfirst choice). Then, if stacked and seasoned, theywill not cup. If oak shingles are seasoned theywill split in nailing; consequently they are usedgreen. Moderate cupping does not necessarilymean a leaky roof, but it is unsightly. Clapboards,although always laid green, cannot cup, because theyare nailed at both ends. They should be laid thickedge to thick and thin to thin. A thin .board w^illoutlast a thick one and makes tighter joints.Speaking of cupping—it is universally believed bybackwoodsmen that green shingles surely will cup iflaid at any other time than "the old of the moon.'*Twice out of three times they will cup anyway—butit is heresy to say so.Lx)NG^ Slender Splits.—^When one is obliged touse wood that does not naturally split very straight,he still can rive out long and slender pieces of uniformthickness by careful manipulation. In his very