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HARDWOOD RECORD 



knees, but with most of the better class of 

 rigs one can get the nose of the head block 

 within a half inch of the saw by raising it an 

 inch or more above the collar, and this should 

 be done where it is practicable. Even though 

 it is not generally desired to ■finish down to 

 one inch it is a good thing to have the mill 

 so that it can be done should occasion arise. 



Now, while the average mill man is familiar 

 with these facts, there are mills, which ap- 

 parently conform to the requirements of these 

 mechanical rules as strictly as others, and yet 

 there is a great difference in their working, 

 a difference which cannot be accounted for on 

 the ground of lack of attention to these gen- 

 eral rules. Naturally then, there must be 

 something else entering sufficiently into the 

 detail of operating sawmills to be a factor of 

 importance. It is not the purpose here to 

 reiterate again and again the primary rules 

 of sawmill setting, but to point out some of 

 the little things that escape notice frequently, 

 because of insignificance when taken singly, 

 but which taken together are of such import- 

 ance as to frequently mean the difference be- 

 tween failure and success. 



The lirst important thing in the sawmill 

 proper, speaking of the sawmill entirely apart 

 from the boiler and engine, is the feed works, 

 or rather the feed works and carriage com- 

 bined, because either or both can contribute 

 to the burden of operating. Assuming, of 

 course, that the saw is all right and every- 

 thing else is in order, what is wanted are a 

 feed works and carriage that will handle saw 

 logs back and forth with as little exertion 

 and power as possible. There is no feasible 

 way of testing it, but if there were it would 

 be surprising to find how much power is con- 

 sumed in the work of feeding a log forward 

 and gigging the carriage back in the average 

 sawmill. It is so much, in fact, that nothing 

 but the best of feed works is good enough 

 for continued operation. For friction feed 

 there is nothing better than paper and iron 

 alternately, but with even this they should 

 be given the best care to get satisfactory re- 

 sults. All pulleys should swing squarely in 

 line and the faces come together their full 

 width. There is many a four-inch face pulley 

 doing practically all its work on two inches of 

 face. This may seem a small thing, but it is 

 small things that make up the general element 

 of trouble. The more face the less pressure 

 is necessary, and the less pressure the less 

 power you will use up in pulling the car- 

 riage. A rickety rig that rattles and jerks 

 around every time the lever is swung should 

 not be tolerated. It would be time well spent 

 to stop a day and go over it carefully, fas- 

 tening every box and every hanger firmly, 

 take up all the lost motion the works will 

 stand 80 that in reversing the sawyer will 

 not have to swing his lever a yard and back 

 again. Then, when the rattling^ has been 

 overcome and all puUeys face up nicely, and 

 the leverage swing has been reduced to a 

 minimum, box the whole to protect it against 

 sawdust, bark, chips, etc., for the only way 

 to get good service out of friction works is 



to guard against dirt, and especially moisture. 



In addition to bettering the condition of 

 the friction feed itself, it will give better 

 service and relieve the mandrel and likewise 

 the saw of part of its heavy burden, and 

 minimize one of its most disturbing ele- 

 ments. If the gig back drives from the saw 

 mandrel, as it does in most small sawmills, 

 every time the sawyer swings his weight on 

 it he pvits that much extra pressure on the 

 outside saw mandrel box, which must also 

 stand the strain of the main belt, and it is 

 no wonder that some mandrel boxes get hot 

 and give trouble. It shakes the saw, too, as 

 can be demonstrated easily. This of itself 

 should be sufficient argument in favor of 

 keeping the feed works in the best condi- 

 tion possible, but there are plenty of other 

 reasons. 



It probably has not been cited as such 

 and may not be an invariable indication, but, 

 generally speaking, when the feed works in a 

 mill are in excellent shape and the carriage 

 responding at the slightest touch of the lever, 

 it will be found that it is a mill that makes 

 good lumber. Not only that, but it makes 

 more of it than a similar mill would make 

 with sluggish feed works where the sawyer 

 has to nail strips on the floor to set his toes 

 against to feed the carriage through. Some- 

 times it is not altogether the fault of the 

 feed works, but this comes first, and then 

 if the carriage pulls heavy it is time to turn 

 attention to.it. The writer was at one time 

 called in to remedy a stubborn and balky car- 

 riage. The feed works were examined, the 

 rack and pinion were looked over because 

 it was thought that the carriage might be 

 riding the pinion too heavily. Everything 

 seemed to be all right that far, however. So 

 the mill was started up and the carriage run 

 back and forth a few times empty, and it 

 went very well. Finally a log was put 

 on the carriage; the first log was small 

 and while it pulled a little heavily, it 

 went through all right, but next came a big 

 log and the carriage after starting and run- 

 ning a few feet balked and refused to budge. 

