--------BEFORE CHAINSAWS-----firewood

[demc570]

Wandering what your thoughts are on the subject of how before chainsaws where used,what was the best way to harvest firewood for one person cutting? a axe and or hand saw? or? thank goodness i wasnt around,and have read some on matter,but thought be neat to hear others stories handed down......you never know in these days in age if economy keeps up we might be back to old ways some day....food for thought anyway lets hope not,but love to hear some good stories on the harvesting methods before chainsaws!! thanksopcorn:

 

[mdavlee]

My dad remembers cutting wood with an old hand saw that has a helper handle you can move to the end for a second person or use it as a one person. I have it hanging up now. This was in the 50s and early 60s before any one around him had a chain saw. They heated with coal some at that time.

 

[Guswhit]

My father has the old township or city record books from the late 1890's to the early 1910's from where I grew up. It is a very small community right on the Mississippi River. It actually shows the old land plots that people paid a rent on to harvest firewood from before the locks and dams flooded the ground. He has some interesting pictures of people with horse and wagons loaded with wood coming from those plots as well, I'll try and locate and scan them if I can find them.

 

[OhioGregg]

My dad use to say they cut trees with a 2-man crosscut. Then used a tractor mounted "buzz saw" to buck them, and axe, wedge & sledge to split. Of course they used coal & wood back in those days. I think they got an oil fired furnace as soon as they were available, or affordable.. LOL I have taken exactly ONE tree down with a 2-man crosscut, just for the heck of it. Never again..LOL

 

[mainewoods]

My elderly neighbor went into the woods every winter with his pair of horses and cut wood for a logging company. He used an axe for felling and skidded logs to the wood yard. They paid him $1.00 a day and he told me he was glad to get it. Stayed at the lumber camp all winter - food was included. Said he preferred it over the 2 man saw crew.

 

[slowp]

We couldn't afford a chainsaw. My dad would bring home chunks from somewhere--we didn't live in the woods, and he would cut it into lengths with a Swede Saw.

 

[zogger]

I hand cut and heated and cooked with wood for years using a 30 inch sandvik bowsaw and a generic axe, with me and some ropes being the skidder from the woods. About 4 cord a year for heating, another couple say for maple syrup and cooking. I'd drag the stove, a two burner box stove, outside in the summer to cook.

I also had a big crosscut, but that was nuts to use compared to the bowsaw.

You learn REAL fast to not waste wood! You learn to keep and burn small! No wasted wood, no generic bonfires. When I took a tree, every single twig got used eventually. The small stuff is real handy cooking anyway, no need to waste larger heating chunks and "splitting kindling" when you got branch wood that size right there.

 

[chuckwood]

My dad remembers cutting wood with an old hand saw that has a helper handle you can move to the end for a second person or use it as a one person. I have it hanging up now. This was in the 50s and early 60s before any one around him had a chain saw. They heated with coal some at that time.

Somewhere in the basement is the two man saw my dad used to cut firewood with me when I was a kid. He didn't seem to understand or like things with motors on them. He gardened without a rototiller, cut wood by hand, and mowed the yard with a reel-type push mower. Ironically, he owned and managed a lumber company with a big machine shop, that he inherited. Maybe he had grown tired of machine noise and wanted peace and quiet when he was home. Some years back, I took the old two man misery whip to a saw sharpening service and got it tuned up, I was going to start my grandson out with it, but he didn't enjoy it much. To be honest, I didn't either. It gets really boring, I can't imagine how awful it must have been in the old days sawing with one of those things all day long.

 

[demc570]

I hand cut and heated and cooked with wood for years using a 30 inch sandvik bowsaw and a generic axe, with me and some ropes being the skidder from the woods. About 4 cord a year for heating, another couple say for maple syrup and cooking. I'd drag the stove, a two burner box stove, outside in the summer to cook.

I also had a big crosscut, but that was nuts to use compared to the bowsaw.

You learn REAL fast to not waste wood! You learn to keep and burn small! No wasted wood, no generic bonfires. When I took a tree, every single twig got used eventually. The small stuff is real handy cooking anyway, no need to waste larger heating chunks and "splitting kindling" when you got branch wood that size right there.

awesome,really neat to hear..thank you

 

[zogger]

My dad remembers cutting wood with an old hand saw that has a helper handle you can move to the end for a second person or use it as a one person. I have it hanging up now. This was in the 50s and early 60s before any one around him had a chain saw. They heated with coal some at that time.

That's the kind of cross cut I had. I only used it for real big trees.

I tried several friends on the other end, bribes didn't work after one or two cuts.....

..so mostly I used it in one man config.

 

[demc570]

AWESOME STORIES,GOOD READING,GREAT STORIES,MAKES YOU YOU THINK------HOW EASY WE GOT IT NOW VS THEN!!

------------------------------LOVE THESE STORIES THANK YOU,KEEP EM COMING!!

 

[Cheesecutter]

I remember my dad telling me how him and Grandpa would drop and buck 2-3 oak trees using a 6 foot misery whip during the winter. My Grandma, uncles and aunts would use smaller crossbuck saws and axes to buck the smaller pieces. They had a buzz saw for the limb wood. 11 of them working together still couldn't get it done quick enough for him. I still have several of those saws. I can't imagine cutting up an entire tree with those things. I have tried them, but only on smaller stuff and it wasn't for me either.

