Saw pit
Encyclopedia
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...
by two men, one standing above the timber and the other below. It was used for producing sawn planks from tree trunks, which could then be cut down into boards, pale
Pale
-Color:*Pale, an adjective meaning of a light shade or hue; approaching white*Paleness , a relative lightness of color*Pale, a variance of human skin color, especially:**Pallor, a symptom of low oxygen content in blood or avoidance of sunlight...
s, posts, etc. Many towns, villages and country estates had their own saw pits. The greatest user of sawn timber in past centuries was the shipbuilding industry.
Sawing
A sawyer is a person who cuts wood for a job. Sawyers were at one time important members of the rural community, because many implements, as well as buildings, were made of wood. In EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the terms used were 'bottom sawyer', for the man standing in the pit, and 'top sawyer', for the man who balanced on the log.
Together, the sawyers would alternate pulling the 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...
through the log. If the saw 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...
begins closing, it can cause the saw to bind and increase friction. Wedges, most often made of convenient bits of wood, could be inserted in order to keep the kerf open and reduce the friction. Kerf is an Anglo-Saxon word related to our modern day word 'carve'. Two-man saws were designed to cut in both directions and very careful tooth design was necessary to clear the sawdust during the cut. The sawdust accumulated to the extent that it had to be 'dug out' and removed in a bucket. Oak dust could be burned and used in the curing of bacon.
The top-sawyer's work had to be very accurate, for as stated it was he who kept a careful balance on the log and guided the long saw, kept the cuts straight or curved as required and estimated the width of the planks. He was the man in charge of the operation, and it wasn't uncommon for nicknames such as 'Williams Top-sawyer' to be common currency in country areas. Great pride was taken in the finished article and the anticipation of the end result tended eased the severity of the labour required.
Shipbuilding was a major user of saw pits, often naval, where the planks of wood were sawn for the construction of all classes of vessels. The logs of wood to be sawn were placed over a pit on planks of wood called "dogs" in naval jargon. The senior sawsman stood on top of the plank and the junior had to go into the pit, often partially filled with water, with sawdust constantly 'raining down' and also he stood in sawdust as a result. One disputed theory of the origin of the terms 'top dog' and 'underdog' is that they come from saw pit work practices; however, dog fighting is quoted as a far more likely source, backed up by some documentary evidence. Cutting from underneath a suspended log is sometimes called "underbucking."
Water-driven power sawing could saw up to 200 boards a day compared to the 12 or so a day by two men in a saw pit. Ten foot logs were sometimes sawn into boards except for about the last two inches, in this way the boards could be more easily handled; when required the boards could be separated by cutting off the end of the log.
A saw pit could if circumstances demanded, be worked by a single person, the end of the saw being weighted with a stone or such-like and then raised and lowered by the sawyer.
Views of the Kennox estate saw pit
The demise of the saw pit
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
s may well have been developed in the medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
period, as one was sketched by Villard de Honnecourt
Villard de Honnecourt
Villard de Honnecourt was a 13th-century artist from Picardy in northern France. He is known to history only through a surviving portfolio of 33 sheets of parchment containing about 250 drawings dating from the 1220s/1240s, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris...
in c.1250. There are claims to have been introduced to Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
following its discovery in c. 1420 and spread widely in Europe in the 16th century.
The 'modern' sawmill was invented or perfected by the Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon
Cornelis Corneliszoon
Cornelis Corneliszoon van Uitgeest, or Krelis Lootjes was a Dutch windmill owner from Uitgeest who invented the wind-powered sawmill, which made the conversion of log timber into planks 30 times faster than before.-Biography:...
(1550–1607) who applied a pitman arm
Pitman arm
The Pitman arm is a steering component in an automobile or truck.The Pitman arm is a linkage attached to the steering gear sector shaft, that converts the angular motion of the sector shaft into the linear motion needed to steer the wheels. The Pitman arm is supported by the sector shaft and...
onto a wind mill, which converted a turning motion into an up-an-down sawing motion. Cornelis took out a patent the sawmill on December 15, 1593 and the pitman on December 6, 1597. Early sawmills adapted the whipsaw to mechanical power, generally driven by a water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
to speed up the process. The circular motion of the wheel was changed to back-and-forth motion of the saw blade by the pitman rod. A pitman is similar to a crankshaft, but in reverse; for a crankshaft converts back-and-forth motion to circular motion.
Several early sawmills in England were burned by sawyers who were fearful of losing their livelyhoods.
The increased efficiency of the sawmill and the back-breaking nature of the work mean that saw pits generally went out of use in the United Kingdom at the time of the industrial revolution. Old OS maps
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
circa 1860 often show the location of saw pits, but by the start of the 20th century very few remain and most are no longer shown to be in use.