 A careful examination showed that there was 

 nothing dragging, so the log was taken off 

 and the carriage stripped for examination. 

 A place was cleared on the log deck and after 

 the blocks and set works had been taken off 



the carriage was turned upside down on the 

 log deck, so as to have both the carriage and 

 track free for examination. 



Ordinarily when things go wrong with the 

 carriage and its track after running for awhile 

 the tirst place to look for trouble in the track 

 is right at the corner of the log deck next to 

 the saw, because it is there usually that the 

 first settling takes place. If the track is 

 sprung sidewise that is generally the place 

 to look for the trouble, too, because no mat- 

 ter whether a nigger is used or the logs 

 turned toward the operator and skidded back 

 onto the carriage, there is the same straining 

 and shoving on nearly every log, tending to 

 push the carriage track away from the deck. 

 This being the logical starting point, in this 

 case naturally we looked here first for the 

 trouble. The track showed some deflections 

 and had pounded down slightly, but not 

 enough to make any material difference. 

 After aligning and straightening it carefully 

 without finding anything that could have 

 caused all the trouble, attention was finally 

 turned to the carriage wheels. The first 

 tiling was to see if the grooved wheels were 

 properly aligned and leveled and it was while 

 doing this that the cause of the trouble was 

 accidentally discovered at a point where we 

 had never thought to look. In an effort to 

 turn one of the wheels it was found to be 

 dragging at the bottom of the mortise that 

 had been cut in the carriage timber to receive 

 it. This was an eye opener that put us on 

 the right track, and after that we were not 

 long in discovering that three of those car- 

 riage wheels when a heavy weight would come 

 on the carriage were rammed tight into the 

 bottoms of the mortises cut out of the car- 

 riage for the top half of the wheel. It was 

 a small thing and did not take long to rectify, 

 but that small thing simply rendered the 

 sawmill useless until the trouble was dis- 

 covered and cured. The makers of that car- 

 riage did not give enough attention to de- 

 tails either or they would have cut the mor- 

 tises for those wheels deep enough to take 

 care of all shrinkage and wear. Giving at- 

 tention to these small things, and a general 

 looking after all of them will contribute to 

 the smooth and light running of the feed 

 works and carriage, without which a mill 

 will be a burden, no matter how good it is 

 or how well it mav otherwise be constructed. 



Hardwood Record M<^tl *Bag, 



[In this department It Is proposed to reply 

 to such luiiulrles us leaoli this ofllce from the 

 llAiiDWOdD Ukcoiid cllenlnfc'o as will he of cnoniih 

 general Interest to warrant publh-ation. Kvery 

 patron of the paper 's Invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer tpierles perlnlnlnp to all 

 matters of Interest to the hardwood trade, In 

 a succinct and Intelllcent manner.] 



A Note from the Bard of Oshkosll. 

 For many months past the Hardwood 

 Record has illumined its Pert, Pertinent 

 and Impertinent page with many choice bits 

 of verse contributed by the lumberman-poet 

 of Oshkosh. By an oversight, the last issue 



of the IIakdwood Record failed to contain 

 any contributions from this distinguished 

 genius. However, the following bit of verse 

 was published on this page in the issue of 

 .Tan. 25: 



RETROSPECTIVE. 



"There .are no birds In last year's nests," 

 No di)llar bills In last year's vests ; 

 And 'tisn't wise to hope that "scads" 

 Will still How In from last year's "ads." 



Hence it is that we arc in receipt of the 

 following communication from "Wagstaff- 

 Lumbcr-Oshkosh ' ' : 



OSHKOSit, Jan. £0. — Kdltor llAuinvoon Kec- 



