Pitsawing (part 1)

I haven’t done it since the 20th century.

my then-4-yr old twins watching the sawyers at work, 2010

In February 2010, I wrote on my old blog:

“Today the kids & I went for a walk, and stumbled upon this scene. They turned to me and said it seemed like something out of a Brueghel painting”:

There were readers who actually thought my then-4-yr old kids recognized the work of Pieter Breughel. The scene they stumbled upon was my friends Tom, Michael and Justin working in the sawpit at the museum where I then worked.  It’s been years since I was in a sawpit. And I don’t expect to do it again, but I’m glad I learned about it and got reasonably good at it for a while. I was thinking about it recently because of the book I’m working on about my craft genealogy. In the research for that book, I ran across some notes from Daniel O’Hagan about his forays into pitsawing. One of them is this:

May 5th, 1978

Well at long last a desire fulfilled. Today Dave Sawyer and I sawed up a 16 inch Sassafrass [sic] log into 2" slabs (3) with a pit saw and I stacked them for drying...chairseats for next winter. 

Way back when I was younger and stronger I used to do some pitsawing from time to time as part of my museum-work. My co-workers, who worked as carpenters (as opposed to me, a joiner) sawed more than me. I’d only do it in the winter. Then, a short session, maybe 2 hours, would be a perfect warm-up to the day. Vigorous exercise - with an end in sight. I can’t imagine being a sawyer full-time.

I preferred being the “pitman.”  Contrary to popular belief you don’t get covered in sawdust, unless there’s a lot of wind blowing the wrong way. The teeth are pointed away from the pitman. And in the pit, you’ve got gravity to help you bring the saw down - with both feet firmly on the ground. The top-man/sawyer has got to lift that saw, often over his head, all the while balancing on a timber that grows less steady and solid with each kerf, and while walking backwards as the work progresses. Pitsawing is the kind of work that when it’s going smoothly, a short stint of it is exhilarating. When it’s going badly, it’s miserable. 

Tom on top, Michael out of view in the dark, Justin waiting his turn