25 cords a day!

[begreen]

Here's some wood burning lore to ponder.

Back in the late 1800's until about WWI the Puget Sound was crisscrossed by lots of passenger steam boats. So many that they were like mosquitos and the nickname 'mosquito fleet' was coined. The fastest steamer was the Flyer. It consumed 25 cords of wood a day! Wood was stripped from the hills and stowed on the wharves to fuel the boats. At this rate, in a year, Flyer would burn about 5,500 cords a year. No wonder the hillside behind the dock had few trees standing.

By 1920's car service had started and the boats were phased out by gas and diesel powered boats. Only a few pockets of old growth wood remain around Puget Sound. The timber went to fuel these boats and to build homes and businesses for the rapidly growing region.

Today, few of the original mosquito fleet remain. Locally we have the restored and beautiful Virginia V, the last working ship of its class. It's still steam powered, but uses oil in the boilers now. It's a beauty, inside and out. I love the sound of its steam whistle.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound_mosquito_fleet
(broken link removed)

 

[redktmrider]

I can only imagine the manpower need to harvest that much wood in the days before the modern chainsaw, splitters, etc!
Those were the days when work was truly hard.

 

[begreen]

It's mind boggling when you consider there were about 40 different mosquito fleet routes criss-crossing Puget Sound. You took good care of your tools back then and kept that crosscut saw sharp.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

You took good care of your tools back then and kept that crosscut saw sharp.

Well, the only crosscut hand saws I have are carpenter's saws but I still keep care of my tools and my saws sharp (whether power or hand). It still makes good sense.

 

[begreen]

It takes a long time to sharpen a big crosscut saw, but it is marvelous to use when done right. We had to use them recently on recent trail work in the wilderness due to no chainsaws allowed. It took longer, but not as long as one would think.

 

[huauqui]

That is a beautiful saw! They are fun to use, for awhile.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Manly]

I can only imagine the manpower need to harvest that much wood in the days before the modern chainsaw, splitters, etc!
Those were the days when work was truly hard.

Me thinks your imagination may be a bit over zelious on the amount of manpower needed to harvest 25 cord of wood back in those rough and tumble times. We're talking about an era when men were men, women were scarce and sheep were scared. A crack of the whip and a deep bellow from the boss man would set a pace that one cannot fathom in these times. Those were the days. . Manly

I can only imagine the manpower need to harvest that much wood in the days before the modern chainsaw, splitters, etc!
Those were the days when work was truly hard.

 

[NickDL]

That's just incredible on how much wood they used.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[gerry100]

Other end of the country but tjr stories of Adirondack loggers are amazing ( check out the Adirondack Museum)

Favorite is of a 14 year old kid who got his as a log skidder because a n other kid got killed.

Worked and ate like animals until payday when they headed to Utica for drinking and whoring)

 

[freddy]

It takes a long time to sharpen a big crosscut saw, but it is marvelous to use when done right. We had to use them recently on recent trail work in the wilderness due to no chainsaws allowed. It took longer, but not as long as one would think.

View attachment 200949 View attachment 200950

What is amazing is the shape and design of the blade on that saw. Who was able to determine that the shape of those blades would be most efficient...?

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

A crack of the whip and a deep bellow from the boss man would set a pace that one cannot fathom in these times. Those were the days. . Manly

Those were the days if you liked a 12-14 hour workday, in a hazardous environment doing bone-busting labor with nothing to show for it at the end of the day but $1.00. Pretty hard to actually raise a family on those wages. If you crushed a leg, tough luck, go to the big city and sell pencils on the sidewalk to people who felt sorry for you. This is what had the Wobblies up in arms (literally). Here's a little history:

http://offbeatoregon.com/1301d-wobblies-come-to-oregon-timber.html

 

[Sodbuster]

Wow, that's a lot of wood, wonder why they didn't use coal?

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Wow, that's a lot of wood, wonder why they didn't use coal?

They didn't want to contribute to global warming. Plus the trees were in the way.

Actually, it was simply because wood was cheaper.

 

[Sodbuster]

They didn't want to contribute to global warming. Plus the trees were in the way.

Actually, it was simply because wood was cheaper.

 

[jetsam]

I have a couple of those saws. My grandfather built a house with them. The small one is a 1.5 man saw (meant to be used by 1 or 2 people, unlike a regular crosscut saw). I have used it to buck, and it is a workout! It certainly gets the job done though.

Look at the black smoke coming off that boiler stack.... they needed to season that 25 cords!

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Look at the black smoke coming off that boiler stack.... they needed to season that 25 cords!

True. If seasoned they probably only would have burned 10-12 cords/day.

 

[begreen]

What is amazing is the shape and design of the blade on that saw. Who was able to determine that the shape of those blades would be most efficient...?

It's a real science. We had a expert sawyer show us the many saws he has. It was amazing to see the different styles and purposes of them. This particular saw had two cutter teeth to each raker.

 

[begreen]

Me thinks your imagination may be a bit over zelious on the amount of manpower needed to harvest 25 cord of wood back in those rough and tumble times. We're talking about an era when men were men, women were scarce and sheep were scared. A crack of the whip and a deep bellow from the boss man would set a pace that one cannot fathom in these times. Those were the days. . Manly

Several local women also cut wood as fuel for these boats. Everyone worked back then.

 

[ATsawyer]

Just for grins, I timed two of my cuts during recent logouts on wilderness trails. Sawing with an experienced partner, it took us four minutes to cut through a 32" hemlock and ten minutes to get through a 34" red oak (measured with bark removed). This included time spent wedging the kerf to prevent the cuts from binding and aligning skids beneath the cut sections to ease the roll out.

 

[begreen]

I believe it. It took just a couple minutes to saw through very dense high altitude spruce logs about 20" in diameter and most of us were doing it for the first time. The bark at the cut points was stripped away first with katana saws so that it didn't dull the saw blade. Note the tight growth rings. Trees grow slowly at 4000ft..

 

[Manly]

Several local women also cut wood as fuel for these boats. Everyone worked back then.

Just a bit of politically incorrect humor my friends. I don't long for the past days of inhumane laboring and dangerous environments.

 

[begreen]

Just a bit of politically incorrect humor my friends. I don't long for the past days of inhumane laboring and dangerous environments.

No problem, some of the locals mentioned they remember their folks talking about their mothers stacking cordwood out for the fleet.

 

[Lloyd the redneck]

Wow. That is serious btus.

 

[BrianN]

That is a lot of wood to be used in a day.
Growing up in a logging/mill town, I did get to see a few of those saws in action. My father kept one in storage for many years, and finally had a logging scene painted on it. It is a scene of his grapple yarder and the whole show.
I love what he had done to it.

 

[Destructor]

Some of the railroads switched to coal because of dwindling wood supplies and the increased distances to dependable wood supplies. Coal became more practical to transport and stockpile.