154 



FOREST PRODUCTS 



The mill equipment for staves usually costs about $2500 to $5000 

 with an average of about $3300 aside from horses, tools, harness and nec- 

 essary buildings, which are roughly constructed affairs. The men work- 

 ing both at these mills and in the woods usually live in tents which are 

 easily transported from place to place. 



As soon as convenient after the bolts are hauled in from the woods, 

 they are equalized to finish them to a uniform length the same as in the 

 finished stave, by the use of a swinging frame operating against two 

 cut-off saws. They then go to the circular drum saw shown in the illus- 

 tration, 1 where staves are cut to the desired bevel or curvature f of an inch 



Photograph by U. S. Forest Service. 



FIG. 37. A split stave emerging between the bucker knives. The waste shavings are held 

 by the operator on each side of the stave. This illustrates one of the wasteful processes 

 involved in the production of tight cooperage stock. 



thick for wine staves and f of an inch for whisky staves. The stave saw 

 consists of a hollow steel cylinder having the diameter of the barrels to 

 be made and carrying saw teeth at one end. It usually saws staves on a 

 23-in. circle and up to 36-in. in length. The carriage pushes the bolts 

 against this cylinder. A stave holder runs into the cylinder and removes 

 the sawed staves. The speed of this saw is about 1500 R.P.M. The 

 capacity of one of these drum saws and consequently of the plant runs 

 between 8000 and 12,000 staves per day. 



The staves are then stacked in a mill yard and air dried in hollow 

 square fashion for from 2 to 6 months prior to the long haul to the rail- 

 road. From 400 to 500 staves are hauled per load. Staves are graded 



1 See foregoing chapter on slack cooperage. 



