296 Timehri. 



points to be borne in mind for a floating saw-mill are : Type of saw ; 

 design of plant and selection of makers ; dimensions and draft of pontoon ; 

 stability of structure ; minimum depth of creek or river where plant is to 

 be operated, and local conditions to be met with. 



Type of Saw. 

 I now come to the very important point. What is the best type of 

 saw to employ for the conversion of our colony timber ? It is said that 

 doctors differ ; I may add, so do saw-millers. 



The duty required of a saw for our variety of hard woods is 

 necessarily severe and I shall touch on some of the saws in use locally. 



The Circular Saw. 

 Perhaps it is not generally known that the circular saw, whether 

 with inserted teeth or solid plate teeth, is not suited for " breaking 

 down " cuts, and it takes an expert at the job to get even one 1" board, 

 of uniform thickness throughout from a 12" squared log, so far as our 

 timbers are concerned. There are some excellent American circular 

 saws with suitable appliance for holding the log in place during con- 

 version, but these do not cut anything much longer than 16 ft. It is true 

 the circular saw is a rapid cutter, but our timbers do not stand up well to 

 high speeds owing to the tendency to split. The log band saw is 

 replacing the circular for log conversion in many sawmills abroad. 

 Nevertheless the circular saw and travelling rack bench has proved 

 excellent for re-sawing up to thickness of 8". 



I have seen a circular saw with inserted teeth at work on a certain 

 mule-drawn portable plant in the interior here which eventually had to 

 be abandoned. As a visitor, I have also seen an attempt made to cut 

 boards from squared logs with a solid plate tooth saw, but without 

 success. In this instance a little more set on the teeth would have 

 reduced the friction, which was set up to such an extent that it was 

 necessary for a jet of water to be constantly played on the saw. Such 

 conditions took the temper out of the saw and considerably shortened 

 its life for the reason that water was applied after considerable heat 

 existed. It might have been slightly different had the temperature been 

 kept down from the start. 



Needless to say this last mentioned plant, also in the interior, is a 

 " white elephant " as far as I know at the present time. An American 

 once visited this concession with some capitalists he was showing around 

 the country, and, typical of his nationality, wishing to impress upon them 

 the wealth of our alluvial gold deposits, he informed them that this plant 

 was kept for cross-cutting the gold nuggets recovered from the river 

 bed, which were too large to be placed in the amalgmating barrel ! 



It is true that a circular saw with inserted teeth always remains the 

 same diameter and runs at same rim speed ; it might be also claimed to 

 be cheaper, in spite of higher prime cost, as it outlasts many solid-tooth 



