GREAT SAWING CONTEST

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 2

GREAT SAWING CONTEST

BRITISH COLUMBIA'S

K LAN HE.YD, with his trusty | V* Royal Chinook blade, is still | champion of the British Empire I ln t " e log-bucking contest. He ■won the crown last year in Vancouver, and this year at the I loggers sports made the sawdust I Hy when he bucked a 32in log! in 2.54 2-5, two seconds slower! than mat year. I The 24-year-oW champion and hi J tiler, Frank Doney, arc employees <.f th,. C.'omox Logging and Railway Company at the Ladysmlth camp. Second in the contest was Fred Swanson and flier Schully Ncliul/.on with a time of ,1m 17s, and third was Fred Da 111 of Camp 2 and his tiler, Nester llagr, in .'lill ,'ttls. Throughout (lie great reaches of (he forests of Mr. hemlock and cedar, .overiug thousands of miles of the I'acilic Coast of Hritlsh t olumbia, one of Ihe grcatest, lumber producing areas in th.' world, tens of thousands of powerful woodsmen exert their strength arid skill in felling and cutting giants. some of which reach feet in height and -H feet in girth. It is work requiring not only strength, but. speed and skill born of years of experience. To aid in the labour, specialists have experimented, and continue to do so, in producing exceptional steel for saws, while in the en Hips special workmen, known ns tilers, devote all their time to keeping the saw blades In perfect condition. And then once a year there takes place the finals ill a historic annual contest, to determine the speediest, strongest, and most skilled sawyer from among ■.II thousands of woodsmen of the Pbafc.

By--Frances Dickie

| Tim finals am usually lipid at Vaneoul ver, a littirij; centre, because this city | jficw up from a clearing in t)ie forest, and is largely supported l»y tlie proceeds from the lumbering industry. l-'rom \arious points in the silent , wood*, rumps luive sent, their best men to tln> elimination preliminaries, till i only eleven are left, and finally from | these mijjhtiest of mighty sawyers at | last two remain to meet in the final I round for the championship of British I Columbia and the Jjjritish Empire.

Tn Ihe liiil'o mifl echoing vastness of ie in ,o show Huilding ii M enormous "If (i ji«.,»ll■,[ Hritisii Columbia fir jflisiills nl i'ly. I lie (wo principals atop ' !' 1 ""''''ishirts, helte.l . ' ,V' T" 1 V ~s,|f lp "-t >' l"Wr«rs' hoots, , M,l " s ~f whi " h »»• 1 ' \\ 1, I r 11 in 'tl' . tl ", l' oin,H . I ~ 1 i ■ "'""I* I' I"? or earth. . v I ' — t r.f.t i.irr. „ ml i, ore in l' „ " u " 111 Wl " into t ho wooden tlo.M l„ give „ Urn, sin ik| to t ho bodies •' wiMiil IP ""'""""K ,lriw ' ~f ste.-l through i I lie muster of ceremonies, ffrey- • Jiniroil veteran r.f many a contest, tosses ■ 'L!'," ln 'i Al !"\ H, ' V(l - 'liampioi# since ( Wlns 'lt"ii'o of position. Hevd i 9 i only 24, (iml, more remarkable still, is • | not ii sawyer by profession, hut a driver j of one of the huge caterpillar tractors i | which liiuil the tremendous logs out of i I lie \vr. Despite this, he wrested ■ Mho championship of British Columbia t mid the British Empire from the pick Jjof the woods. For the 1037 struggle he Mat? toalc two weeks from Jh* ttfte

mOl lv to pot into sliiipc. TTq noitlior smoko.s or drinks, another unusual feature in a woodsman.

With his well-tried Royal Chinook crosscut saw-, seven feet in length. Heyd steps to the log. His tiler, Era 11 k Honey, who has given to the teeth of Royal Chinook hours of skilled care, based*oll years of experience, takes one more anxious look. 'I lien he drenches the shining blade with kerosene, so the teeth will ride smoothly through knots or pitchy spots. Heyd'places his blade in the '-starting cut" made at the top <>t the loir.

By the big log, crouching a little forwiiid. their steel-pointed shoes set hard in the wooden floor, the men stand tense. Now things beside speed, endurance, skill, play a part in this exciting event, tli is most coveted of woodsmen's honours. Unseen knots may lie in the path of the saw for one man and not the other, slowing up his cutting. Or tiie knot may loosen, wobble, even tear loose; if the latter, one of the precious saw teeth buckles, and all chance is lost to that contestant. The master of ceremonies cries "Go!" The saws sing their thin, high note of commencement. Deeper the blades cut in, and their voicing* becomes the long contented droning of easy, fastriding blades. He yd works his Royal Chinook with a shorter, more rapid stroke than the challenger. All around them men of the woods, sawyers, backers, tanned of face and muscles hard. stand tense, while mingled with them "Tyee" boss loggers and business men watch the duel. Back and forth the bodies sway with swift smooth gliding motion; beauty, rhythm, symmetry, though born of commerce and destruction.

Half the log is cut. The crowd now yells encouragement to the duelists. There comes a warning cracking, then a floor—32 inches of hard fir cut through in 2 minutes 54 2-5 seconds, to make him once more champion of the northwestern woods and the British Empire, so he may contend for the championship of the United States at Tacoma, Washington.