SMALL SAWMILLS, THEIR EQUIPMENT, ETC. 9 
another operator with an old mill up in the hills will jump in and 
take the order away from him at a lower price. That particular bill 
of lumber, it is safe to predict, will be sawed in any old way, with 
the result that the purchaser is dissatisfied with the material he gets, 
and concludes that native timber is no good, and never buys any more 
of it. By this sort of thing the unprogressive mill operator spoils a 
lot of good lumber at no profit to himself. It doesn't pay to drive 
away future trade for the sake of a single sale. In these days men 
no longer have to use the roughest kind of lumber for lack of some- 
thing better. They may use it once, but it is a moral certainty that 
they won't come back for any more. The way for an old-time oper- 
ator to get and hold trade is to turn to modern methods, not to try 
to put another and more progressive man out of business. A new 
order prevails in the lumber business, and no one knows better than 
the small millman that there is no profit in logging along the old 
lines. A determined effort must be made to get out of the old rut and 
place the portable mill industry on a paying basis. 
AUXILIARY PRODUCTS. 
The demand for lumber and dimension stuff — the regular products 
of the mill — is always supplemented by a demand for the more 
finished products, such as planed lumber, siding, flooring, lath, 
shingles, etc., which require special machinery for their manufac- 
ture. The millman will find that he can get more for his best 
grades of lumber if he can furnish them as required by the local 
trade. Considerable waste may be saved in the utilization of short 
lengths and slabs, which otherwise would be lost. There is money in 
reducing waste when it can be partially transformed into a salable 
product. 
SOME DON'TS FOR SAWMILL OPERATORS. 
Before outlining in detail the necessary equipment for a portable 
mill and how it should be operated a few suggestions as to what 
to avoid or. in other words, what not to do may not be amiss. To 
mill operators: 
1. If you have a market and a cutting capacity of 500,000 feet 
per year, do not enter into a contract with the Government or with 
anyone else to cut 5,000.000 feet in three years. 
2. If you are financially unable to make more than $300 in advance 
payments, do not sign a contract to pay $500. 
3. Do not sign a contract with the Government to cut timber on a 
National Forest without carefully going over the area and finding 
out for yourself what species of timber you are expected to cut and 
where it is located. 
•i. Do not try to fell timber with a dull, rusty cross-cut saw and 
wooden wedges. It won't pay. 
63262— IS— Bull. 71S 2 
