Clamp for Rail Dressing.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 14 August 1914, Page 2

Clamp for Rail Dressing.

The materials for ordinary farm

fencing are now generally- prepared

at the estate timber yard, and with the aid of a good sawyer and circular saw the most u-n promising stuff is converted into various uses. The system, without doubt, enables a lot of wood to be employed which would otherwise be burnt ; but for field work sa-wn rails are not to be compared with those that are cleft, as in cutting them

the run of the grain is not taken into account. When preparing rails by hand the axeman uses a. olamp lil*e the one shown in the sketch. It is about 4 feet long and a foot ! through, and is made out of a rough] log of not much value. A notch wide enough to admit any piece of timber likely to form a rail is cut half way through. The rail is fixed in this with a. wooden wedge, as shown, and is thus held secure whilst the axeman does his work. The clamp is kept from rolling by four pegs driven into the ground.