Axe ties are railway
ties (or sleeper) that are
hewn
In woodworking, hewing is the process of converting a trunk (botany), log from its rounded natural form into lumber (timber) with more or less flat surfaces using primarily an axe. It is an ancient method, and before the advent the sawmills, ...
by hand, usually with a
broadaxe. There are 2,900 ties per mile of track on a first class railroad. The early railways would not accept ties cut with a
saw
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws.
Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...
, as it was claimed that the
kerf of the saw splintered the fibres of the wood, leaving them more likely to soak up moisture causing premature
rot.
The process
Geoff Marples wrote an account of being a ''tiehack'' in the
East Kootenays in 1938 and described the process of making axe ties to include:
Marples, Geoff. "The Tiehack", part 2.. ''British Columbia Forest History Newsletter''. No. 61.
December 2000. Victoria, B. C., Forest History Association of British Columbia. p. 1-4. print. First a suitable tree was chosen and then '' felling'' and '' limbing'' the tree. Next came ''scoring'' which is chopping, by eye without a chalk line, of notches to remove extra wood about every ; ''hewing'' the trunks only on two sides unless the log was over in diameter; '' bucking'' (cutting to in this case ); ''peeling'' any remaining bark off; and stacking the ties so a chain can be wrapped around them. Next came '' skidding'' each group of ties to a landing with a team of horses, and then loading and ''hauling'' the ties to a railway siding by truck and unloading by hand. ''Scaling'' was the key event where a railroad inspector accepted or culled (rejected) and graded each tie as a number one ( used for the main railroad lines) or number two ( used for sidings). ''Loading'' the ties by hand onto a car was the last task. Marples wrote that he netted 48¢ for each grade one, and 36¢ for each grade two and made $150 for a winter's work.
Wood species
Cedar was the most sought after wood for ties, since it is known for being extremely resistant to rot. However, as electric power
Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...
came into more common use in the early 1900s, it was substituted with other species such as Tamarack. In northern regions where jack pine
Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana''), also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a North American pine.
Distribution and habitat
Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories t ...
was plentiful, that species became a more common source for railway ties. Jack pine ties did not last as long as cedar or tamarack (lying on the ground), but were cheaper to produce. As creosote treatment came into use the axe ties were phased out, but jack pine remained best suited for softwood ties.
Production in Canada
Axe tie production was an early industry of importance for many communities in Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
along the railway in the early 1900s. Examples include Foleyet and Nemegos.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Axe Ties
Permanent way
Wood products