Buck Saw

Years ago in another life, I had some bushes that had grown too much so I decided to do away with them.  The only saws I had were a jig saw, a Skil saw, and a Diston hand saw, none of which would do the job, so I went to one of those big box home stores like Home Despot, Lowes, or Hechingers and asked for a buck saw.  Of course the person at the door (Wallymart calls them “greeters” but I don’t know what Home Despot calls them) had no idea what I was talking about.  I described what I’d used in the old days in New Hampshire and what I wanted to do with it and he finally led me to the garden tool center and we found what, in these modern times, is called a bow saw.

Off the subject time #1.  A buck saw has large, widely gapped teeth designed to cut though green wood and was traditionally used to cut smaller logs into firewood, a process called “bucking.”  The wag in me wonders if the process is now called “bowing.”  Of course, most folks these days cutting up logs for firewood will use a chain saw, split the wood on a mechanical splitter of some sort, and then sell it in quantities called cords, face cords, truckloads, or those little stacks they sell at grocery stores, neatly wrapped in plastic. 

I bought my buck saw in Maryland and used it to take down the unruly bushes, then hung it in the garage.

Off the subject #2.  Across the street from my home in Maryland lived an Air Force nurse and his legally blind wife.   A really nice couple, they’d occasionally join in the cul-de-sac evening get-togethers, standing in the middle of the little circle whose name translates to “bottom of the sack” whilst chatting about all sorts of things.  The Lieutenant had just about every tool imaginable including a Craftsman heavy-duty rolling tool chest with many drawers all filled with a mechanic’s dream collection of guaranteed-for-life Craftsman tools, all  perfectly laid out on the felt-lined drawer so that a user could find the size needed quickly.  On the shelves over his tool box was a perfectly arrayed assortment of woodworking tools with fancy names and high-end prices.  I think if he saw Norm Abram use a tool on The New Yankee Workshop, he added one to his collection.  Included in that collection of tools was an immaculate Stihl 18” chainsaw, but one day I walked out of my garage and saw the two of them trying to cut down a 15’ diseased fir tree in their side yard.  They were using a handsaw designed to cut kiln dried lumber, not living trees.  I asked him why he wasn’t using his chain saw and his answer was that he didn’t “want to get it dirty.”  I contemplated letting him continue doing it the way he’d started, but that seemed too un-neighborly, so I took my bow saw out to him.  Two minutes later the tree was down and we dragged it off into the woods behind his house.

Back to my bow saw.  When I left Maryland, moved to Georgia and married the State Peach of the Peach State, I took that bow saw with me.  Our little plot of land has all sorts of trees including river birchs, pines, oaks, poplars, sweetgums, and others.  My little 30” bow saw has proved it’s worth, particularly after winter snow or ice storms and summer thunderstorms.  One day this past spring, I used it to cut up a substantial pine branch that had fallen on a power line during an ice storm earlier in the winter and had finally been blown to the ground.  I cut it up in smaller pieces then loaded them in the wagon I haul behind my lawn mower and took them down in “the pasture” to my burn pile. 

Some time later, I wanted to cut up another branch that had fallen and went to get it.  I couldn’t find it.  I looked everywhere, even enlisting the State Peach  of the Peach State and two granddaughters, but to no avail.  After lamenting my loss for a while and looking in every place I could think of, I decided it was probably at the bottom of a large pile of mulch behind the shop that I add to with the lawnmower cart.   I used my tractor with the bucket to move that pile all over, but no saw.  Finally, I went to Home Despot and bought a replacement.  It turned out to be a terrible investment of $20 or so.  The blade twists so easily it is virtually impossible to make a straight cut.  I’ve relegated myself to getting out the chain saw for nearly every thing that needs cutting.  That’s not unlike using a 40’ flatbed  to move a wheelbarrow – way overkill.

The State Peach of the Peach State has hired a handylady from the nearby town to do yard work (Stathamites will recognize her as Cricket) including trimming our overgrown azaleas and cutting back patches of English ivy.  The other day, she found my bow saw where’d I’d dropped it to load that pine branch that I’d cut up into pieces.  The handle was rusted in places where 20 years of use had chipped away the paint and the blade was really rusty.  I took it down to my shop, removed the blade, sanded the handle down to bare metal and painted it.  Sanding the blade took care of much of the rust, but close inspection revealed that there were few angles left and I’d need to learn about setting the flean in order to sharpen it properly, so back to Home Despot.  They had plenty of blades to replace the one in the saw I’d just bought, but none for the one I bought 20 some-odd years ago.  I went across the street to Lowes to find the same result.  Hechingers, where I’d most likely bought to saw originally has been driven out of business by Home Despot and Lowes, so I went on the Internet, found the right sized blade,\ and ordered it.  A few days later, I had it installed and went looking for something to cut down.  

Off the subject #3.  I wonder whatever happened to that Lieutenant.  He'd made Captain and had been transferred long before I left Maryland, and as is customary with military folks, we've not kept in touch.  I wonder if he's found uses for all those immaculate tools.