Michael Dorosh Posted July 15, 2001 Share Posted July 15, 2001 In response to the earlier thread about pioneers in CM2, there is some nature show on TV right now, and I just heard the following: "With the advent of chainsaws in the 1950s..." Take it for what it is worth.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumvir Posted July 15, 2001 Share Posted July 15, 2001 Interesting... I have the Handbook on German Forces and it has on page 514 an electric chain-saw. I wouldn't consider these very portable, though: I reproduce their stats: Light power saw: Weight : 111lbs including fuel Blade Length: 3ft3in RPM : 2600 Chain Speed : 21 feet per second Heavy power saw: Weight : 172lbs including fuel Blade Length: 3ft3in RPM : 2300 Chain Speed : 23 feet per second The photo makes it quite evident that it's a two man piece of kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted July 15, 2001 Author Share Posted July 15, 2001 It was a Canadian nature show. Possible they were not used in Canada until the 50s, or else they were referring to Canadian-manufactured chain saws, or else man-portable - - or else they were just plain old wrong. Thanks for the data; quite interesting. Good grief - 100+ pounds? [ 07-14-2001: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Hofbauer Posted July 15, 2001 Share Posted July 15, 2001 "advent of chainsaws" must be referring to their widespread civilian use. Otherwise, chalk it up to that illness called "journalism". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted July 15, 2001 Share Posted July 15, 2001 I love the web. Here's some history of chain saws, including the apparently first invention, which was for medical applications: chain saw history medical applications Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyBucket Posted July 15, 2001 Share Posted July 15, 2001 *Whew!* For a second I thought the thread was "Chains Saws and German Prisoners". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted July 16, 2001 Share Posted July 16, 2001 I recently came across a pict of an M3A1 scout car with all of its stowage laid-out for inspection in front of the vehicle. At the top of the pile was this giant mother of a handsaw, looked like it had to be 5 feet long! Stored against the far rear wall I suppose. And prominent stowage on the side of T34-85s and JS-2s was a stout push-pull type handsaw. Forget about Jeeps winning the war, handsaws won the war! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offtaskagain Posted July 16, 2001 Share Posted July 16, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeyD: I recently came across a pict of an M3A1 scout car with all of its stowage laid-out for inspection in front of the vehicle. At the top of the pile was this giant mother of a handsaw, looked like it had to be 5 feet long! Stored against the far rear wall I suppose. And prominent stowage on the side of T34-85s and JS-2s was a stout push-pull type handsaw. Forget about Jeeps winning the war, handsaws won the war!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Those old 2 man crosscut saws are actually really good. It wouldn't take too long to clear out any blown tree roadbloacks with them. I've cut a 22 inch log with one in around 2 minutes with them. You don't get very tired out with them either, the weight of the saw does all of the cutting. All you do is just pull it back, then let the other guy pull it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Johnson-- Posted July 16, 2001 Share Posted July 16, 2001 Thanks guys, My last thread turned into a running joke. But its a very interesting topic. There seems to be some dispute about when they showed up, and how unwieldly they were, and how much they would improve the speed at which a Pioneer company could cut a bunch of trees. I'd hate to make one of those corduroy roads with only a hand axe and a hand saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted July 17, 2001 Author Share Posted July 17, 2001 I actually helped build a bunker for our re-enactment unit with nothing but handaxes; it was kind of fun, but of course, our lives didn't depend on it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumvir Posted July 17, 2001 Share Posted July 17, 2001 Out of curiosity, how long did it take? I ask because it took us between 4~8 hours to build a two-man firetrench with overhead shelter (the discrepancy is because we were given all night and it was the first (and last! yay!) time we had to build a firetrench. Some worked harder than others, but we were all entrenched by morning.) I'm wondering if a bunker takes less time to build and houses more people (but probably is less protective) than a firetrench. (By which I mean something about 160cm deep, with enough room for two people plus an overhead shelter.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Johnson-- Posted July 17, 2001 Share Posted July 17, 2001 Time to build bunkers is all dependant on terrian. Digging into ice, digging through tree roots, deep snow (12ft), sand and sandstone. Hehehe, being forced to dig with only a broken trench shovel, or using tree branches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted July 17, 2001 Share Posted July 17, 2001 As to the prospect of building corduroy roads by hand, one should never underestimate the willingness of a military institution to overtax its manpower on such projects. The Russians had their Asian conscript labor regiments, the Germans had their forced (slave) workers from conquered countries. It wasn't until Desert storm that G.I. finally came up with the labor-saving idea of using funnels (overturned roadway cones) to help fill sandbags! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyBucket Posted July 17, 2001 Share Posted July 17, 2001 Miles of roads were built during the American Civil War with saws and hand axes. I think modern man has become so used to power tools that we forget what is possible without them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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