PILOT MILL NOW OPERATING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 8

PILOT MILL NOW OPERATING

Timber is now being felled by a competent but small forestry team in the Conical Hills plantation to serve the requirements of the pilot mill. The forest lies on hilly slopes, and the trees are sawn into handy lengths for transportation through the thick bush down a tortuous road, about six lengths at a time. The felling operation is surprisingly quick. At present the forestry team

is cutting 30-year-old trees for the mill. , A small cut is made with the hand cross-cut saw, operated by two men, on the side of the tree in the direction in which it is required to fall, a “ scarf ” is cut with axes, and then the sawyers move to' the rear of the tree and cut it about an inch above the first cut either with a hand crosscut or the mechanical saw. Before the cut is completed the tree begins

to lean in the required direction, and then it drops swiftly within inches of the desired place. The team then gets to work and cuts thl tree into suitable lengths for transportation by the truck. The method of hoisting the lengths on to the vehicle is an ingenious one. A steel rope and pulley are attached to one of the standing trees at a convenient height, and then another steel rope from a tractor is fed through the pulley. Steel clamps attached to the rope are set into the ends of the logs, and at given signals the tractor operator hoists the lengths into the air. The logs are then guided on to the truck, which manoeuvres as required. The logs are taken to the pilot - mill, where they are cut into such sizes as can be taken out of each log. The mill, when seen by the Daily Times, looked small but was obviously efficient. A diesel motor of 100 horse power drives the sturdy breaking-down bench saw which shears the log down to its maximum sawn dimensions, leaving the off-cuts to be dealt with by a smaller, but more spectacular, breast bench saw, at which skilled operators retrieve from the outer parts of the log as much timber of smaller sizes as is possible. Four cuts with the breaking down saw, which is fed from a movable platform operated by steel cables, and the core of the log is squared away. This baulk of wood runs off to the stacks along rollers, and the outside parts of the log are laid to one side to await the attention of the breast bench men. Their work is complicated and more dangerous than that of the workers with the larger saw. They use a light cradle, which runs backwards and forwards in alignment with the saw, and “ breast ” one end of the wood and balance it over the cradle while they feed it through the saw. A sawyer is stationed on either side, and they run the timber through and back, changing gauges with one hand as they receive the wood fed through the saw with the other. On their skill depends the quality and quantity of the timber obtained from the log. One of these specialists, born in Southland, has worked in mills all over the South Island.