Swedish logging ca 1915

My buddys dad still hauled wood with a traditional setup and draft horses as recently as 5 years ago, maybe still does. (He is getting old)
He is a farmer back home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, lives right on the famous Margaree river. (Any salmon fishermen here may have heard of it.)
 
:cool: Thanks for posting these (which I have not taken time to see yet). Recently, there have been a number of videos posted on this and other sites concerning old stye logging and woodcutting, making axe handles from a seasoned log, knife forging and so on. I find them informative and fascinating. My father, still alive, grew up on a Wisconsin farm before World War II and had to use some of these skills. He often speaks of going to the Dakotas with men from neighboring farms to harvest wheat; he takes pride in being able to handle a team of six work horses when he was sixteen or so. I also understand that my maternal side homesteaded a farm in about 1890.

My own life, of course, has been very different. What amazes me, though, is that the Pacific islanders I have taught and worked with in Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands and other places seem to have no concept that Americans and Europeans ever worked without chain saws, pickup trucks and tractors with Diesel engines. I wish I could show videos like these to villagers who think that no white man ever did anything without electricity and gasoline-powered machines.
Faiaoga
 
More old-timey logging [video=youtube;1J1E4TzykX4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J1E4TzykX4[/video]
 
A bit more recent, but with some minor axe work [video=youtube;IIz829VvF-Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIz829VvF-Y[/video]
 
:cool: Very interesting video. I will try to send the site information to my father, who grew up on a Wisconsin farm before World War II and who used the hand saws and draft horses shown in the video. Today, with our pickup trucks and chainsaws, we tend to forget how much can be done with simple tools. After all, Paul Bunyan clearcut most of Minnesota with the techniques shown.

As a science teacher in the Pacific Islands, I have sometimes discussed "appropriate technology" during environmental science discussions. Most of the islanders are unaware that Americans and Europeans cleared land and cut timber without power tools and modern vehicles. I wish could have shown a video like this one to those students. Thanks for posting this.
Faiaoga
 
:cool: Thanks for the interesting video. I hope my father can see this, as he grew up on a farm in Wisconsin before WWII and drove horses for most farm work. I am sure he will recognize the tools andd techniques shown. Faiaoga
 
M3mphis said:
That was a lot!! Kinda hard to tell in the video, but they looked like draft horses. Horses are unbelievably strong in general. Draft horses are almost unearthly. I've heard that a draft horse is stronger than 10 men, but I suspect that is well understated. If you've ever been to a draft horse pull, it's uncanny. Watching the work men load and unload sand bags or concrete blocks one by one is hilarious. It makes you feel like a miniature, weak little bug.

Note: There are tons of breeds of "draft horses" some are much bigger than others.
Click to expand...

Yeah--a REGULAR horse is probably around 10x stronger when they feel like throwing their weight around. Draft horses are absolute powerhouses.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yeah--a REGULAR horse is probably around 10x stronger when they feel like throwing their weight around. Draft horses are absolute powerhouses.
Click to expand...

In the longer video above the horses can be seen doing things I didnt think was even possible, absolutely amazing animals.
 
That's why having good horse sense was so emphasized back in the day. If you just try wrestling one into submission you ARE going to lose. You have to know how to get them to do what you want through training and communication. So much of it is body language and subtle things like spatial positioning. It's a whole different language. :)
 
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