 

[zogger]

AWESOME STORIES,GOOD READING,GREAT STORIES,MAKES YOU YOU THINK------HOW EASY WE GOT IT NOW VS THEN!!

------------------------------LOVE THESE STORIES THANK YOU,KEEP EM COMING!!

OK, here's another story. Doing all that sawing, my arms and shoulders and wrists got unreal crazy strong. Now I am a little guy. This is my advantage now..the fake out! So..I used to drink back then..can't tell ya how many pitchers of beer I got arm rrassling big dudes in bars. BAM on the table. Big guy and friends just staring.....bottoms up!

 

[demc570]

well

OK, here's another story. Doing all that sawing, my arms and shoulders and wrists got unreal crazy strong. Now I am a little guy. This is my advantage now..the fake out! So..I used to drink back then..can't tell ya how many pitchers of beer I got arm rrassling big dudes in bars. BAM on the table. Big guy and friends just staring.....bottoms up!

i bet...........,thats sure gota be just as effective it not more so than lifting weights,and you got good health and got stronger, and wood and free drinks for your efforts +1......hats off to you my friend

 

[Chris-PA]

A big difference between the world powered by hand and a world powered by fossil fuel is that country people did not try to live in small "nuclear family" units. It took more hands and time to do the labor, so multiple generations often lived together. Now it is our fossil fuel powered "energy slaves" that allow us to do the labor on our own. And one did not drive off to a paid job somewhere else for the majority of the day. It doesn't really compare directly.

 

[CoolCat44]

A couple of years ago, I spent two years in French Polynésia (Gambier) , even for a warm climate, you need wood! Perhaps 3 or 4 chainsaw for the whole island and 400 people. Those chainsaw were not very well maintained, and when you cut down a palm tree, it's like hitting dirt, so local chainsaw didn't impress anybody. The cost of good fuel and having a fresh barrel of 90 octane, almost out of reach... So all business related to wood cutting was done by hand! Cutting wood with axes, huge pile, and transforming into coal. I don't think 16 inches fire logs could have been a possibility!

When the whole fire was done, the entire process was over, we had really nice coal. Everybody from the village came down and pick up what they needed, nobody exaggerated, we repeated the coal production every 3-4 months. We also produce lime (far better than white paint!) once a year.<

When I show them a picture of north American wood pile, eashhhh... they thought the were a lot of work, and rather work with uneven cut pieces and bits of wood and... coal!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Charcoal

 

[demc570]

A couple of years ago, I spent two years in French Polynésia (Gambier) , even for a warm climate, you need wood! Perhaps 3 or 4 chainsaw for the whole island and 400 people. Those chainsaw were not very well maintained, and when you cut down a palm tree, it's like hitting dirt, so local chainsaw didn't impress anybody. The cost of good fuel and having a fresh barrel of 90 octane, almost out of reach... So all business related to wood cutting was done by hand! Cutting wood with axes, huge pile, and transforming into coal. I don't think 16 inches fire logs could have been a possibility!

When the whole fire was done, the entire process was over, we had really nice coal. Everybody from the village came down and pick up what they needed, nobody exaggerated, we repeated the coal production every 3-4 months. We also produce lime (far better than white paint!) once a year.<

When I show them a picture of north American wood pile, eashhhh... they thought the were a lot of work, and rather work with uneven cut pieces and bits of wood and... coal!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Charcoal

awesome and just looked at the link attached,will try that this spring

 

[zogger]

A couple of years ago, I spent two years in French Polynésia (Gambier) , even for a warm climate, you need wood! Perhaps 3 or 4 chainsaw for the whole island and 400 people. Those chainsaw were not very well maintained, and when you cut down a palm tree, it's like hitting dirt, so local chainsaw didn't impress anybody. The cost of good fuel and having a fresh barrel of 90 octane, almost out of reach... So all business related to wood cutting was done by hand! Cutting wood with axes, huge pile, and transforming into coal. I don't think 16 inches fire logs could have been a possibility!

When the whole fire was done, the entire process was over, we had really nice coal. Everybody from the village came down and pick up what they needed, nobody exaggerated, we repeated the coal production every 3-4 months. We also produce lime (far better than white paint!) once a year.<

When I show them a picture of north American wood pile, eashhhh... they thought the were a lot of work, and rather work with uneven cut pieces and bits of wood and... coal!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Charcoal

Way cool! I think I could handle a year long vacation on your island. Big fun!

 

[benp]

Growing up (ages 5-9) my dad's father would come winter with us. He was in his 80's.

He would process about 14 cords a winter for us.

He dropped and bucked with a 2 man buck saw.....by himself.

He would load the rounds up on a sleigh that he built and pulled them up to the house.....by himself.

He split with a sledge and wedge. My dad and I would help out with this part. Gramps did all of the felling and bucking before we got home. As soon as I got home from school I was out in the wood pile swinging the sledge or stacking.

He was a tough man.

 

[John R]

If they would have had chainsaws back in the 1800's, we wouldn't have any trees today.