In a message dated 98-07-01 00:27:56 EDT, you write:

> "Is this (fingure jointed 2x's) another example of something
>  the carpenters of
>  yesterday would have used if it had been available? If so,
>  why?"
>
>  Of course they would have used them
>  They are straighter & stronger w/out knots.
>  Not that these guys were necessarily good wood lot managers
>  [ I suspect our fore-fathers of a lot of slash & burn
>  agricultural practices]
>  the short wood doesn't end up in the kindling/pulp pile.

The short wood  between the knots in the log *was* used in the old (and not so
old) days. Keg and bucket staves were sawn from this short wood through the
19th and mid-20th cen. Also, even I recall getting Velveta cheese in little
wooden boxes as late as the 1950s and then seeing an old film in school
showing a woodworking factory making those same little cheese boxes from log
to store shelf. My dad's shop still has about 60 of those cheese boxes use as
nail storage bins.