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Improving Product of the Small Mill M 



It is pretty generally charged, and is too often true, that the 

 small sawmill does not do its work well; that lumber manufactured 

 by it will not pass muster alongside lumber manufactured by 

 the larger mills, and especially the modern band sawmills. So 

 strong is this impression and so often do the small mills give 

 excuse for it that it is a pretty hard proposition for a man to 

 start out marketing the product of a small mill or a series of 

 small mills with the idea of getting the same price for it that 

 is paid for the lumber product of the larger mills. Moreover, 

 it is held that it is impractical for the small mill, moving about from 

 place to place, to be maintained in such condition as to do the 

 best class of manufacturing. 



Who is there, though, who can point out specifically the reasons 

 why a small mill cannot manufacture just as good lumber as the 

 larger mill? It is easy enough to explain how the small mill 

 may have more difficulty in handling logs of larger size than 

 the average circular saw of the mill will reach, but that is aside 

 from the question of quality in manufacturing. The writer has 

 in mind several instances where small mills have actually made 

 records of superiority in manufacturing that might well be envied 

 by some of the larger ones. 



One case specifically in mind was that of a water mill having 

 a capacity ranging from 1,00(1 to 5,000 feet a day. This mill 

 made quite a feature of wagon material, including axles, tongues, 

 ■bolsters and poles. The work of sawing was so carefully done 

 and the stock was so well cared for that it found favor every- 

 where, and some of the larger mills in the same community 

 Tjought stock from the smaller mill for their own use. 



Another instance was that of a small mill of the serai-portable 

 ■class having a 9x12 self-contained steam engine and a ten-foot 

 tubular boiler. The entire mill could be taken up and moved 

 from place to place in from one to two weeks' time, and it 

 seemingly did not differ materially from hundreds of other small 

 mills. The man owning and operating it, however, took pride 

 in his ability as a sawyer and he was such a crank on smooth, 

 clean-cutting saws that he would stop and go over his saw 

 instantly when any prominent saw marks showed on the product. 

 This man made lumber on which one could hardly find the saw 

 marks and which, insofar as manufacturing was concerned, would 

 grade with the best product of the best band mills. 



These instances are cited to show that there is really nothing 

 impossible or impractical about doing good work with a small 

 sawmill. There is reall\ but little excuse for poor manufacturing 

 even in a small mill, and the faults that do show up are more 

 those of neglect and carelessness than anything else. 



What is there about a small mill that should prevent it from 

 making just as perfect lumber as a large one? There is nothing 

 "that differs mechanically from the equipment of the larger mills. 

 It consists of a carriage track with a carriage mounted on it, on 

 which are head blocks to carry the logs, and of a saw to do the 

 cutting, with the necessary feeding gear to run the carriage back 

 and forth. These are essentials just the same in the large mill 

 as in the small mill, and also in each case it is essential to have 

 thorn leveled, plumbed and in true alignment. This is no more 

 impossible with the small mill than with the large one. 



One difference sometimes is that the small mill may only have 

 two head blocks on the carriage, whereas the large mill has three 

 or four. Sometimes, too, the larger mill has a better equipment 

 of dogs, so that the logs are held more firmly and the extra 

 knees on the blocks prevent springing. These extra blocks can 

 be had on the small mill, though, just as well as on the large 

 one and the additional cost is only a nominal one; indeed, some 

 of the better small mills already have them, and also have 

 splendid dogs with which to hold their logs in place. 



Perhaps the most important difference found in a comparative 

 analysis of the work of small mills and large ones is to be found 



in the fact that on the larger mills, whether they are band mills 

 or circular mills, the saws are taken off when they are dull and 

 taken to a filing room, where an expert filer does the filing. In 

 the small mill, when the noon whistle blows the sawyer eats a 

 hasty bite and then jumps astraddle of the back of his saw with 

 a swage and file and makes a rush job of putting it in order for 

 the afternoon run, repeating this performance again at the end 

 of the day's work. One of the results of this method is that 

 the saws are too often poorly fitted; they have long corners and 

 short corners, thus marking up the lumber so that it takes too 

 much to dress jt down to a smooth face. The poor work in 

 swaging makes the saw run warm and go snaking in and out 

 of the logs so that it produces poorly manufactured lumber. 



This is perhaps the crux of the whole matter, in the diflcerence 

 between the work of the small mill and the larger one. There 

 is not enpugh time and money spent to keep the saws in proper 

 order. If the man operating the small mill will equip a filing 

 room, carry a stock of three or four saws, keep them properly 

 hammered to stand up under their work, and take pains in filing 

 them as they should be, instead of doing a hasty job astraddle 

 of one on the mandrel, the saws will stand up and do just as 

 good work as can be done in a larger mill. 



While this matter of keeping the saws in proper order is 

 perhaps the most important point in theVatter of improving the 

 product of the small mill, it is by no means the only one. The 

 carriage track must be kept level, the mandrel in proper align- 

 ment to the carriage track, and everything in the same first-class 

 order that prevails in the larger plants. There is nothing impos- 

 sible about it all; nothing very difficult. Moreover, there is 

 really no lack of skill responsible — it is simply a lack of care 

 and thoughtfulness. The man who knows enough to file a saw 

 knows when that saw is running right, and what shape the 

 mandrel and carriage should be kept 'in. So it is not lack of 

 knowledge — it is really lack of care— and the man with the small 

 mill who cares enough and will take tlie trouble can, by close 

 attention to all of the details, make just as good lumber "as the 

 mill with the big band saw. j_ q_ t 



Proceedings of American Wood Preservers 



The American Wood Preservers' Association has recently pub- 

 lished a book of five hundred pages, containing the proceed- 

 ings of the annual meeting held in Chicago last January. 

 The wood preservers are doing a particular work. They are sav- 

 ing timber that has already been grown, rather than exerting 

 their energies to grow more, though they are not insensible to the 

 needs of practical forestry. They are not making two sticks grow where 

 one grew before, but they are making the one stick go twice as 

 far as it used to go. The.v are stopping one of the most wasteful 

 leaks in the wood industry — decay. The field in which they may 

 carry on their work is wide. The annual cut of crossties in the 

 United states is equivalent to about five billion feet of lumber; 

 and if, by preservative treatment, the period of serpice of these ties 

 can be doubled, it means a saving of between two and three bil- 

 lion feet of wood a year in that one item alone. Half as much 

 timber goes into fence posts every year, and preservation will 

 save a billion feet annually in that commodity. Similar savings 

 are practicable in poles, paving blocks, piling, and' mine timbers. 

 Great saving is possible with nearly all out-door timbers and 

 those used in damp situations where decay is prompt to attack 

 and quick in destroying. The fact is often lost sight of that the 

 annual enormous bill of forest products which the people must 

 pay for is largely to take the place of material which rotted out 

 instead of wearing out. A large part of this decay is preventable 

 by preservative treatment. There is no line of work more prom- 

 ising for the advocates of conservation. It is not the whole field, 

 but it is a very respectable part of it. 



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