The Mechanical Properties of Wood: Including a Discussion of the Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties, and Methods of Timber TestingRecord, Samuel J. (Samuel James)
Science
The Mechanical Properties of Wood: Including a Discussion of the Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties, and Methods of Timber Testing
Record, Samuel J. (Samuel James)
Wood; Wood -- Testing
The insect injuries to forest products may be classed according
to the stage of manufacture of the material. Thus round timber
with the bark on, such as poles, posts, mine props, and sawlogs,
is subject to serious damage by the same class of insects as
those mentioned above, particularly by the round-headed borers,
timber worms, and ambrosia beetles. Manufactured unseasoned
products are subject to damage from ambrosia beetles and other
wood borers. Seasoned hardwood lumber of all kinds, rough
handles, wagon stock, etc., made partially or entirely of
sapwood, are often reduced in value from 10 to 90 per cent by a
class of insects known as powder-post beetles. Finished hardwood
products such as handles, wagon, carriage and machinery stock,
especially if ash or hickory, are often destroyed by the
powder-post beetles. Construction timbers in buildings, bridges
and trestles, cross-ties, poles, mine props, fence posts, etc.,
are sometimes seriously injured by wood-boring larvæ, termites,
black ants, carpenter bees, and powder-post beetles, and
sometimes reduced in value from 10 to 100 per cent. In tropical
countries termites are a very serious pest in this respect.
MARINE WOOD-BORER INJURIES
Vast amounts of timber used for piles in wharves and other
marine structures are constantly being destroyed or seriously
injured by marine borers. Almost invariably they are confined to
salt water, and all the woods commonly used for piling are
subject to their attacks. There are two genera of mollusks,
_Xylotrya_ and _Teredo_, and three of crustaceans, _Limnoria,
Chelura_, and _Sphoeroma_, that do serious damage in many places
along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
These mollusks, which are popularly known as "shipworms," are
much alike in structure and mode of life. They attack the
exposed surface of the wood and immediately begin to bore. The
tunnels, often as large as a lead pencil, extend usually in a
longitudinal direction and follow a very irregular, tangled
course. Hard woods are apparently penetrated as readily as soft
woods, though in the same timber the softer parts are preferred.
The food consists of infusoria and is not obtained from the wood
substance. The sole object of boring into the wood is to obtain
shelter.
Although shipworms can live in cold water they thrive best and
are most destructive in warm water. The length of time required
to destroy an average barked, unprotected pine pile on the
Atlantic coast south from Chesapeake Bay and along the entire
Pacific coast varies from but one to three years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account