The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1885-02-11
SHORT WORK WITH LOGs.


The largest circular saw that has
been sent out of this city recently, says
the New York Sam, was exactly six
feet in diameter. It was ordered by .
match company and went 10 Michigan.
Fifty.two teeth projected from its rim
It Il now revolving at the rate of 672
revolutions minute, and is-capAble Of
making . t0n.inch to. twelye-inch cut
with each revolution. It can saw of
. forty-foot plank, therefore IN IN in
nnitesimal portion Of = minute. though
no q matter Of fact the frame on which
logs ara fed to . saw is adjusted to
moVs xt shout the speed st which .
man oAn Halk. At the rate, there Is
nothing but whirr and . shrek to
announce the journey OF logs length.
This Ii not o solid saw or it would have
more than one hundred teeth. Il is one
of the new patterns, in which the teeth
are separate from the plate and can be
inserted and removed at pleasure The
teeth in the sort Of saw of which this
monster is q specimen are little curved
bitA Of steel pointed like chisels as the
cutting end. They fit into round sock
cts cut out Of the edges of the saw
plates, and their little chissl blades
project slightly beyond she circle Of the
plate.
Solid saws continue TO be paade in
great numbers, but the Investors Of the
movable teeth, different lsstternS of
which are made by &ll saw mAnufac-
turerS, are deriving fortunes, because
new teeth can be replaced for few
cents and in asfeW minutes, and the
body of the saw remains the size it was
made, whereas solid saws have to be
newly hled and set and sharpened ev-
cry Eme they dull. process that con-
sumes time and requires the services
Of . sawyer whose skill commands
good wages. Every cutting reduces
the sise OF the saw. A 72-inch saw is
. big one, eVel in Michigan, where the
o6-inch saw il in common use. There
these 5&-foOt saws are run at speed
Of Ave to seven hundred revolutions in
Norway pine logs, and they cut as
deep with each revolution az the mon
ater above described. The little chiG-
el-bit teeth will chew out pine during
. whole working day, and an entire
set of dull ones can be replaced next
day in five minutes for 3 cents q tooth.
Some of the sawdust from one Of these
great saws was sent from Michigan to
che establishment Of a great sawmaker
In this city. 1t Was esteemed rs 3
curiosity. 1t was not dust at all, but
q mass of little pellets of wood, three
eighths Of an inch in thickness. The
lumbermen prefer to waste lumber in
this way, provided they get speed out
Of their tools. These huge saws are
used singly in saving q rough log into
planks. Afterward the planks are re-
ducsd to desired widths BY edger saws,
which are smaller implements reVolv-
ing together at the proper distances
one from another.
A saw-maker must know whether or
not his customer wants to run his pur-
chase at high rate Of speed before
the saw is made. Saw-makers, in de-
veloping q disk of steel into q saw,
hammer it so rs to leave either hard
or soft center. A saw that has soft
shakes it. II it has hard center one
part will not shake more than anoth-
er. A saw with hard center, if driv-
en- at a high rate of speed, will not cut
straight. Its edge will wabble. But
II it has a soft center, and Is sent
around at a rate of TOO to 800 reVOlu-
tions q minute, the centrifugal force
straining ut the center stiffens the saw
and keeps the edge steady. To the
average mind it would seem that there
has been the same straining after or
namental effect in the vertical SAWS,
SO odd are the shapes of the teeth. But
here, again, the study has been solely
to produce strength and cutting power.
Some of the vertical saws have dull
teeth alternating with the sharp Gnes.
The dull ones do not reach ont quite so
far as the cutters. Their purpose Is to
clear the sawdust before the cutters.
. <anz------