Matt Harvey
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/matt.mpg> of
Campbellsport, Wisconsin,U.S.A. Restored a horse powered drag saw
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/drag_saw.jpg>
having only the iron components and some badly decayed remnants of the
wooden frame
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/beam.jpg>. The
restoration involved about a month and a half of spare time work. The
timber frame was sawed on his saw mill that he also built. The horses
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/horses.mpg> in
the image are Matt's , they are the same ones used to pull the logs out
of my woods as shown in the wood getting section of my guitar
construction site. In the future he will power the drag saw with oxen he
is raising. The oxen have grown to full size and he will soon make a
full sized yoke for them. He made smaller sized yokes for them to start
their training early. There is no date on any of the iron components. I
would give an estimated date for the drag saw of circa 1900.
The sawing process is as follows:
Matt
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/operators.jpg>
gives a command for the horses to start and his obedient horses start to
move when the log cut
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/drag_saw.mpg> is
made Matt gives the command to stop and the horses stand still. Matt has
trained these horses well and in training uses no harsh treatment.
Sometimes the horses were slow to respond as it was a hot day 91f,+33c.
The man on the platform would give them a tap on the fanny with a stick
and they would start.
Matt and his wife Eva and daughter Hannah demonstrate at many events in
their area. Matt is 37 years of age and is a good
fiddler,blacksmith,woodworker etc. and makes objects for area living
museums and historic sites.
The function of the drag saw is as follows, the horses rotate a large
round horizontal gear
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/bullgear.jpg>
which powers a small gear that rotates a drive_shaft
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/drive_shaft.jpg>,which
rotates a pitman that moves the beam which has the saw attached at the
end opposite the pitman. The carriage
<http://my.execpc.com/%7enostberg/other_stuff/horse_saw/control_lever.jpg>
that the log is placed upon and chained to, can be advanced to feed the
log towards the saw. Study the images and the process will be easily
under stood. The method of the function of this type of saw has its
origin in Europe and have great antiquity. For some reading about old
technology I recommend you read -DE REY METALLICA by Georgius Agricola,
1556, translated by Hoover and Hoover and reprinted by Dover
Publications of New York,U.S.A. and The two volume series -A Diderot
Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry by Dennis Diderot
,1751,52, reprinted by Dover Publications of New York, U.S.A.
I hope you enjoy these insights into the past.
Neil Östberg
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Homestead] Old tecnology and some books on it---horse-powered drag saw,
tvoivozhd, 02/11/2005