A two-man saw (known colloquially as a "misery whip") is a saw designed for use by two sawyers. While some modern

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, Log bucking, bucki ...

s are so large that they require two persons to control, two-man

crosscut saw A crosscut saw (thwart saw) is any saw designed for cutting wood perpendicular to (across) the wood grain. Crosscut saws may be small or large, with small teeth close together for fine work like woodworking or large for coarse work like log b ...

s were primarily important when human power was used. Such a saw would typically be long, and sometimes up to , with a handle at each end. In some cases, such as when felling

Giant Sequoias ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

, sawblades could be

brazed Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Brazing differs from w ...

together end-to-end in order to create longer saws. The technique in using a two-man saw involved a sawyer standing at each end. Together the sawyers would alternate pulling the saw through the wood. If the

kerf A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

began closing, causing the saw to bind, wedges would be inserted behind the sawblade in order to keep the kerf open. Cutting from underneath a suspended log, called " underbucking", might also have been used if binding became a big problem. Many variations on the design were used, but they mainly fell into two types. Felling saws were used to fell the trees, and

bucking Bucking is a movement performed by an animal in which it lowers its head and raises its hindquarters into the air while kicking out with the hind legs. It is most commonly seen in herbivores such as equines, cattle, deer, goats, and sheep. Most ...

saws were used to cut felled trees into log lengths for the sawmill. The two applications require slightly different designs: a felling saw has a narrower blade, allowing wedges to be more easily inserted, while a bucking saw has a wider blade, giving it more strength. Two-man saws were designed to cut in both directions. Careful tooth design was necessary to clear the sawdust during the cut. Two-man saws were known to the ancient Romans, but first became common in Europe in the mid-15th century. In America, crosscut saws were used as early as the mid-17th century, but felling saws only began to replace axes for felling trees in the late 19th century. Some Japanese saws are used by two persons, although they are of a different design.

References

*
The Crosscut Saw
' from Mother Earth News (viewed 16 Apr 2005) *
Two Man Cross Cut Saw
' from VanNatta Forestry and Logging (viewed 16 Apr 2005) Saws Woodworking hand tools Logging {{Forestry-stub

See also

References