Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - September 28, 1986
By Deborah Curtis Drummy
Vigo County Historical Society

Old saws retold
Woodsmen cut teeth on cross- cuts and rips

There's an old bit of folk wisdom which says that the man who heats with wood warms himself twice--first when he cuts and splits the wood, and next when he burns it. In these days of chain saws and dealer-supplied cordwood, the old adage doesn't ring quite so true.

This week's historical treasure, a two-man cross-cut saw, is a relatively modern development in the long history of saws. It was with the axe that Americans blazed their way through the wilderness. The two-man cross-cut was not commonly used until around 1880.

Even so, the serrated edge for cutting is quite old. Stone saws with fairly regular serrations chipped into their edges have been found in ancient ruins of Egypt, Denmark, Switzerland and Britain and seem to have developed independently for roughly similar purposes (probably for tearing meat).

Bronze and iron saws from the early Egyptian civilization still exist. Some saws have been found made of sharks' teeth set into a foundation.

Up to the Middle Ages, saw teeth weren't uniformly sized or angled. It wasn't until improvements in steel quality and the making of more precise files for sharpening, that saws became less tools of brute force and more the efficient tools for cutting they have become today.

"Setting" of teeth alternately in opposite directions left a "kerf," or path, wider than the blade of the saw to allow the metal to pass through the material being cut, increasing the tool's efficiency and precision dramatically.

The teeth of cross-cut saws are set and sharpened to cut across the grain of the wood--hence the name "cross-cut." Saws designed to cut along the same direction of the wood fibers are called "rip" saws.

During the last 19th century, cross-cut saws were used by lumbermen and farmers for both felling and bucking (cutting up) trees. These saws came in a variety of lengths depending on need. Because of the increased weight, saws over 30 inches long generally required a sawyer on each end to prevent buckling, each man in turn applying power as he pulled (or pushed).

The saw in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley is 66 inches long (5 1/2 feet) with two removable 10-inch handles. If a man wished to use the saw single-handed, he could remove one of the handles to allow for less awkwardness, although a saw of this length would be much more easily operated by two.

The museum features an entire room filled with various early tools, including this week's treasure, most of which were donated from the collection of the late Guy Stanz, a local history teacher.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday though Friday.