Our winter wood arrived a couple weeks ago, and we’re set for the next two years. The fun thing about this wood delivery was I discovered that I was the logger’s aunt’s junior high science teacher over thirty years ago in a completely different state. How’s that for small world?
My husband likes to take it nice and slow, and cuts three logs a day into rounds. After he cuts for the day, I chuck the rounds away from the log pile so that he can roll down new logs and cut again the next day.
After we get a goodly stack of rounds, we pull out the splitter and split, then stack. After that we haul loads to our basement wood room, which holds over a cord. We replenish often during the winter months.
I really enjoy doing the wood, but I’m cautious about chainsaws. Growing up in logging country, one couldn’t help but respect the machines and all they could do as well as the injuries they can cause. I prefer the splitter, but in today’s post I’m addressing the history of the chainsaw.
The original chainsaw was invented in the 1780s by John Aitken and James Jaffrey, Scottish doctors who
used it to aid in childbirth. The machine was used to cut away excess cartilage and bone if the baby got stuck in the birth canal. In 1830 a German Bernard Heine invented a chainsaw which he called the osteotome (bone cutter). this was used to remove diseased bone and joints. Eventually, however, the chainsaw was used to cut materials rather than the human body.
In 1883 patents were granted for a Chain Sawing Machine, for cutting boards; and an Endless Chain Saw for cutting redwood trees.
The first portable chainsaw was patented by James Shand, a Canadian. Then along came Andrea Stihl who patented the first electric portable chainsaw in 1926 and a gas-powered model in 1929. This is a very abbreviated history, but I thought it was fascinating that one of the most useful tools in the timber industry came from the medical field after almost a 150 years.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go chuck some rounds. 🙂
