Well I didn't have but 8 people enter, but they all sure did do their homework. It was a close contest.
We actually had a tie! Leif Riddervold and Tom Cadenhead both got a score of 18.5! Well, I only have one scoop, so I deducted .5 points from Tom's score 'cause he's my brother.
Oh, OK Tom, I'll make you a scoop too.
Leif, if you will send me your mailing address I'll get the scoop in the mail to you.
Now, since I didn't have very many entrants, and because the ones that did enter really put forth some effort, if y'all would send me your mailing addresses, you all will get a participation turning. I don't know what it will be yet either. Leif and Tom, you'll get one of these too.
Send your mailing addresses too: cadnhead@forestryforum.com Contest Answers
1. What wood is the favorite for butchers' blocks?
- American Sycamore, because of it's toughness. I know
hardrock maple is used but sycamore is the favorite wood.
2. What native American wood is considered best for making arrows?
- Port Orford White Cedar is considered the best even though other woods are used.
3. What is the wood most preferred in the manufacture of artificial limbs for people?
- I accepted either Black Willow or Buckeye
4. What wood is the most desirable for manufacturing of containers for liquids?
- White oak because the pores are filled with tyloses which do not permit liquids to penetrate.
5. What wood is the most satisfactory-and is used in large quantities for storage-battery separators.
- Port Orford White Cedar
6. How was the town of Flagstaff, Arizona, named, and what tree was involved?
- Some of you only told me the tree was pine. You only got partial credit if you did. There are a lot of different pines. The correct answer was: On July 4, 1876, lumberjacks stripped the tallest Ponderosa pine of all its branches to fly the American Flag.
7. What tree has aerial roots?
- There were a bunch of answers for this question. I was thinking of Bald Cypress, but everyone came up with other valid answers like mangrove, banyan, etc. All were acceptable answers.
8. Which tropical American wood is it that, when the leaves are bruised, has a strong odor like that of garlic?
- Well, this one worked me to death. I was after the answer, Salmwood, but wouldn't you know that bignoniaceae was right too and laurel, Ecuador laurel and Spanish Elm. But I got other answers too and checked them out and lo and behold their leaves smelled like garlic too. So most everyone got this question right.
9. What wood is used most for making manicure sticks?
- Sour Orange......I accepted orange wood.
10. What is the hardest, heaviest and closest-grained wood known?
- Lignum vitae. Did you know they made submarine propeller bearings out of this stuff, 'cause it's hard and is quiet.
11. What type of pine furnishes a figure similar to that seen in birds-eye maple and is sometimes referred to as bird's-eye pine?
- The only answer I accepted for this question was Lodgepole pine....and I ain't arguing about it with anyone!
12. What wood is generally used in the manufacture of toothpicks?
- Paper Birch, though if you just said birch I marked it right.
13. What spruce was first discovered on Pikes Peak?
- Blue Spruce (1862), also called Colorado Blue Spruce.
14. What American wood is particularly suitable for food containers?
- American beech because it does not impart taste or odor.
15. Nearly 80 percent of what wood is used in the manufacture of wooden tool handles?
- The correct answer was hickory. I gave everyone credit for this question because somewhere along the line, the 80% got changed to 8%. So you could've put down balsam and I would have given you credit. And who said I was I was insensitive.
16. What wood is used for making matches?
- Aspen is the wood most used for making matches. Cottonwood, Balsam, poplar, linden and semul are also used.
17. What state in the U.S. has the largest number of different kinds of trees?
- Florida with 314 species of native and naturalized trees. Texas, Georgia and California follow in that order. I could not believe that Tom missed this one.
18. Approximately how many crossties are required for a mile of railway tracks?
- I accepted any answer from 2500 to 3500.
19. What southern tree of the U.S. has no heartwood until it is 18 years of age or over?
- Longleaf pine
20. What is the whitest known wood and what is the blackest?
- American holly is the whitest and Gaboon Ebony is the blackest. If you said just ebony, you got partial credit because there are several types of ebony.
21. What is the wood from which practically all lead pencils are made?
- I was looking for Red Cedar. If you just said cedar, you got partial credit. I also accepted incense cedar as correct.
22. What tree supplies us with quinine, used to treat malaria?
- The Chinchona tree from Peru. I also accepted Fever tree.
23. What tree provides us with strychnine?
- I was looking for nux vomica (India), but accepted Strychnos tree and Loganiaceae.
24. What tree is stripped of its bark every ten years and continues to grow and thrive for 150 years or more?
- Cork oak or cork tree
25. How is the weight of teak logs reduced so that they will not sink in water?
- Before felling, the trees are first girdled completely round into the heartwood, in which condition the tree dies. In about 3 years it becomes lighter than water and are cut down. I was surprised at how many got this one right.
