A trough conveyor receives small logs from a deck to form a bundle and conveys the bundled logs lengthwise to a discharge end. The log bundle is transported intermittently to project sections of the log bundle successively beyond the discharge end of the trough conveyor, which sections are cut off to form batches of bolts by vertically reciprocable twin saw cutoff mechanism. After a cutting operation, the saws may be swung away from each other to clear the trough conveyor while the saws are being raised and, during such raising movement, the trough conveyor may be powered to feed the log bundle lengthwise to project the next bolt-making increment of the logs beyond the cutoff mechanism.