493 Forestry Quarterly 



one pair on each side the saw blades, furnish the feed and steady 

 the log, while huge clamps, one on either side, control the align- 

 ment. Naturally only straight logs may be fed through such a 

 machine. Another type of saw, which occurs less frequently, 

 is the horizontal "band-saw," with an arrangement for raising 

 and lowering the cutting blade. The gangsaw, however, has the 

 greatest capacity ; the single blade varying between one-tenth and 

 one-fifth, and the horizontal band between one-fifth and one-half 

 that of the gang in capacity. The gangsaw requires no carriage, 

 the clamps and rollers holding the log securely in position. The 

 other types of saws, however, require carriages, which are, in 

 general, very similar, being of heavy construction, very long, 

 and operating on small wheels. The log, on the single blade car- 

 riage, is clamped on one end and held by a split pin on the other, 

 so as to permit the log being sawn from end to end. Between the 

 two ends of the carriage is a movable section which may be ad- 

 justed to the length of the log. After each operation the board 

 is removed and the log readjusted. In the case of the horizontal 

 band-saw the log is clamped from the sides and ends and boards 

 cut from the top, the saw being lowered each time to make the 

 new cut. 



As a rule, and especially by the mountain mills, water is de- 

 pended upon for power ; the older forms of utilization being the 

 "over" and "under" shot wheels ; the modern form, the steel 

 turbine. The mountain streams, under strict regulation, furnish 

 an abundance of power and it is common to find many small 

 mills with concrete feed pipe and well and with a steel turbine. 

 The advantages of the turbine lie in greater efficiency, higher 

 speed and ease of control. 



The daily capacity of the gangsaw is about 5,000 feet board 

 measure, of inch boards, when the logs average 12 inches diam- 

 eter at the small end and 16 feet in length. Usually the small 

 mill is provided with a 12 to 16 inch circular saw for edging, 

 although but a small per cent of the total cut is edged. Except 

 in the band-saw mill, one man operates saw and edger, starting 

 a log through the saw, then edging a few boards or doing other 

 work until the sound tells him the cut is finished. He then shuts 

 off the power, removes the boards from the clamps, rolls on a 

 new log and starts it through the saw. As a rule the boards and 



