Firewood

Our family home was heated with wood and/or coal, as opposed to fuel oil or gas, from the time my parents married in 1925 through 1955 when I left that home, and beyond until some time in the 1990s.  By that time both of my parents had left this earth and my younger brother Fred and his wife owned the home and were raising their family there.

I recall that along about 1942 or ‘43 going with my father and older brothers to the woods to cut wood in winter.  In those days the felling of trees was done with a two-man crosscut saw.  Then the same saw was applied to the tree trunk as it was blocked up into burnable lengths of about 16” long.  The blocks were taken to the house intact, and then split with a common head axe into a more usable size.  The larger limbs of more than 6” diameter were also sawed in this manner, but those limbs of less than that diameter were loaded on the team drawn bobsled and taken to the house and piled.  Later, the next fall, the limbs would be sawed into the 16” lengths with the buzz saw.

By 1950 or so, my father bought a chain saw.  By today’s standards it would hardly be considered portable, but it surely was then.  It had a six or seven horsepower four cycle engine with a 48” bar attached.  Out on the end of the bar was a removable handle, with which a second man could help the operator.  The engine had to remain in an upright position, so the entire bar assembly was built in such a manner it could rotate 90 degrees to a side wards angle so the saw could be used to fell trees.  This was a vast improvement over the old two-man crosscut saw, even if it did weigh nearly fifty pounds.

Although my father’s saw was a Homelite, rather than a Mall, I have found this photo to be useful for an explanation.  The Homelite bar was 48” rather than the 24” or so that this one appears to be, but the end handle was approximately the same.  Between the engine and the handle formed of pipe there is a silver ring.  The entire assembly from that ring to the end of the bar would turn by loosening the ring.