Who "Saw" It First?

Few people know that the one-man cross-cut saw was invented by two Brown County brothers back in the 1800s. There is a story as to how this invention, or accident as it turned out, came into being.

Two powerfully built young men, the Milo twin brothers, managed to pull off this invention in an unusually creative way. They were not identical twins but were of about equal strength, a valued asset at a time when lumbering was the main part of the Brown county economy.

As they grew into young manhood they developed a reputation throughout the county and beyond for their prowess as a team on the cross-cut saw. They were the fastest, hardest working team in the county and won prizes for log sawing at fairs in adjacent counties.

Part of their skill was in the rhythm they developed as a team. The synchronicity of their movements increased their efficiency and they blended almost as one. Little time or energy was wasted in deciding the initial pull.

Tom, older than Jason by a few minutes, started the day's pull by shouting "YO". After a log was cut Jason would begin with the next pull, and so they alternated throughout the workday sharing the initial pulls. This may seem an insignificant matter to those not acquainted with cross-cut sawing but over the course of several hours of sawing a day any hesitations on the first pull added up.

While Tom and Jason were usually very congenial, they did inherit a stubborn streak from their father, who incidentally was very proud of his boys' accomplishments.

The boys' mother Bessie brought them up to be polite—and they usually were. Bessie had prepared a supper of steak and potatoes and by accident of count found one steak left over. The brothers eyed the steak but both were too polite to be the first to ask for the last steak.

A gust of wind came through the door and temporarily blew the lamp out. Out of the dark came a cry of anguish. When Bessie relit the lamp, Tom had the steak in his palm, but there was a fork protruding from the back of his hand.

Both Jason and his father claimed they didn't do it. It wasn't a serious wound but it left a little bad blood between Tom and Jason that carried over into the next day's work.

As they readied for their first cut of the day, Jason waited for Tom's "YO"—but it never came. Tom was overcome with both guilt and anger at the steak episode the night before and how he had disappointed his mother. His stubbornness made him hesitant to apologize.

About that time a neighbor on an early morning squirrel hunt fired his gun nearby startling the woodcutters. Each reacted with a startled simultaneous yank on the saw handle breaking the saw clean in half as they fell backwards into the grass.

Overcome by what they had done they embraced each other marveling at their combined strength. Now, what to do with the broken saw. They could not saw with one handle, they thought—or could they? They tried a section of the saw with one handle but found that it was not properly balanced, the fat end was opposite the handle and it just would not work.

Jason said, "Let's drill holes in the fat end and put the handle there." They tried it and it worked. The saw maintained a workable balance. They discovered that each of them could cut more in total with two one man saws then they could working as a team on one standard cross-cut. After that they became independent contractors and prospered along with the sawdust they made.

It is hard to know if this invention came about from the strength of these two young men, the squirrel shot, the steak incident the previous night, or the synchronicity of the events. You will have to decide.

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