PACKING
[Sidenote: Blocks.]
Before packing carved blocks it is generally best to saw off the backs,
so as to lighten the quantity. A face should always be sawn from each
end up to the middle, leaving it about twice as thick in the middle
as at the ends, so as to bear the strain of travelling. If a block is
so wide on the face that it is liable to be broken in transit, the
best course is to saw it in pieces, cutting from the back through to
½ or 1 inch from the face, and then snapping it, so that the face
can be rejoined perfectly. Limestone is sawn with a large rip saw or
stonemason’s saw, using a hammer and chisel if any flinty portions are
met with, and also using some hammer dressing. Soft Silsileh sandstone
may be cut with pieces of tin plate, such as petroleum tins or biscuit
tins; or else with a thin strip of wood set with wire nails to serve as
teeth of a saw. The harder stones must be moved as found, for the cost
of reducing the weight would be more than that of carrying it.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Box for flat slab of stone, lid of diagonal
bars.]
[Sidenote: Long objects.]
In all questions of packing long objects, it must be remembered that
the best points of support for equality of strains are at 21 per
cent (say ⅕) from each end. Any long stone must therefore be held in
its case by cross bars or thicker pads or hay at ⅕ from each end. It
is impossible to reckon on a case being so rigid, and so perfectly
fitting, that it will give uniform support all along, with a much
smaller elasticity than that of the stone. The utmost any case can
do for stone is to deaden blows and shocks, and to hold the stone so
that it is equally likely to break in the middle or at the supports;
and this is gained by the grip at ⅕ from each end. A good packing for
small slabs that are not liable to break, is a shallow box (Fig. 50),
with the stone face down on dried fodder or straw, and two cross bars
parallel and diagonal on the top, to hold the stone in. Such a box is
easily lifted by the bars, saves all Customs examination, and will not
tempt thieves. In all instances remember that it is useless to put
general softening round stones in a box. The best points to take the
pressure should be considered, and then thick pads nailed on the box
to catch those best points of contact.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Tray for carrying heavy blocks of stone,
lashed on by ropes through the holes.]
[Sidenote: Heavy stones.]
The largest stones cannot usefully have any case; as a case which would
not be cracked up by the weight in moving, would be so thick and heavy
that it would make the stone far less moveable. If the stone is strong
it only needs three or four thicknesses of old clothes and sacking
tightly roped on, in order to travel safely. If it has a tender face,
a skin of board may be put over that with some cotton-wool padding
under the sacking cover. It is best for blocks of 1 to 4 cwt. to make
a tray (Fig. 51) with poles projecting a foot at each corner to serve
as handles, and then lash the block firmly on the tray. This encourages
porters to lift it rather than throw it over. Such things as granite
columns or colossi need no cover, but only softening of wood or pads,
put under bearing points during moving. On shipboard they travel best
laid at the bottom of a cargo of beans in bulk or bales of cotton,
which wedge them tight.
[Sidenote: Pottery.]
Pottery is the most troublesome stuff to pack. The difficulty lies
in keeping the packing material at the right places, and preventing
it lumping together and so letting the contacts become bare. All
the larger hollows must be filled with small pottery, or very light
boxes, or empty tins, so that the packing cannot shift together. For
large jars it is best to roll up straw in cloth to form cushions 1 to
2 inches thick, and nail these on the box at the points of contact;
always observing if the jar can get loose by skewing into the diagonal.
It is often needful to tie cotton stuff over the mouths of jars to
prevent the packing working loose into the jar. For flat open forms,
such as dishes and wide bowls, a stack should be made with the flattest
below, so that each dish rests solely on its centre, and all the edges
are free. A very little softening between them, and a firm block (such
as a round tin pot) in the top one to take the pressure, will make them
all travel with a solid contact right through the centres, so that each
brim only carries its own weight. Even thin glass dishes can be packed
safely in stacks in this way.
Glazed pottery is sometimes very fragile and full of cracks. To save it
from falling apart it should be wound with string crossing diagonally
in every direction, as tightly as it can be pulled. This firmly binds
the jar so that it cannot fall apart. A couple of inches of tightly
rammed softening all round it, will make it then travel quite safely.
[Sidenote: Softening.]
The material for packing, or _softening_, varies with the country and
the season. In England there is nothing so good as the fine shavings
known as “wood-wool.” In Egypt the best stuff is _helbeh_, a dried
green crop which is very clinging, and holds in any position in which
it is thrust. _Tibn_, or chopped straw, is also useful for ramming
tight in small spaces. Firm cushions on fixed bearing points are
made by rolling up straw in old cloth, and nailing the edges on the
box, so that the pressure can never reach the nails. Rough country
cotton can be had, but it is dear; and two or three pounds of prepared
cotton wool in sheets should be taken for packing delicate things.
