80 BULLETIN 440, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and each piece of machinery in the mill is driven by a separate motor. 
The intricate machinery located on the lower floor of a mill for the 
transmission of power is eliminated, -and one portion of the mill may 
be shut down for brief repairs without interfering with the rest. The 
installation of an electric drive makes a considerable increase in the 
initial cost of a mill. 
The majority of the mills in the region utilize a considerable portion 
of the waste in slabs and edgings by making laths. A lath room is 
located in an addition on the side of the mill building near the slasher. 
At a representative double-band mill where both laths and car strips 
are manufactured, 2 men are required to sort material out of the 
conveyor at the rear of the slasher. The remainder of the crew con- 
sists of 2 men at the bolter, 2 at the saw, and 2 men bundling 
and jointing. The mill is equipped with separate bolters, saws, and 
jointers for both laths and strips. Only one product is manufac- 
tured at a time. From 180 to 200 bundles are produced daily. The 
demand is limited and the profit small. 
Many mills have a market for fuel wood cut from slabs. Various 
devices, such as gang cut-offs, are used to saw the slabs and slashings 
into stove lengths. One progressive concern takes advantage of a 
chance for close utilization by resawing slabs. The larger slabs are 
cut in 4 and 6 foot lengths with a cut-off saw and transported by a 
conveyor to a res aw in the nearby planing mill. This resaw is a 
small horizontal band. The slab sections are resawed and edged, 
thus making excellent box and factory material. 
The grading and sorting of the lumber is done on a sorting table 
which commonly extends at right angles from the mill, opposite the 
trimmer. This sorting table is 18 or 20 feet wide and from 120 to 
160 feet in length. The lumber is carried slowly toward the outer 
end by means of conveyor chains or cables. The grader stands at 
the end near the mill and marks the grade symbol on each board with 
a crayon. As the boards are carried along the sorting chains they 
are picked up by the sorters and loaded on the proper cars. The 
cost of grading and sorting is about 25 cents per 1,000. At a mill 
producing 160,000 daily the crew consists of 1 grader and 14 
sorters. The daily labor cost is $38, or 24 cents per 1,000. At a 
mill producing 120,000 daily the crew consists of one grader and 
nine sorters, at a daily labor cost of $26, or 22 cents per 1,000. The 
total cost of sawing, grading, and sorting at double-band mills is 
normally between $1.85 and $1.95 per 1,000. 
SAWMILL LUMBER YARDS 
Under "sawmill lumber yards" is included all handling and treat- 
ment of lumber from the time it is sorted until it is loaded on cars 
ready for shipment to market. 
