One of the more important aspects of pioneer settlement and
pioneer life in Canada was how they made use of everything they had in order to make a
life for themselves. Imagine arriving at a completely unusual, unfamiliar
place with nothing and being surrounded by thousands of acres of forests. For
pioneers, this was only one of the problems that they had to overcome in order
to prosper in Canada. Before they could begin to farm, pioneers had to cut
down many trees so they could plant crops. It was a very labour intensive task
to clear the land but with innovation, creativity, and hard work, the pioneers
learned of easier techniques and instruments to clear the land more
efficiently.
One particular artifact that we have
here in our collection is a very useful tool for early farmers in the area
is a crosscut saw. Crosscut saws have been used around the world since the 15th
century but have evolved over time to accommodate different types of trees,
changes in metallurgy technology, and experiences. A crosscut saw is a general
term for any saw blade cutting wood against the wood grain. They can have small
teeth close together for things like woodworking, or they can have large teeth
for course work like log bucking (cutting a tree into logs). The cutting edge
of each tooth is angled in an alternating pattern which allows each tooth to
act like a knife edge and slice through the wood. Many saw tooth patterns have
4 cutters and adjacent to the cutters there is generally a raker which does the
actual removal of the wood that is being cut. The raker follows the cutters
scraping the bottom of the kerf, and as it scrapes, a strip of wood is shaved
away.
Since arrival to Glengarry in the
late 1700’s and throughout most of the 1800’s, wood remained the staple item of
building and survival. They found use for everything in those days, so all the
wood they had chopped down to clear space for crops would be used for anything
and everything. Many of their farming tools were made of wood, their log cabin
homes, kitchen utensils, fences, barrels, furniture, toys, shovels, and the
list goes on. Even with the advancement of the chainsaw just after WWII,
crosscut saws are still in wide use around the world today.
*Tip from an antique saw collector: if
you want to get twice the heat out of your firewood, cut it up with a crosscut.
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