Tray Mills in California National Forests. 391 



inches radially and 8 to 14 inches tangentially. In bolting small 

 knots are disregarded but large ones are split out. 



At the mill the ends of the bolts are first squared with a cir- 

 cular saw termed a butting machine. Next the bolts are placed 

 in the carriage of the tray machine, which is a shingle saw or 

 machine with the carriage adjusted to cut boards of even thick- 

 ness. The bolts are so placed in the carriage that they are sawn 

 at right angles to the annual rings. Portions of bolts contain- 

 ing medium sized knots are left unsawn and are used for fuel. 

 The presence of a small knot in a board throws it into the second 

 grade. After leaving the saw the boards are passed by hand 

 through an edger set to cut the following live widths: 4", 5", 6", 

 7" and 9" ; and through a trimmer which makes them an even 

 length of 24". They are sawn 1/2" thick. After being sorted 

 and graded the boards are piled for drying and are later tied with 

 wire in bundles for hauling. 



The cost of producing a thousand boards in a representative 

 tray mill is about as follows : 



Woods and mill, $4-73 



Piling, 25 



Baling, 20 



Depreciation and maintenance, 53 



Stumpage, 1-13 



Hauling to R. R., 3.50 



Total, $10.34 



The average selling price of the output, taking into consider- 

 ation first and second grades of boards, is about $13.50 to 

 $14.00 per thousand boards at the railroad. Out of the profit the 

 operator must, in addition, cover supervision and interest. The 

 output of the average tray mill is about 15 thousand boards per 

 day. 



On an average the tray mill operator can utilize at least one 

 more log in a tree than the shakemaker. The waste in his mill, 

 due to sawdust, edgings, trimmings, etc., is such that on the whole 

 he wastes as much of a tree as a shakemaker. However, he has, 

 as noted above, this great advantage over the shakemaker; all 

 sound trees may be utilized. Consequently, a sale may be made to 



