Crosscut saw
Encyclopedia
A crosscut saw is a saw
that is specially designed for making crosscuts. A crosscut is a cut made horizontally through the trunk of a standing tree
, but the term also applies to cutting free lumber
. "Crosscut saw" is a blanket term that includes smaller traditional carpentry saws and larger saws used for forestry and logging work.
Crosscut saws have teeth that are designed to cut wood at a right angle to the direction of the wood grain
. The cutting edge of each tooth is angled back and has a beveled edge. This design allows each tooth to act like a knife edge and slice through the wood (in contrast to a rip saw
, which tears along the grain, acting like a miniature chisel
). Some crosscut saws use alternating patterns of the cutting teeth along with others, called "rakers", designed to scrape out the cut strips of wood.
Cross saws have much smaller teeth than rip saws.
Some saws, such as Japanese saw
s and those used by the ancient Egypt
ians, are designed to cut only on the pull stroke. Western saws, on the other hand, are designed and sharpened to cut on the push stroke.
.
Larger saws used for forestry and logging work include both one-man and two-man saw
s, and both bucking and felling saws. A bucking
saw generally has a straighter back and less of a pronounced curve on its cutting surface. Since bucking saws are more often used on trees that are already downed, the greater stiffness and weight aids swift cutting, and allows two-man saws to also be used by one person, pushing as well as pulling.
A felling saw is generally less stiff than a bucking saw and the backside, as well as the cutting side, is usually curved inward. Felling saws are more often used to cut down standing trees, so the thinner, lighter design is easier to use without gravity holding the blade against the cut. The concave back of the saw makes it easier to place wedges, preventing the kerf
from closing on the saw.
Crosscut saws also include smaller hand saw
s used in carpentry.
As described above, saws may have cutters, rakers, and gullets.
As the saw is pulled toward the operator, the cutters along the saw's surface score the wood to the left and right of the width of the blade, cutting a channel downward into the wood. Many sawtooth patterns have 4 cutters; each cutter that cuts to the left of the blade is paired with another that cuts to the right of the blade.
After the cutters there is generally a raker followed by a gullet. A raker is what does the actual removal of the wood that is being cut. The raker follows the cutters, scraping the bottom of the kerf. As the raker scrapes the bottom of the kerf, the wood is peeled back and stored in the gullet which follows the raker.
As the saw is drawn out of the kerf, the wood that has accumulated in the gullets is allowed to fall out onto the ground. A way to determine whether a saw is working well is to examine the noodle shaped strings of wood that are scraped out of the kerf; the presence of fairly long strings indicate that the side cutters are doing their job and that the raker is slicing out the wood cleanly.
In many areas gasoline powered saws aren't permitted, either because the area has been designated as a Wilderness Area or because fire restrictions or other restrictions are in effect.
Depending upon the skill of the operator and the types and width of the wood being cut, crosscut saws can be faster to use than chainsaws.
One of the reasons why crosscut saws are safer to use than chainsaws is that crosscut saws don't continue to cut after they're dropped. Another reason is that using a crosscut saw requires more time to size up the situation and think about the lay of the land and the direction in which bucked log sections might fall or travel than is taken by a typical chain sawyer, who usually likes to move quickly from downfall to downfall.
although not widely. They came into wide usage in Europe in the middle of the 15th century. Early saws had a plain tooth pattern until the M tooth pattern was developed in 15th century south Germany. Prior to about 1880 crosscut saws were primarily used for bucking, with axes used to fell trees. Starting in Pennsylvania
about 1880, loggers began using the saws for felling trees as well. Despite the modern chainsaw
, they are still in wide use around the world, not only in competition matches against chainsaws but also in regular, real-life usage since they afford certain advantages over gasoline-powered saws.
In September 2005, the United States Forest Service conducted field trials of vintage saws against modern saws, details of which can be found in the external link reference provided below. One significant finding in the background research findings is that vintage saws are becoming increasingly difficult to locate owing to the demand for such saws by professionals.
