Saws were a part of growing up. Big, nasty, loud, screaming, chew you up before you knew about it, saws. When I would go to work with my dad on Saturdays at the pallet shop, those beast-like machines would be ripping through plywood, two by fours, and whatever else got in the way of the whirring blade. One of the saws was so loud that they hooked a light to the telephone so if someone was calling to make an order they’d see the light go off and answer the phone. There was also this killer radial arm saw that was as big as any I have ever seen. It too, was likely not made too long after WWII and it would chew through stacks of boards like they weren’t even there.
It’s from those memories that my fascination with stuff like the swing saw shown in this video exists. This was a type of saw that was used before the radial arm saw because it could be powered by a leather belt (way back in the day) or a smaller electric motor here. Like the saws in my dad’s shop there’s not a safety guard to be seen or anything that would prevent an idiot from sawing off their own head if they aren’t careful.
We’re guessing that this one came out of a sawmill or a larger woodworking shop. Made somewhere around 1940, it has the over-built, under warning label quipped appearance that we’re enamored with and when this thing is spruced all the way back up, it’s a truly neat thing to watch work.
Yeah, we were cringing for his fingers as well.
