THE SAWYER.

Is a person who cuts the trunks of trees of various kinds into beams, planks, &c. for the use of carpenters and joiners, for the purposes of building.

In the early periods of the world the trunks of trees were split by wedges into as thin pieces as possible by that mode ; and, if it
were necessary to have them still thinner, they were hewn on both sides by hatchets till they were reduced to a proper size. The common saw, which requires only to be guided by the hand of the workman, was not known in America when it was discovered and subjugated by Europeans.

The saw is undoubtedly one of the most useful instruments in the mechanic arts ever invented. Among the Greeks, the inventor
has been enrolled in their mythology with a place among the gods, and honoured as one of the greatest benefactors of the human race. The invention is attributed to Icarius, the son of Daedalus, who is said to have taken the first hint from the spine, or back-bone, of a flat-fish.

The saws of the Grecian carpenters had the same form, and were made in the like ingenious manner as ours are at present. This is usefully shewn by a painting still preserved among the antiquities of Hercalaneum.

Saws are of various kinds ; the principal are .the following : -------

The pit-saw, which is a large two-handed saw, used to saw timber in pits ; this is chiefly used by the sawyers.

The whip-saw, which is also two-handed, used in sawing such large pieces of stuff as the hand-saw will not easily reach.

The hand-saw is. made to be used bv one man; there are various kinds of hand-saws: the tenon-saw, which, being very thin, has a
back to keep it from bending ; the compass- saw, which is very small and its teeth usually not set ; its use is to cut a round or any other compass-kerf; hence, the edge is made broad and the back thin, that it may make room for it to be turned.

The best saws are of tempered steel, ground bright, and polished : the edge, in which the teeth are, is always thicker than the back.
The teeth are cut and sharpened by a file. When filed, the teeth are to be set, that is, turned askew, or out of a right line, (by an
instrument called a saw-set) to make the fissure wider, that the back may follow with ease. This is done by putting the instrument on every tooth, and giving it a little wrench, or bend ; one of the teeth is turned in one direction, and the other in a contrary one. The teeth are always set ranker for coarse cheap work than for that which is hard and fine.

The pit-saw, is a large two-handed saw, used to saw timber in pits. It is set rank for coarse stuff, so as to make a fissure of about a quarter of an inch wide.

The timber to be sawed is laid on a frame over an oblong pit, called a saw-pit, which is an improvement of modem times, as the
power of a man standing in the pit must far exceed that which is exerted by him in a sitting posture. By means of a long saw, fastened in a frame, which is worked up and down by two men, one standing on the wood to be cut and the other in the pit, the operation of sawing is performed. As they proceed in their work, they drive wedges at a proper distance from the saw to keep the fissure open, which enables the saw to move with freedom.

The most beneficial and ingenious improvement is the saw-mill, which is worked either by water, by wind, or by steam. A saw-mill
consists of several parallel saws, which are made to rise and fall perpendicularly, by means of a mechanical motion. A very few
hands are necessary to conduct this operation, to push forward the pieces of timber, which are either laid on rollers, or suspended by ropes, in proportion as the sawing advances.

But the sawing-machines worked by steam in the block-house in Portsmouth dock-yard, convey to the spectator the nature of mechanical operation in the completest manner possible. The manufacture of blocks in that place cannot fail to interest every one who has' the slightest turn for mechanics; and a person must be devoid of all curiosity who can visit Portsmouth, and return without making every effort to be introduced into this part of the dock-yard.

This is a very laborious employment ; yet two industrious men may earn from twelve to eighteen shillings a day.