Category: Saws

The muſcular ſtrength of the Indian is ſtill leſs than might be expected from the appearance of the texture of his frame. Two Engliſh ſawyers have performed in one day the work of thirty-two Indians: allowances made for the difference of dexterity, and the advantage of European inſtruments, the diſparity is ſtill very great; and would have been more, had the Indian been obliged to have worked with the inſtrument of the European, as he would ſcarcely have been able to have wielded it.

As much as the labourer in Indoſtan is deficient in the capacity of exerting a great deal of ſtrength at an onſet, ſo is he endowed with a certain ſuppleneſs throughout all his frame, which enables him to work long in his own degree of labour; and which renders thoſe contortions and poſtures, which would cramp the inhabitant of northern regions, no conſtraint to him. There are not more extraordinary tumblers in the world. Their meſſengers will go fifty miles a day, for twenty or thirty days without intermiſſion. Their infantry march faſter, and with leſs wearineſs, than Europeans; but could not march at all, if they were to carry the ſame baggage and accoutrements.

Robert Orme

Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire of the Morattores, and of the English Concerns in Indostan – 1805

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The long saw, pit saw, or whip saw, which follows in the table, is also the next saw that is commonly applied to the piece of timber, which is then placed over the saw-pit, in order that the saw may he used in the vertical position by two men, called respectively the top-man and the pit-man, the former of whom stands upon the piece of timber about to be sawn.

The positions of the men are highly favourable, as they can give the saw a nearly perpendicular traverse of three or four feet; and in the up or return stroke, the saw is removed a few inches from the end of the saw cut, to avoid blunting the teeth, and to allow the sawdust free escape.
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Behold thoſe Monarch-Oaks that riſe,
With lofty Branches to the Skies,
Have large proportion’d Roots that grow
With equal Longitude below:
Two Bards that now in faſhion reign,
Moſt aptly this Device explain:
If This to Clouds and Stars will venture,
That creeps as far to reach the Centre;
Or more to ſhow the Thing I mean,
Have you not o’er a Sawpit ſeen,
A ſkill’d Mechanick that has ſtood,
High on a Length of proſtrate Wood,
Who hir’d a ſubterraneous Friend,
To take his Iron by the End;
But which excell’d was never found
The Man above, or under Ground.

The Moral is ſo plain to hit,
That had I been the God of Wit,
Then in a Sawpit and wet Weather,
Shou’d Y——g and Ph——ps drudge together.

The Universal Mercury (London) – February, 1725

The above poem, published anonymously by Jonathan Swift, was meant as an act of censure on the poetical character of Edward Young and Ambrose Philips.

—Jeff Burks

Gathering Chips At The Saw Pit by John Burgess Junior (1813-1874)

Hubert Robert – Fountain of Apollo gardens of Versailles – 1774
This painting depicts the rejuvenation of the park at Versailles, begun in 1774 with the cutting down of the trees for sale as firewood (not FORP).

Scieurs de long, (literally ‘the long sawyers’) is the French name for what we know in English, from the British tradition, as ‘Pit Sawing’, albeit with trestles instead of a saw pit. This entry will continue with a set of old French photographs and postcards that show a method of holding the log that utilizes a single trestle or scaffold (echafaudage de scieur de long) to hold the timber in a cantilevered position for sawing.
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Sketch of two sawyers – 17th century – artist unknown
Besançon; Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology

This entry is a continuation of the previous series on sawing lumber. (See also China, India, Japan) These images from Italy, Spain & France depict a once common method of sawing timber that was inherited from the ancient Romans. These images span the years 1180 A.D.- 1829 A.D. The final image shows the Roman version of this technique.
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