UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



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BULLETIN No. 718 



Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. 



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Washington, D. C. 



December 17, 1918 



SMALL SAWMILLS: THEIR EQUIPMENT, CON- 

 STRUCTION, AND OPERATION. 



By Daniel F. Seerey, Lor/ging Engineer. 

 CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Object of the bulletin 1 



General suggestions for portable sawmill 



owners 2 



Look before you leap 2 



Capital required 3 



Credits 3 



Cost keeping 3 



Organization 4 



Mill site 5 



Labor 5 



Commissary 7 



Marketing : 7 



Grading lumber 8 



Auxiliary products - 9 



Some don'ts for sawmill operators 9 



The mill and milling 11 



Regular equipment 12 



Auxiliary equipment 15 



Engines and boilers 16 



Waterpower 21 



Belting 22 



Circular saws 25 



Log deck 31 



Narrow gauge lumber lorry track 32 



Setting up a portable mill 32 



Operating the mill 34 



Ra-ndng .■ 35 



Piling lumber 37 



Pire protection 37 



Logging 38 



Saw crew and equipment 38 



Crosscut saws 39 



Notching and felHng 41 



Preparing special products 42 



The main logging road 44 



Skidding 45 



Slddways 46 



Chutes 48 



Loading logs 49 



Scaling 51 



Logging outfit 53 



Appendix 57 



OBJECT OF THE BULLETIN. 



Running a portable sawmill is no longer an easy occupation. The 

 more accessible timber in the West has mostly been cut out or burned, 

 and to-day the principal stands are far back in the hills, making log- 

 ging and milling expensive as well as strenuous work. Profitable 

 operation calls for ijrst-class loggmg equipment and modern mills, 

 and for good business ability, skill, and hardihood on the part of the 

 operator. Physical weaklings are more out of place in logging work 

 than in any other kind of virile employment. Mere physical strength, 

 however, is not in itself sufficient. A successful logger needs to be 

 "strong" in the head as well as in the muscles. 



This bulletin offers to portable sawmill operators suggestions 

 regarding methods of organization, milling, and logging which have 



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