BREITHACKE, AXT UND SÄGE. WERKZEUGE DER HOLZGEWINNUNG
HATCHET, AXE, SAW. THE TOOLS OF WOODCUTTING IN HUNGARY

Summary/Abstract: The tools used for woodcutting in Hungary in the Middle Ages were the hatchet and the axe. From the end of the Middle Ages the axe was used for felling and the hatchet for cutting and shaping. Under the influence of Western European forestry technology and planned forestry management, the saw began to appear in forestry work at the end of the 18th century and spread in the 19th century. In folk practice both the axe and the saw were used in the late 19th to early 20th century. The axe was used to fell smaller trees. When felling thicker trees a V-shaped cut was first made from the tree then two-men used a cross-cut saw from the other side of the tree to fell it. A hand-saw for one person was used to cut up smaller logs. It is an indication of the importance of the saw as a woodcutting tool that in the first half of the 20th century the term pár (pair) previously used for the groups of woodcutters was replaced by fûrész (saw). The last station of the process came in the mid- 20th century when the team of woodcutters working with a power saw came to be called a motor.

• Details
• Contents