Plenty of whitey-brown kitchen paper should be taken for wrapping;
and some cartridge paper or brown paper for parcels. Stocks of nested
parcel-post boxes are very useful; but sliding lids fall out loose by
contraction, and glued joints crack to pieces. The domestic stock of
biscuit boxes and food tins of course all come in for varied use.
[Sidenote: Cases.]
The making of cases is little understood, and least by professional
case-makers. Cases are often supplied in London with the grain entirely
running round them, and nothing to prevent their splitting around and
dropping in two parts. The most perfect construction is that with the
grain running in all three directions (Fig. 52), but such boxes have
the disadvantage that the lid cannot be entirely removed. The most
practical form is with internal corner-posts, and the sides nailed
to these with all the grain running around. First the end boards are
nailed on to the corner strips, and then the side boards nailed on. All
the nails should be driven diagonally (Fig. 53), alternately one way
and the other, so that no board can be drawn off without splitting the
wood. And the end nails should always be close to the edge, and rake
deep down into the comer strip, to avoid splitting the end; thus the
edge of the board cannot part off with all the lid or bottom nailed to
it. For as the whole weight comes on the last inch of the sides on to
which the bottom is nailed, unless that is well held on it often parts
from the rest of the side. The lid is of course nailed on with upright
nails so as to draw off; and a large number of short nails, projecting
only ¾ inch, is the best for this, as if large nails are used the lid
splits during opening and leaves the nail in the side.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Box without cross bars, the grain running in
all three dimensions.]
If a case is long, it is best to have some other upright strips down
the sides. Partitions bearing against these strips are good to keep
weight from riding down when the box is dropped on one end. If objects
vary much in density it is convenient to pack a heavy compartment in
the middle and a light one at each end of a case. Any bars or boards
used to hold down heavy pieces from shifting should not be nailed
through the sides, as damage is often done by the violence needed to
loosen them in unpacking. Such bars should be held in place by side
strips, or other solid articles in the packing. Tin pots are very
convenient to protect small and delicate things, and to hold heavy
objects from shifting about.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--End of a box in course of making, to show the
diagonal driving of the nails.]
[Sidenote: Unpacking.]
The packer must always remember that the unpacker will not know the
contents of a case, nor any precautions that are needful. The best
arrangements, which may seem infallible, may be entirely upset by the
unpacker opening the case at the bottom; hence no papers of directions
in a case should be relied upon. Also the unpacking is generally left
in museums to be done by rough labourers, who may entirely overlook
needful precautions or even throw away most valuable things in the
boxes. It is dangerous, therefore, to pack small objects in straw;
nothing under 100 cubic inches should be put separately in the packing,
anything less being put together in paper parcels. It must always be
remembered that a careless unpacker may unwrap everything, and throw
away the papers; hence no labelling or directions should be solely put
on the wrappers. Even labels with objects are not safe; as in several
museums the labels have been thrown away, or else stacked in a pile
together. Labels should have printed on the back in big red letters,
“To be kept with the object.” Marking upon each object is necessary,
whenever possible. The best way to learn the difficulties and fallacies
of packing is to carefully study the causes of any disasters found in
the unpacking.
[Illustration: TRANSPORT IN EGYPT.
Fig. 54. Two Nile boats; laden with straw.]
[Illustration: TRANSPORT IN EGYPT.
Fig. 55. Camels starting at dawn. The return at noonday.]
APPENDIX
LIST OF TOOLS, ETC., TO BE PROVIDED FOR WORK
_For Excavating._--Crowbars, ropes,[2] large hammers, cold-chisels,
stone-saw, saw-files, sieves (fine wire), native sieves.[2]
_For Cleaning Objects, etc._--Dusting-brush, nail-brush, tooth-brushes,
paraffin wax.
_For Packing._--Paper bags, jewellers’ tag labels, reams of kitchen
paper, nests of boxes, brush to mark boxes, hammers, saws, chisels,
brace and bits, pincers, stout pliers, files, awls, spokeshave,
screw-drivers, screws, wire nails,[2] square, hone-stone.
_For House._--Locks, hinges, bell.
_For Copying and Planning._--Cartridge paper, thin journal paper,[2]
rag paper for squeezes, spoke brush, paint brushes for outlines,
colours for colour copying, drawing boards (several cheap ones, various
sizes), tapes, 2-metre rods for gauging work and planning, prismatic
compass, box sextant, vertical mirror level.
[2] These can be obtained in any Egyptian town.