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Gum Scraping

Gum Scraping.jpg Gum Scraper's Knife, constructed so that blade can be replaced when worn outThumbnailsThe Kauri BugGum Scraper's Knife, constructed so that blade can be replaced when worn outThumbnailsThe Kauri BugGum Scraper's Knife, constructed so that blade can be replaced when worn outThumbnailsThe Kauri BugGum Scraper's Knife, constructed so that blade can be replaced when worn outThumbnailsThe Kauri BugGum Scraper's Knife, constructed so that blade can be replaced when worn outThumbnailsThe Kauri Bug
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After the gum has been dug up, it has to be scraped, and this is generally done by the gumdigger before he offers it for sale. If an industrious man, his evenings are usually spent at this tedious work; and the more successful his day's digging, the more scraping lies before him in the evening, and it is considered a good ten hours' work to scrape a hundredweight of gum. When it is thoroughly scraped, it is easy to see the quality, and it is then sorted into boxes. The rarest kind is quite transparent and resembles lumps of glass; the next in order, is cloudy in places, yellowish looking, and very like amber, though much more brittle; some again is all cloudy, and the commonest sort of all is almost opaque. The clearer it is the higher its value, and the price for the first class, which is used in the manufacture of copal varnishes, ranges from about £70 to £80 a ton, according as the market is over or under stocked.

Author
Kaipara, or experiences of a settler in North New Zealand
By Peter W. Barlow
Published in 1899
Available from gutenberg.org
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768*750
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