The movable head of the machine is then made to descend at the rate of 0.25 inch per minute, pulling the specimen in two at right angles to the grain.

The maximum load only is taken and the result expressed in pounds per inch of width.

A piece one-half inch thick is split off parallel to the failure and used for moisture determination.
TORSION TEST[64] [Footnote 64: Wood is so seldom subjected to a pure stress of this kind that the torsion test is usually omitted.] _Apparatus_: The torsion test is made in a Riehle-Miller torsional testing machine or its equivalent.

(See Fig.

49.) [Illustration: FIG.