HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



time, but the quality of voueer producoil 

 from tlie smaller flitches readily briugs 

 .$1 and even $2 per thousand more than 

 that of the inferior (juality, and is always 

 salable, which more than offsets the dif- 

 ference. It is true that in some instances 

 the jircforenee Is given cheap veneer; no 

 argument under the sun can convince such 

 trade that well cut veneer at a high price 

 is cheaper in the end than poorly cut stock 

 as a gift. Trade of that kind is scarce 

 and naturally small, for their product can- 

 not be better tliau their material, and 

 their trade is commensurate with their 

 product. 



A good plan in slicing plain veneers of 

 good quality is to quarter the log as out- 

 lined in a previous paragraph, cut off about 



H-j inch from the rounded side, which takes 

 off only the sap and gives a 12-inch face 

 to fasten to the slicer jjlatc; put about 

 2^^ inclies or .'3 inches from the lieart, 

 which makes a .5Vi-inch face that grad- 

 ually spreads in the process of cutting to 

 a little over Ki inches, then iliminishes to 

 12 iuclics, producing throughout an aver- 

 age width of 101 2 inches; a 7-foot block 

 cuts practically the same amount of veneer 

 as is gotten from slicing the same sized 

 flitch for a quartered and plain effect. 



The beauty, simplicity of manufacture 

 and wide range of growth of the beech 

 tree are certainly factors that cannot be 

 overlooked by either the manufacturer or 

 consumer of door stiles, and this is the 

 time to "get in on the ground floor." 



Suggestions to Small SaWmill J\Ien 



The small uiilluuiu. through his natural 

 modesty and the prominence given at asso- 

 ciation meetings in trade periodicals to the 

 big factors in the business, not infrequently 

 gets the impression that his affairs are so 

 insignificant and that the minor details of 

 his business are of such trivial importance 

 that they are not worthy of either extensive 

 <liscussion or close stud.y. This is a false 

 idea. There is no denying the truth, of 

 <'ourse, that any one man is a small factor 

 o.ompafed to the world at large. Still, it is 

 the small things in life that really count 

 for the most in the end, and it is only by 

 attenticm to the small things that great 

 things are made possible. Xo matter how- 

 small a factor a man may be in the lumber 

 business, the details of his work are im- 

 portant to him, more so in many respects 

 than are the details to the larger mill man. 

 Whether large or small, there are certain 

 elements that contribute to success, and 

 their study is just as iTuportant in the small 

 mills as in the large ones, because success 

 is the aim of all, and it -means as much to 

 the man cutting 5,000 to 10,000 feet a day 

 as it does to one who cuts .50,000 or 100,000 

 feet a day. 



While it is commercial success ^ all 

 are aiming for, we ipay for the sake of 

 delineation, class elements of success in the 

 small sawmill under two general heads, 

 commercial and mechanical. Then, taking 

 up the mechanical branch of the study, the 

 first and one of the most important things 

 to consider is that of power — the boiler and 

 engine of the small sawmill. This is an 

 ■element on which so much depends, and 

 so much could be written, that it is difficult 

 to tell just what to say first, and just how 

 to say it. If some of you who are having 

 troubli' with boiler or engine would write 

 iind tell of j'our difficulties it would 

 be comparatively easy to point out faults 

 and suggest remedies, because that would 

 give specific matter to work on. Without 

 this one has to assume certain conditions 

 and guess at what causes the most trouble 

 in the greatest number of small power 



plants in the woods. There is one thing, 

 however, tliat every small millman may 

 write down ami paste in his hat: Success 

 cannot be obtained from a sawmill without 

 power to operate it steadily through the 

 day. When you have to stop a sawmill 

 every few hours during the day and wait 

 for steam, it is a sure sign that failure is 

 scheduled to arrive at that mill sooner or 

 later. It matters not whether the mill 

 makes 2,000 feet of lumber a day, or 200,- 

 000 feet; it matters not how you may 

 scheme to employ 3'our men through these 

 intervals of waiting for steam. It won't 

 work. The only way to run a mill suc- 

 cessfully is to run it steadily, and if you 

 cannot do that, it is lietter to shut it down 

 entirely. 



