SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, ETC. 43 
in one or two- logs and the rough knotty portions in different cuts. 
If a tree is punky or dozy or has dry knots or blind punk, measure 
off the logs so as to confine the defective part, as much as possible, to 
one log length. Sever each log completely from the one next to it. 
Cut up all down timber and skid it before felling any green timber 
on top of it. Do not leave a "chip" at the bottom of each cut — it 
annoys the skidder. Do not saw anything but the log. If the ground 
is higher than the bottom of the log, " saw short " or dig a channel 
for the saw ; look out for rocks. Do not allow your saw to " run " — 
make a square cut every time. 
Where there is an undercutter on the job — and there should not 
be one unless he understands his business — it is a good plan to have 
him notch a number of trees ahead for the sawyers to fell. This 
enables the sawyers to work to better advantage with the skidders. 
Before bucking up any of the down timber, the undercutter can trim 
the trees ahead of the saw gang, who will then have no brush to re- 
tard their work, while the skidding teamster can figure ahead on his 
skid roads. Brush disposal should follow skidding. 
A logger should cut his log lengths with a strict regard to the 
current prices for lumber of different lengths. Then, if he grades 
his lumber, he will not sell what should be 2-inch No. 1 shop, 12 inches 
wide, 18 and 20 feet long, as No. 3 common. 
PREPARING SPECIAL PRODUCTS. 
Mine props, telegraph, telephone, or power poles should be trimmed 
and peeled, piled carefully according to lengths, and air dried before 
shipment. The successful marketing of such special products de- 
pends largely on how they are prepared. If a mine operator gives an 
order for a carload or two of 7-foot rhine props and gets an assort- 
ment of green props of irregular lengths with the ends chopped or 
" chewed " off, the bark on. and snags all over the bole, be assured 
that if he accepts them at all it will be at a reduced price and that he 
will look to some other source for material in the future. Careless 
preparation has in more than one instance prevented the utilization 
of large quantities of timber which, if properly handled, would have 
been entirely acceptable to the mining operators. When a mine op- 
erator has to "fit" each prop after receiving it, that is, trim the 
knots off, peel it, and square the ends to the proper length, he is doing 
work which you should have done, and he knows it. Again, if a 
mine operator places an order for green lodgepole pine, do not try 
to pass off dead timber of the same species or ship a mixed carload 
of alpine fir, white fir, aspen, and lodgepole. You may work off one 
carload, but that will be all. 
When such material has to be shipped by rail, freight charges be- 
come an important factor in favor of the local man. Yet the foreign 