Overall, modern saws have some advantages over vintage saws such as stiffness which is useful for felling but might cause difficulties when bucking downed trunks which have bind. Vintage saws which bend easily and can, in fact, be folded end-to-end for carrying on one's back, afford easier transport than most modern saws, and afford less-binding cuts that aren't straight.
are designated as Wilderness Areas and as such the use of mechanized and motorized equipment is prohibited except by special circumstance. Because of this, the United States Forest Service
(USFS) organizes the crosscut saw training of USFS employees and forest working volunteers in an effort to maintain skills and proficiency among those who need to use such saws.
Training within the Angeles National Forest
concentrates greatly upon the safety of the USFS employees and forest volunteers, the safety of animals in the area, and the safety of the surrounding environment.
Training also includes an examination of the differences and benefits of vintage saws and modern saws created with modern materials. Vintage saws are those saws which were manufactured over fifty years ago, being made of high carbon steel instead of the exotic alloys which are typical of contemporary saws.
Crosscut saws are used with a variety of other small hand tools. Wedges are usually used to keep the sections of the log being cut in place as the saw is worked through the rest of the log. Wedges are placed to keep the sections apart but tie wedges may also be applied across the cut to hold sections together until the sawyer is ready for the sections to roll or drop out of the way.
Also covered in typical training sessions is the safe use of the common axe. To keep the saw from cutting through rocks and dirt, the bark of the tree around the area to be cut is often removed with an axe.
Crosscut saw training is mostly safety training with the mechanics of working safely with top bind, bottom bind, and radial (twisting) bind comprising much of the training required to work with such saws. The establishment of escape routes for both felling and bucking may require that both operators at either end of a double-handled saw be constantly aware of the environment around them, and constantly aware of other people within the immediate region which might enter in to the sphere of crosscut influence.
Traditionally over the past 250 years the use of crosscut saws in the many forests of the United States lacked the use of safety clothing and equipment however safety training in contemporary usage in the United States dictates the mandatory use of gloves, eye protectors, chainsaw boots with hard tops and high-top ankle protectors, and possible ear protectors, Kevlar
chaps, and long sleeved shirts.
Crosscut saws are used within Designated Wildernesses where chainsaws are banned due to the prohibited use of petroleum-based tools and equipment, requiring that crosscut training also include the proper use of non-petroleum based lubricants as well as training in techniques which leave a minimal impact both ecologically as well as visually after trails are cleared of downed trees.
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
that is specially designed for making crosscuts. A crosscut is a cut made horizontally through the trunk of a standing tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, but the term also applies to cutting free lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
. "Crosscut saw" is a blanket term that includes smaller traditional carpentry saws and larger saws used for forestry and logging work.
Crosscut saws have teeth that are designed to cut wood at a right angle to the direction of the wood grain
Wood grain
In speaking of wood the term grain refers to the alternating regions of relatively darker and lighter wood resulting from the differing growth parameters occurring in different seasons . The term is used in several ways. Perhaps most important is that in woodworking techniques...
. The cutting edge of each tooth is angled back and has a beveled edge. This design allows each tooth to act like a knife edge and slice through the wood (in contrast to a rip saw
Rip saw
In woodworking, a cut made parallel to the direction of the grain of the workpiece is known as a rip cut. If one were to cut a tree trunk in half from top to bottom, this would be a rip cut — but the term also applies to cutting free lumber....
, which tears along the grain, acting like a miniature chisel
Chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...
). Some crosscut saws use alternating patterns of the cutting teeth along with others, called "rakers", designed to scrape out the cut strips of wood.
Cross saws have much smaller teeth than rip saws.
Some saws, such as Japanese saw
Japanese saw
The Japanese saw or ' is a type of saw used in woodworking and Japanese carpentry that cuts on the pull stroke, unlike the European saw that cuts on the push stroke. This allows it to have thinner blades that cut more efficiently and leave a narrower cut width...
s and those used by the ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ians, are designed to cut only on the pull stroke. Western saws, on the other hand, are designed and sharpened to cut on the push stroke.
