Lumber cutting saw

An improved optimizing saw comprising a saw station including a saw element for sawing boards, conveying means for conveying boards through said saw station, said conveying means including motive means for powering said conveying means, wherein the improvement comprises said motive means comprising:

• a hydraulic motor;
• a source of pressurized hydraulic fluid;
• controllable delivery means for delivering hydraulic fluid from said source to said motor, said delivery means including valve means for selectively permitting fluid flow therethrough at at least three distinct rates to provide variable speed control for said hydraulic motor to relatively smoothly accelerate and decelerate the boards through said saw station;
• and
• control means operatively coupled to said valve means for actuating said valve means to smoothly accelerate and decelerate boards to and between cut locations, said control means including means for detecting and recording the location of position-indicating marks on boards, said control means further including means for calculating an optimum cutting schedule based on the locations of the position-indicating marks and a desired bill of materials.