The Royal Dockyards
Saw Pits were introduced into the Royal Dockyards in the mid 18th century, previously trestles were used and a frame saw employed. The upper sawyer was the 'Topman' who followed the marked line and the 'Underman' who pushed the rib, pit or whip saw and avoided the sawdust. The pits were usually lined with elm wood as this withstood damp and the access was via steps at one end or a ladder. The sawyers were paid by the 100 foot runs with pay related to the difficulty of sawing the wood, oak cutting being the highest paid. Usually the sawyer was responsible for sharpening the saws, however on occasion a whet man was employed to do the work. The logs were held firmly in place by 'G' shaped clamps called 'dogs' hammered into the log being cut.Micro history
Q-pitQ-pit
Q-pits are kiln sites which were dug for the production of white coal prior to the Industrial Revolution when white coal was largely superseded by the use of coke.- Purpose :...
s, used to make White coal
White coal
White coal is a form of fuel produced by drying chopped wood over a fire. It differs from charcoal which is carbonised wood. White coal was used in England to smelt lead ore from the mid-sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. It produces more heat than green wood but less than charcoal and...
, are often found associated with saw pits.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
refers to saw pits in the Merry Wives of Windsor.
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
. They behaved less than gloriously - "Before there were any near excuse three or four of our regiments fairly ran away - Sir William Fairfax's, Sir Henry Cholmley's, my Lord Kimbolton's and to say the plain truth my own." Wharton not only ran away but is said to have hidden in a saw pit, thus earning for himself the parliamentary nickname.
The settlement of Saw Pit in the United States of America eventually outgrew this name and became Port Chester by incorporating as a village in 1868.
The Town of Sawpit, Colorado
Sawpit, Colorado
The Town of Sawpit is a Statutory Town located in San Miguel County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 25 at the 2000 census, making Sawpit the third least populous incorporated town in the state of Colorado...
is a statutory town located in San Miguel County
San Miguel County, Colorado
San Miguel County is one of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county is named for the San Miguel River. The county population was 6,594 at U.S. Census 2000...
, Colorado, United States of America.
Roy Underhill
Roy Underhill
Roy Underhill was raised in Washington, D.C., and was the first master housewright at the Colonial Williamsburg reconstruction. Since 1979, he has been the host of the PBS series The Woodwright's Shop...
tells the story that, after the development of steam-powered sawing machines, the saw pits were unnecessary, and therefore were cut up and sold as post-holes.
Sites of old saw pits
England- Brede High Farm, East Sussex. Over 30 saw pits have been found in the woods.
- CoteheleCoteheleCotehele, , is a mediaeval/Tudor house located in the parish of Calstock, Cornwall, England, UK. In Cornish the placename is Koesheyl . Probably originating circa 1300, the main phases of building appear to have been by Sir Richard Edgcumbe from 1485–89 and his son, Sir Piers Edgcumbe, from...
, Cornwall. Preserved by the National Trust in working order. - Elvet, County Durham.
- Haltwhistle, Northumberland. A saw pit is located beside the Haltwhistle burn.
- Haswell, County Durham.
- Kibblesworth, County Durham.
- Little Lumley, County Durham.
- Quarrington, County Durham. A saw pit near Quarrington Hall.
- Marble Head, Restronguet PointRestronguet PointRestronguet Point is a small narrow promontory in the civil parish of Feock in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three-quarters of a mile south of Feock village....
, near FalmouthFalmouth, CornwallFalmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, Cornwall. There is a trench there - now stone-clad - which is thought to have once been the site of a saw pit, but this has not been confirmed. - Singleton, ChichesterChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
, West Sussex. A covered saw pit at the Weald and Downland Museum.
Scotland
- Broomhill, map reference: NH 611 516; Parish of Knockbain in the Highland Council area.
- Cadham, map reference: NO 3298 7240; Parish of Cortachy and Clova in Angus Council area.
- Charlie's Sike, map reference: NY 4805 8770; Parish of Castleton in Scottish Borders Council area.
- Kennox estate, map reference: NS 386 448; Parish of Dreghorn in the North Ayrshire Council area. 55.6698°N 4.5666°W
- Kirkton Muir, map reference: NH 602 435, Parish of Kirkhill in the Highland Council area.
- Pennyseorach, map reference: NR 7127 0778; Parish of Southend in Argyll And Bute Council area.
- Strathallan Wood, map reference: NN 9420 1797, Parish of Trinity Gask in Perth And Kinross. Two parallel grass-grown hollows mark the site of a disused saw pit on the edge of a forestry plantation 950 m ESE of Raith farmstead (NN91 NW61). They are set about 1 m apart.
- Woolforddyke, map reference: NT 0075 5590; Parish of Carnwath in South Lanarkshire Council area. The visible remains are of an oval pit, measuring 2 m by 1.6 m across and 0.4 m in depth, situated within a shelter belt.