Common features
Many crosscut saws have a wooden handle with the return edge at right angles to the un-toothed edge of the saw blade, allowing the saw to serve as a square for marking material to be cut at a right angleRight angle
In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle that bisects the angle formed by two halves of a straight line. More precisely, if a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles...
.
Larger saws used for forestry and logging work include both one-man and two-man saw
Two-man saw
A two-man saw is a saw designed for use by two sawyers. While some modern chainsaws are so large that they require two persons to control, two-man crosscut saws were primarily important when human power was used. Such a saw would typically be 4 to 12 feet long , and sometimes up to 16 feet , with...
s, and both bucking and felling saws. A bucking
Log bucking
thumb|right|Bucker measuring and swamping or knot bumpingthumb|right|Bucker - Making the CutBucking is the process of cutting a felled and delimbed tree into logs...
saw generally has a straighter back and less of a pronounced curve on its cutting surface. Since bucking saws are more often used on trees that are already downed, the greater stiffness and weight aids swift cutting, and allows two-man saws to also be used by one person, pushing as well as pulling.
A felling saw is generally less stiff than a bucking saw and the backside, as well as the cutting side, is usually curved inward. Felling saws are more often used to cut down standing trees, so the thinner, lighter design is easier to use without gravity holding the blade against the cut. The concave back of the saw makes it easier to place wedges, preventing the kerf
Kerf
Kerf and similar can mean:* kerf, the width of a cut* Kerf, a poetry collection by Peter Sanger* Kerala E.N.T. Research Foundation , a hospital at Kollam in Kerala in India...
from closing on the saw.
Hand saw
In woodworking and carpentry, hand saws, also known as "panel saws", "fish saws", are used to cut pieces of wood into different shapes. This is usually done in order to join the pieces together and create a wooden object. They usually operate by having a series of sharp points of some substance...
s used in carpentry.
How crosscut saws cut
As the saw is pulled toward the operator, the cutters along the saw's surface score the wood to the left and right of the width of the blade, cutting a channel downward into the wood. Many sawtooth patterns have 4 cutters; each cutter that cuts to the left of the blade is paired with another that cuts to the right of the blade.
After the cutters there is generally a raker followed by a gullet. A raker is what does the actual removal of the wood that is being cut. The raker follows the cutters, scraping the bottom of the kerf. As the raker scrapes the bottom of the kerf, the wood is peeled back and stored in the gullet which follows the raker.
As the saw is drawn out of the kerf, the wood that has accumulated in the gullets is allowed to fall out onto the ground. A way to determine whether a saw is working well is to examine the noodle shaped strings of wood that are scraped out of the kerf; the presence of fairly long strings indicate that the side cutters are doing their job and that the raker is slicing out the wood cleanly.
Crosscut saws vs. chainsaws
Crosscut saws are much safer to use than gasoline powered chainsaws. When backpacking equipment into the forest, crosscut saws require less weight to be carried in on people's backs, and less maintenance is required for crosscut saws than for chainsaws.In many areas gasoline powered saws aren't permitted, either because the area has been designated as a Wilderness Area or because fire restrictions or other restrictions are in effect.
Depending upon the skill of the operator and the types and width of the wood being cut, crosscut saws can be faster to use than chainsaws.
One of the reasons why crosscut saws are safer to use than chainsaws is that crosscut saws don't continue to cut after they're dropped. Another reason is that using a crosscut saw requires more time to size up the situation and think about the lay of the land and the direction in which bucked log sections might fall or travel than is taken by a typical chain sawyer, who usually likes to move quickly from downfall to downfall.
History
Crosscut saws have been in use around the world since historic times, with the design of the saws (the cutting surfaces, the bow and shape of the saw, and the handles) changing over time to accommodate differences in the types of trees being cut, changes in metallurgy technology, and the application of experience. Records exist of crosscut saws in use during the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
although not widely. They came into wide usage in Europe in the middle of the 15th century. Early saws had a plain tooth pattern until the M tooth pattern was developed in 15th century south Germany. Prior to about 1880 crosscut saws were primarily used for bucking, with axes used to fell trees. Starting in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
about 1880, loggers began using the saws for felling trees as well. Despite the modern chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
, they are still in wide use around the world, not only in competition matches against chainsaws but also in regular, real-life usage since they afford certain advantages over gasoline-powered saws.
