Friday, May 30, 2008

The Human Sawmill



If you know anything about cutting with a chain saw (and I know only what Allen has told me) you know that it is difficult to cut straight lines with one. If you wanted to cut very straight lines in big pieces of lumber, you would use a huge circular saw (as they do at a sawmill), or at least a band saw. When we lived in the states, Allen used the term "chain saw carpentry" to refer to really rough cutting work.

So, we are greatly impressed when we see how 2 x 4's are created from rough lumber, in remote areas of the mountains, using chain saws!




The lumber in these pictures was being cut to be used in the construction of the roof structure for a new church building. The congregation was able to contribute much of the labor and materials for this building. They collected sand, gravel, and large stones for the foundation, created mud bricks, mixed mortar and laid the bricks, harvested the rough lumber and delivered it to the church site using oxen. But for cutting the rough lumber into 2 x 4's, they had to hire a professional - with a chain saw!

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

Seriously....unbelievable! It's amazing what can be done when necessity drives talent. I've never seen anything like this. I'm going to pass the link along to my friend the anthropologist.

- Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife