Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions historic hewing questionnaire

NH:

Do you have any accounts to post (internet articles, books that may be refered to) regarding the hewing of railroad ties?

Must have been no-nonsense work. Not the gratification of hewing a project, pegging a joint, raising a wall, etc.


Maybe there's an old blues song somewhere:

I 'aint broke, but I'm badly bent
Swingin' this axe to pay the rent.

The rich folk from New York gonna ride this rail
No future's mine, jus' 'dis cross-tie jail.

HI everyone tonight

To answer your question about hewing railwauy ties I do have an article written by a person that experienced the last years of the lumber and tie hewing era.

It is not available to the general public though but I may be able to post some exerts from it--I will see--no promises

NH

I have a book on axes, it might have been called, The Boys Book of Axes. I can not put my hand on it right away, in it cedar is mentioned as a tie material from the Maine woods. The axe used was called the Cedar Axe, it was used for felling and hewing. A picture in the book depicts a tree felled and still attached to the stump while it was hewn in place.

Tim

I think Richard is referring to a manuscript I sent him a while back that was written by a man who lives in the retirement community where my wife works. He worked on the rivers floating the hewn ties from the woods to the tracks in the 30's. I have a photocopy, and it's about 75 pages.

"From the broadax to the railroad tracks" by Mark Goodman in cooperation with the Wind River Historical Center, Dubois, WY.

I have no idea how you could get a copy, but it's a fascianting read. Millions (really) of railroad ties were hand-hewn in the woods, and floated and flumed to the railroad tracks. CB.

Hello everyone tonight:

Hi Clark, and thanks for jumping in with that information and clarification.

From what I can make out railway ties were manufactured from many different types of trees, depending on the area that the hewing Companies had control over.

In the extreme west the giant redwoods were cut up in short lengths with very long cross cut saws and then the ties were split out and using the hewing axes they were straightened up somewhat into regular shapes and sizes.

Whole landscapes were cut off to produce railway ties during the era of railway construction that happened about 1840's to 1900, and one of the methods of producing the ties were to fell the trees still attached at the stump, and then walking up along the length of the tree it was flattened and then cut up into ties.

NH

My wife talked to the author yesterday, and he's recently had a stroke. Perhaps we can arrange to get the manuscript scanned and converted to pdf. I'd be willing to host in on my site. Would there be much interest in that? I think it would make his day to hear that folks were clamoring to read his research/personal history. CB.

That's a great idea; it's got my vote. Sounds like an interesting read.

Hi Guys,

Here is the site that you have been seeking for hewing action :-

http://www.en.charpentiers.culture.fr/treesintohouses/fromtheforesttotheworksite/squaringoff

Check out the whole site. Its sets an example that the TFG should mimic or better.

The gauntlet is thrown down. En guarde !

Regards

Ken Hume

This is a great find.
The Guild should try and do a similar set up... only better.

So far, I've just watched the "Croatian squaring-off method" (Filmed in 1982 it says). What I noticed is the hewer is using the same axe throughout the entire process. And what a beautiful tree- no limbs for 100 feet!

Very nice.

Thanks Ken.