Vintage saws versus modern saws
There are two types of crosscut saw classification, vintage and modern. Vintage saws are saws that can be anywhere from 30 to as much as 250 years old and are much sought after by professionals, and as such are typically very much more expensive than modern crosscut saws. Modern saws are typically stamped out of sheet metal and are manufactured from contemporary alloys which behave much differently than vintage saws which have historically been made by craftsmen who understood the nuances of the saws they produced.In September 2005, the United States Forest Service conducted field trials of vintage saws against modern saws, details of which can be found in the external link reference provided below. One significant finding in the background research findings is that vintage saws are becoming increasingly difficult to locate owing to the demand for such saws by professionals.
Overall, modern saws have some advantages over vintage saws such as stiffness which is useful for felling but might cause difficulties when bucking downed trunks which have bind. Vintage saws which bend easily and can, in fact, be folded end-to-end for carrying on one's back, afford easier transport than most modern saws, and afford less-binding cuts that aren't straight.
Crosscut saw training
Many areas of the National Forests of the United StatesUnited States National Forest
National Forest is a classification of federal lands in the United States.National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Land management of these areas...
are designated as Wilderness Areas and as such the use of mechanized and motorized equipment is prohibited except by special circumstance. Because of this, the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
(USFS) organizes the crosscut saw training of USFS employees and forest working volunteers in an effort to maintain skills and proficiency among those who need to use such saws.
Training within the Angeles National Forest
Angeles National Forest
The Angeles National Forest of the U.S. National Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, southern California. It was established on July 1, 1908, incorporating the first San Bernardino National Forest and parts of the former Santa Barbara and San Gabriel...
concentrates greatly upon the safety of the USFS employees and forest volunteers, the safety of animals in the area, and the safety of the surrounding environment.
Training also includes an examination of the differences and benefits of vintage saws and modern saws created with modern materials. Vintage saws are those saws which were manufactured over fifty years ago, being made of high carbon steel instead of the exotic alloys which are typical of contemporary saws.
Crosscut saws are used with a variety of other small hand tools. Wedges are usually used to keep the sections of the log being cut in place as the saw is worked through the rest of the log. Wedges are placed to keep the sections apart but tie wedges may also be applied across the cut to hold sections together until the sawyer is ready for the sections to roll or drop out of the way.
Also covered in typical training sessions is the safe use of the common axe. To keep the saw from cutting through rocks and dirt, the bark of the tree around the area to be cut is often removed with an axe.
Crosscut saw training is mostly safety training with the mechanics of working safely with top bind, bottom bind, and radial (twisting) bind comprising much of the training required to work with such saws. The establishment of escape routes for both felling and bucking may require that both operators at either end of a double-handled saw be constantly aware of the environment around them, and constantly aware of other people within the immediate region which might enter in to the sphere of crosscut influence.
Traditionally over the past 250 years the use of crosscut saws in the many forests of the United States lacked the use of safety clothing and equipment however safety training in contemporary usage in the United States dictates the mandatory use of gloves, eye protectors, chainsaw boots with hard tops and high-top ankle protectors, and possible ear protectors, Kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
chaps, and long sleeved shirts.
Crosscut saws are used within Designated Wildernesses where chainsaws are banned due to the prohibited use of petroleum-based tools and equipment, requiring that crosscut training also include the proper use of non-petroleum based lubricants as well as training in techniques which leave a minimal impact both ecologically as well as visually after trails are cleared of downed trees.
External links
- CrosscutSawyer A forum dedicated to crosscut saw users, filers, collectors and enthusists.
- Crosscut Saw Training which took place in the Angeles National Forest on July 25, 2007. Numerous photographs and a description of crosscut saw training is offered.
- Short video of axe being used as an underbuck. The flexibility of the axe handle makes this a preferred method of single underbucking.
- Vintage Crosscut saws
- Field Testing of vintage saws against modern saws