The question that naturally follows is, 

 how to devise a remedy for having to wait 

 for steam? That is one of the points where 

 specific data would be better than general 

 directions. In other words, each ease must 

 be diagnosed separately and remedies ap- 

 plied according to the needs. Sometimes it 

 is just a case of poor firing, neglecting 

 some little points here and there, not keep- 

 ing the furnace clean, letting "the engine 

 run down a little, neglecting leaky valves, 

 and other thing^.,, In fact, nmnj- eases are 

 known where putting on a fireman wjho, 

 takes a pride in his work and gives atten- 

 tion to the small details, is all that is 

 needed; but many times there are other 

 troubles. 



l^robably the greatest cause of annoyance 

 is the natural tendency among mill men to 

 overload the power plant. The average 

 sawyer likes to make a local record, ,and 

 the millman likes to see things hum, by 

 catering to this inclination; the result is 

 that outside of threshers there is probably 

 no class of boilers and engines more over- 

 taxed, strained and abused generally than 

 those found in small sawmills. Assuming 

 that the boiler and engine is given proper 

 attention in detail, the fact remains that 

 the majority of small millmen literally run 

 them to death, jiutting too much speed on 



the engine to begin with .iiid ton niueli feed 

 on the saws to finisli tlie |irneess of over- 

 loading; while they may stand up to the 

 work for a while, with the best of care,' 

 it is a pace that kills, and it would be bet- 

 ten- for boiler, engine and owner if the gait 

 were made slower and kept up steadily. 

 'I he average small sawmill, run at a 

 little slower gait, would last longer, cost 

 less for repairs, and make nH)re money for 

 the operator. This fact is emphasized by 

 considering that, entirely aside from the 

 power plant itself, we are entering on a new 

 era of timber values where it is no longer 

 a question of how much we can work up 

 but how we can best utilize what is 

 at hand. Economical utilization of wood, 

 even during the process of converting logs 

 into rough lumber, is not in rush or bluster, 

 but in deliberation. Deliberation is not pos- 

 sible to any great extent with the high ten- 

 sion at which small sawmills are usuallv 

 operated. 



Getting back to the boiler and engine, 

 the first thing generally where there is 

 trouble about keepiiig up steam, is to find 

 out whether the fault is in the boiler or in 

 the engine, and see whether it is a tem- 

 porary ailment or a general condition. The 

 boiler should have a general going over and 

 an examination as to condition of furnace, 

 wall, flues, draft, scales cleaned out, etc. 

 But if after putting it in condition the 

 trouble continues, it is very easy to test 

 the boiler and determine -whether or not 

 its steam capacity is what it ought to be. 

 The next thing to do is to turn attention 

 to the engine and find out whether or not 

 it is wasting steam. Assume that the 

 valves are already properly set; if they are 

 the exhaust will be likely to show bad 

 conditions. To get some idea as to the con- 

 dition of piston and rings, and possible 

 leakage, open the drain cocks in the ends 

 of the cylinder and watch them carefully 

 while the engine is at work. Take the head 

 off the cylinder and see what it looks like. 

 Before starting in to examine the inside of 

 the cylinder roll, see if you can get an idea 

 of what the clearance space is between the 

 piston head and cylinder head. Some old. 

 types of engines show over an inch of 

 space between the piston head and the 

 cylinder head at the end of the stroke, and 

 in such a case about the best thing to do 

 is to open negotiations with an engine 

 builder for a new machine. All the space 

 left means so much waste steam at every 

 stroke, and engines are now built with the 

 piston head playing up so close to the cylin- 

 der head at the end of the stroke that one 

 has to be careful in adjusting the brasses 

 on the connecting rod to prevent pounding 

 one end or the other of the cylinder. That 

 is one reason why the new engines require 

 less steam than the older types. It is well 

 to keep attention on this point, however, 

 even in modern engines, and bear in mind 

 when putting your cylinder heads on, that 

 while a thick gasket may look right, it 

 means at this point an unnecessary waste 



