Saw pits were used before sawmills to hand-saw planks. They were dug into the ground or repurposed natural features and manned by two workers. Sawmills made the process more efficient, causing saw pits to fall out of use.
A saw pit is an earthen dugout that can be used to cut logs into planks. To operate a saw, one man stands under a log and another above it, so that two people can work with a saw. Some pits were dug out of the ground from scratch, while others repurposed a natural feature like a ditch or embankment. Regardless of how the well was made, it was often covered to prevent it from filling up with water. Sawmills were common before sawmills were invented and have since fallen out of use.
Before the invention and widespread use of sawmills, saw pits were used to create hand-sawed planks. These pits were often dug into the earth, although in other cases a natural depression in the ground was created and exploited. During the time they were widely used, many cities and other places had a saw pit to make planks and boards for local construction. It was also common to dig a saw pit near a logging operation to reduce the distance felled trees had to be transported.
Each saw pit was typically manned by at least two workers known as sawyers. One man would work the saw from the bottom of the pit, while the other would pull the log from above. Each worker typically uses a variety of wedges to keep the cut open and oils to reduce friction if it begins to pinch. The man on top was usually responsible for the integrity of each cut, as boards and planks created this way were usually made freehand.
Because sawpits are dug into the ground, they tend to fill with rainwater and drain away quite easily. Many of these structures were built in areas that had natural cover from nearby trees and compacted soil that could prevent runoff, as a flooded saw pit typically could not be used. In other cases, these problems have been avoided by covering the saw pit with some sort of roof. The roofs also provided workers with some level of protection from the elements.
After the introduction of sawmills, the practice of cutting boards and planks in sawpits fell out of favour. Early sawmills using water wheel driven saws could often create as many as 200 boards in a day. A pair of well-trained sawyers were typically limited to a dozen boards a day, so the sawing process was substantially more efficient and less labor intensive.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
