SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, ETC. 11 
THE MILL AND MILLING. 
If the operator is already provided with a mill, the size of his 
operations will depend on the power and capacity of that mill. If 
he plans to purchase a new mill, he should figure on one with the 
power, capacity, and equipment necessary to meet the requirements 
of his capital, his market, and his logging equipment. Lack of suffi- 
cient power, even for driving the saw, is a common handicap for 
small mills. An effective 25-horsepower engine will, if properly 
handled, keep a circular saw working to capacity and at the same 
time will run a small planer and edger. 
The type of mill in most general use in Forest Service District 4 
is one cutting from 2,000 to 20,000 feet per day. The following dis- 
cussion, therefore, will be confined to two classes of this type, One 
cutting from 2,000 to 10,000 feet per day and a heavier one cutting 
from 10,000 to 20,000 feet per day. The smaller mill will be called 
Class A, and the larger, Class B. 
Sawmills are generally classified as right and left hand mills, 
according to whether the log passes to the right or to the left of the 
saw, viewed from the front. In ordering equipment for an old mill 
it is always necessary to specify whether the equipment is needed for 
a right or left hand mill. 
Portable mills are usually equipped with rack and pinion or 
cable drive, and friction or belt feed or a combined belt and fric- 
tion feed. Shotgun feed is not used in small mills. The variable 
friction feed is so called because the sawyer can vary the feed to cor- 
respond with the power or the size and species of timber to be cut, 
easing down on knots and frozen timber and increasing the feed at 
will. With the same power a variable friction-feed mill is said to 
cut from 25 to 40 per cent more than a belt-feed mill. There are no 
belts or springs to break or give trouble. The belt feed is a combi- 
nation of belt and flat face frictions so arranged that the feed and 
gig back frictions are continuously driven in opposite direction by 
an endless belt direct from the mandrel. A single lever operates the 
feed and gig back by shifting the bull wheel from one friction to 
the other. The shaft of the bull wheel has a pinion on the opposite 
end which operates the wire cable drum, doing away with all inter- 
mediate gears and securing a strong direct drive for the carriage. 
The friction shafts have babbitted boxes with screw adjustment to 
take up the wear in the frictions, and a substantial idler is provided 
to keep the endless feed belt always tight. Wire cable or rack and 
pinion drum can be used on both belt-feed and friction-feed mills. 
" Never buy anything because it is cheap " is a form of advice that 
applies very particularly to a sawmill. Going a little further, it 
might be laid down as an excellent business maxim: Never buy an 
old second-hand mill, no matter how cheap it can be purchased. Re- 
