In the Sawmil] Sanctum 



\ hnrjwootl tiiillmnn who liaa a iiiixturo of logii in lii« uvmliihlo 

 Mibor su|i|>lr. inrluiliiif; onk, poplar, ){um and some pino, tMiVK tliiit 



' ' rludi'U to ronflne his ojiorationg for Uio time l«>iii({ 



t and to iitrivo for tlio bcKt in tlicsc. 



•i givpn for tliiii involves a quration in log sortiii);. 



I' -.1.- .11. li >....:<t of his guui is sap K:um ami runs largely to common 



•'•ok. Very little of it will do for quartering, and to saw this wood 



' a profit re«|uires something different in the way of mill iietlnn 



• .in is l>e»t for sawing high-grade onk nnd poplar. In sawing up the 

 '.I'nper and low-grade logs, such as gum and pino, bo says he wants 

 ■ get action, to run things through and produce quantity, in order 



•■ get any profit out of that class of timber under present conditions. 



Whea you get valuable oak logs in the mill you don't want your 

 - iwyer to run them through recklessly. You want to get all the 



;;h-gTade stuff possible and get it out in the best sliapi* to bring the 

 • •]> price. When you get men trained to the right kind of delibera- 



■n in handling the high-grade logs, then they are inclined to take the 

 lino deliberation in handling gum and pine, with tho result that the 

 i ill does not produce the turnout nor the profit it should. 



This argument is logical, but there are so many phases to logging 

 .-ind sorting -logs that there is room for much argument. In some 

 cases the matter of logging operations enters. In tho case of the man 

 referred to, this is not a strong factor, for he buys logs on the river 

 and can select what suits him best. 



Where a man is logging his own timber and has his railroad and log 

 handling ctjuipmcnt, about the only economical way is to make a 

 cleanup as he goes. This means sending all sorts and kinds of tim- 

 ber into tho mill all the time. Sometimes the logs may be so piled 

 and distributed on the mill yard that they can be sorted for sawing. 

 The mill may have a run on oak for half a day, then on poplar, gum, 

 bickorj-, or whatever other timber is at hand. Where logs can be 

 sorted and arranged in this way it is better, becau.se the filer can fit 

 saws for each kind of logs and make the changes when the change is 

 made from one run to another. It is also possible to speed the mill 

 up for the soft timber and slow down a little for the hard timber. 

 Of course the crew would remain the same in each case. Part of the 

 time it would be working hard while at others it would be a little 

 easier for the laborers who do nothing but handle material. It is 

 better for edger men and resawyers to have time for deliberation in 

 cutting tho high-grade stock, because they then can get more out of 

 it. An arrangement to sort timber on the mill yard unquestionably 

 helps sawmill operations where there is a general mixture of logs. 



The Double Mill 

 The double band mill may be considered in this connection, one 

 : le for big, high-grade logs, the other for smaller timber, and to 



• operated for quantity. Big yellow pine mills do it this way some- 

 times, though more commonly they distinguish the two sides of a 

 double mill with one short side and one long side. There is little doubt 

 that the double mill offers some advantage in the way of sorting logs 

 and working them to the best advantage, but the double mill is not 



' so common in hardwood operations as in pine, and conditions are such 

 that it is not often easy or advisable to resort to the double mill for 

 the benefit of sorting logs. 



Kkep Saws Sharp 

 A sawyer should learn to push the common gum logs through and 

 then let up on the big clear logs that will make quarter stock or 

 extra high-grade material, and should take more pains with it. This 

 is quite largely a matter of developing habits and of rousing the 

 personal interest of sawyer and block setter. They set the pace for 

 tho mill. ■ There is, however, a mechanical difficulty in handling mixed 

 logs through a hardwood mill, some oak, some gum and some poplar 

 and an occasional pine log and then one of hickory. To do the best 

 work on these requires different filing. Some filers claim that hard- 

 woods require a different shaped tooth. Others say it is not so much 

 —32— 



the hurd»uuds and u ttiUt-r oiio lor thf .s»>ft. 



Still another matter that enterH is that of having the »aw iihaip 

 and in good shape when a high-grade hig •oineN along. If the saw Iinh 

 been cutting a lot of rough timber nnd is dull so that it shieH and 

 dodges about in n fine log, it will do enough damage in a little while 

 to pay for taking it off and putting on a now one. Where a man 

 .saws mixed logs there should be fre<|uent clinnging of MWt, that 

 tho one on the wheels may be in good order nil tho time. 

 How Ma.sy Rk-saws 



The resaw is now recognized us an important part in the ci(in|. 

 ment of everything in the way of a pretcnlious hardwood saHmill. In 

 the making of inch boards the resaw increases the mill's capacity 

 materially, nnd saves in timber by making a snwilli-r kerf than tho 

 mill saw. It has so well proved its worth that wo not only find tho 

 resaw in most up-to-date hardwood mills, but now and then we find 

 two resaws, and this raises tho question of how many resaws aro 

 advisable. Tho writer saw a single band mill cutting oak, sycamore, 

 gum and cypress using two resaws, a heavy one with a blade as large 

 as some mill saw blades for breaking down flitches info boards, and 

 a smaller one of about the regular resaw size for cutting boards into 

 thin stock. The small one was not kept running stoadily, but ap- 

 parently there was enough resawing of boards into thin stock to 

 justify its installation. From this it might safely be concluded that 

 whore a mill is cutting mainly one-inch stock or any thickness above, 

 one resaw is enough for one mill saw. If the mill is working panels 

 ■'s, Vi and % inches thick, two resaws may be justified, one for 

 breaking down flitches into boards and another for resawing boards 

 into panel stock. The best time to resaw boards is while they are 

 green. It makes a little more trouble to handle tho thin material, but 

 it produces better stock and facilitates drying. Two resaws may be 

 found advisable, not only for those making panel stock but also for 

 mills catering to the box factory and box shook trade, which might 

 do the resawing of the box stock while it is green instead of ^*liipping 

 it full inch thickness and letting the box factory resaw it. 



The Belt Tighte-ner 



A gravity belt tightener, playing on the loose side of heavily loaded 

 belts, has been a part of the sawmill equipment from the earliest days. 

 Twenty-five or thirty years ago it was thought necessary to put a 

 tightener on practically every belt in the mill. By and by there grew 

 up a fresh army of millwrights with new ideas, ono of which was that 

 the tightener was a cumbersome nuisance and that there was enough 

 elasticity in good belting to nmkc tightness unnecessary. As a result 

 of this new idea large woodworking establishments with a number of 

 big belts as well as small ones were installed without a tightener. 

 Not only was the tightener eliminated but the endless belt idea gained 

 favor and belt stretchers were a part of tlie equipment of every estab- 

 lishment. 



It was never practical to entirely eliminate the tightener from the 

 sawmill, because the main drive belt still demanded it. It was 

 eliminated, however, from nearly everything except that and slack 

 belts used for intermittent service, such as log haulups. 



It looked as if the old gravity tightener had been killed, but a few 

 years ago it began to come back. Some builders of planers discovered 

 that by using a properly designed gravity tightener they could insure 

 better work and less strain on their planer belts. They made a series 

 of tests to be sure of it and then feature<l this as one of the strong 

 points of their planers. They were doing perhaps more than they 

 thought because they were not only boosting this planer but they were 

 helping the tightener to come back. Today it is in favor again, and is 

 Ijroving that it is better than to depend on tight belts and the 

 elastic element of the belts themselves. The new tightener is more 

 carefully designed and better hung than the old one. 

 The Quarter Twist Belt 



One of the things the mechanical world has learned about belting 



