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Sawmil] Shop Talk 



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liir iili^'n- 



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<l partly by tlio BvavoniDi; 



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mcut auii at 

 cure for foui 



gTOund rc«t of the mill |K>«tit. > 

 uaol n MtUinc will occur, but tli.- .^ 

 of timber and ]>artJy by decay uf the |H>st riida next to Uio concrete. 

 Unli>M n concrete foundation extrndu n-vorsil fj-ot iibovo tlio (ground, 

 wood in contact with it in likely to ilcciiy — in fact, sonic contend 

 that it 1^ ' > hen in cuntuut with the );ruund. 



A gtXKl - or two of tar or n8|ili:ilt paper 



between the i>«»t ends and Uic concrete foinulatiuii. The ends of the 

 ]>ost should be painted with tar or asphalt ]>aint, then the paper 

 applied and then on the outside of this another coat of ]inint applied 

 to insure its waterproofing qualities. With these precautions taken 

 there i<bould be lilUo trouble from decaying post ends, and the set- 

 tling incident to shrinkage and the timber ilrying out to any extent 

 hap[>cns only once, after which n careful rcadjus-ting and aligning 

 of the machinery equipment ought to make it stiind (irmly. 

 Fire Brick in Boiler Furnaces 



It is doubtful if enough attention is ever given to the selection an<l 

 use of fire brick for lining boiler furnaces, because one seldom sees u 

 sawmill boiler furnace which conforms to the ideal in furnace 

 linings. 



The heat in a boiler furnace isn 't much compared to the high 

 temperature and hard service that fire briok must stand up to in 

 some other lines of work, and it should not be diflicult to get fire 

 brick of a quality necessary to stand the heat fairly well. As far 

 as possible only such bricks should lie used as are smooth and evenly 

 formed, with the comers well filled out and comparatively sharp. 

 Broken and rounded corners arc bad in fire bricks for they mean a 

 heavy daubing with clay mortar, which too often cracks and drops 

 out after a little firing, leaving a rough wall. The truer the fire 

 bricks are, the neater and snnallcr can be made the mortar joints, 

 and these things contribute largely to the ideal furnace lining. 



Where the furnace requirements are very severe in other lines of 

 industry', specifications for laying fire bricks call for a mortar joint 

 not more than one-eighth of an inch thick and sometimes on the flat 

 or horizontal joint it is reduced lower than this. Sometimes the fire 

 brick is merely dipped into a thin clay mortar and then hammered into 

 position instead of having a mortar bcl put up on the previous brick 

 with a trowel. 



The average brick layer has a habit of making mortar joints from 

 three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch thick, and this is about 

 the worst habit he could have when it comes to laying bricks in a 

 boiler furnace, for thase thick joints cause settling down of the wall 

 and the mortar cracks and drops out, making a ragged inner wall 

 that often develops air leaks. 



The best idea is to get fire bricks true to form with smooth 

 sharp comers, then insist that no mortar joint shall be thicker than 

 one-eighth of an inch. You may have to stand over the average 

 bricklayer with a club to get this, but in this direction lies success. 

 Once you can get fire bricks properly laid with very thin joints and 

 the mortar made of a good clay, the work will stand much longer and 

 give better service than if laid haphazard with thick mortar joints 

 and a lot of pieces and patches in the wall. 



Power Waste in Conveyors 



The average sa>Tmill man is a most profligate power user .mi 

 power waster. One of the most prolific sources of waste is in the 

 construction and operation of waste conveyors. Sometimes one finds 

 a sawmill where more power is consumed in the net work of conveyors 

 used for handling sawdust, slabs and trash than is required to drive 

 the actual producing machinery of the sawmill. At times there is a 

 useless nimiber of such conveyors and at other times they are unneces- 

 sarily burdensome in their power requirements. We have reached 

 the period in sawmill economy where a scientific study should be made 

 of conveyors, their cost, power requirements and the service ren- 



—20— 



drri'il. liuhi'li'l Ml tlir hliiiiilil Ih' r\>'iythiiig from the luiiMyuis that 

 bring tlie liign iiit<i Mi" iiiillH to the Miialleiil Hawdunl rarrier. 



Kor example, it is well known that in handling dry lo^iN much 

 lesa power is required to pull them into the mill on a good truck 

 timn to bring them up on tlie xlip and bull chain u«cd for unnking 

 logs out of n log pond. Moreover, Uicro is a chanco to roduco the 

 power load materially by tlic proper selection and mnintenaneo of 

 trucks and hoisting gear. 



On the conveyors ured in the mill for handling Haw<luiit and chips 

 from tlie hog, and trash of various kinds, there ore some which do 

 not hnmlle enough material to justify the investment in equipment 

 and the power consumed. There are others which are unnecessarily 

 extravagant in using power. Eventually the point will be reached 

 where that expensive slab conveyor will be a thing of the past. The 

 slabs m-ill be worked up until nil that is left of them will bo con- 

 sumed in the boiler furnace. 



All around us there is a chance for power economy and greater 

 manufacturing efliciency by a careful study of conveyors, with a view 

 to reducing them to a sensible minimum in both the cost of original 

 equipment and the power required for operation. 



Log Washing or Saw Filing? 



Some sawmill men find it a sort of toss-up proposition whether 

 they should do log washing or more saw filing. Where logs come out 

 of the water they naturally have some of the dirt and grit washed 

 from them and the wat<?r on the surface softens what remains so 

 that as a rule saws will stand up longer and do good work without 

 filing. 



Knowledge of this fact has led to the use of water on logs handled 

 dry from the ground. Different methods of spr-iying or washing are 

 followed. Some use a spray on the log deck, but the common practice 

 consists of turning a stream of water on logs as they come up the 

 slips just before going into the mill. In either ease the washing 

 or wetting of logs calls for quite a lot of water, and this in turn 

 requires the operation of pumps as well as the installation of the 

 equipment. It makes it easier on the saws, but the question is, 

 docs it cost more than it saves f 



Various answers are given to this question. Some profess that it 

 is cheaper and more satisfactory generally to cut the logs dry and 

 do more filing. Otliers take the position that everything possible 

 should be done to clean and soften the bark of logs to make saws 

 stand up longer and do better work. Still others consider it a sort 

 of toss-up proposition. Perhaps local conditions aro a factor and 

 often the question of satisfaction hinges largely on personal pref- 

 erence. 



Ideal Sawmill Construction 



There seems to be a jarring note in what we have been inclined 

 to accept as the ideal in sawmill construction. It is almost a joke 

 on some of the sawmill men who have built what they thought were 

 the ideal mills, using concrete and steel, and later have had occasion 

 to join in exploiting lumber and timber for structural purposes. A 

 mill man of wide experience recently said that he knew of a neighbor- 

 ing concern, operating a iniJI of all concrete and steel construction, 

 which had lost several of its best men because of the unusual noise 

 resulting from the operations of the mill. 



A sawmill or other woodworking plant is something of a noise 

 maker at its best, but in the case of steel construction on concrete 

 foundations, that noise becomes more pronounced and shrill. The 

 millman telling the story said the mill was built on a concrete base, 

 but on this they jiut wooden beams, joists, floors and wooden posts 

 above. This seems to have proven a better form of construction 

 than the steel frame because the wood softens the noise and the 

 concrete furnishes the firm foundation. 



Concrete for foundation work is really the most important item in 

 mill and factory construction. This is where concrete is at its best — 

 when in the ground to furnish foundation. 



