The Crosscut Saw

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Reprinted from Crosscut saw Manual by Warren Miller (available for $1.50 from the superentendent of documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402).

The two-man crosscut saw was known by the Romans ... but not till the middle of the 15th century did the tool come into fairly common use in Europe. Records exist of the crosscut being used for cutting logs in the United States between 1635 and 1681. About 1880, Pennsylvania lumbermen began felling trees with the crosscut. Before that time all trees had been ax-felled and crosscut into lengths.

Until the 15th century, the two-man crosscut saw was of a plain tooth pattem. The M tooth pattern seems to have been developed and used in south Germany in the 1400's. Even as late as 1900 most of the European crosscuts still used the plain tooth pattern with a few exceptions of M tooth being used. Not until fairly recently was the saw with a raker or "drag" developed.

In the case of plain, M, and Great American tooth patterns, each tooth both cuts the wood and clears out the shavings. In the case of the champion, lance, and perforated-lance tooth, however, cutter teeth cut the wood fibers and the rakers remove the scored wood from the newlysawn cut.

By the time crosscut use was at its peak, a large number of tooth patterns had been developed, each presumably suited to a particular set of conditions.

Crosscut saws can be divided into two types: two-man and one-man. Generally speaking, a one-man saw is shorter, but its defining characteristic is that it is asymmetric. Both types of crosscuts can be used by either one or two persons.

One-man crosscuts have been made in lengths from 3 to 6 feet. Two-man saws were produced in lengths from 4 to 12 feet for the Pacific Northwest, and 16 feet for the California redwoods. If a longer saw was needed, two shorter blades were sometimes brazed together.

There are two basic saw patterns for the two-man saw: the felling type for felling trees and the bucking pattern for cutting up trees once they are on the ground. Each has characteristics suited to its use.

The felling saw has a concave back and is relatively light and flexible. It is light so that less effort is needed to move it back and forth when felling a tree. It is flexible to conform to the are a sawyer's arms take when sawing ... and it is narrow tooth-to-back, enabling the sawyer to place a wedge in the cut behind the saw sooner than with a wide saw.

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