240 Forestry Quarterly. 



sash frame in its vertical movements just clears a metal-faced 

 shelf set about 3 feet above the floor of the platform. 



A softened bolt is placed horizontally on this shelf and during 

 the upward movement of the frame is pressed against it so that 

 the middle of the bolt touches the middle gauge rod. The bevel 

 of the shingle is secured by pressing one end of the bolt against 

 one of the side gauge rods and then the other end against the 

 other gauge rod alternately with each stroke of the frame, the 

 center gauge rod always acting as the axis or turning point for 

 this alternating horizontal movement. 



The bolt, while being sliced, is so held that each stroke of the 

 knife cuts off a shingle along its radius. The shingles are thus 

 sliced off alternately from each of the flat sides of the bolt which 

 is constantly turned so that the bolt becomes smaller and smaller 

 and finally is too small for the operator to hold with safety. As a 

 rule, the narrowest shingle cut in this machine is 4 inches wide. 



The shingles fall from the knife down a chute to the trimmers. 

 These stand before two small circular saws and trim off all knots 

 and uneven edges. The finished shingles are then flung into a 

 bin where the packer bundles them in a packing frame, about 250 

 shingles in a bundle. The shingles dry out in ten days after 

 manufacture. They are all 16 inches long and from 4 to 10 

 inches wide. The first grade designated *A* comprises about 87 

 per cent, of the mill run of shingles and the second grade or 

 "seconds" comprises the remaining 13 per cent. The average 

 daily capacity of this shingle mill is 32,000 shingles but when in 

 good running order it can produce 40,000 in a day. A sawn 

 shingle mill of the same size could put out only about from 22,000 

 to 25,000 shingles a day . 



The cut shingles are sold on board the cars at Boyd's, a four 

 mile wagon haul from the mill, at $2.50 per M. for the first grade 

 and at $1.75 per M. for "seconds." The proprietor and operator 

 of this mill and his partner each earns a net profit of from $16 to 

 $22 per day while the mill is running at its full capacity. 



The main drawback to a cut shingle mill lies in the difficulty of 

 keeping the knife in proper condition. The finely tempered steel 

 is hard to sharpen and the proper setting of it in the sash is a 

 still more difficult and delicate task. A great deal of knack is 



