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| Title: | Chainsaws
: A History |
| Author: | David Lee |
| ISBN: | 1550173804 : 9781550173802 |
| Illustrations: | 200 b/w & colour photos |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Size: | 285x260mm |
| Pages: | 216 |
| Weight: | 1.25 Kg. |
| Published: | Harbour Publishing - October 2006 |
| List Price: | 33.5 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: | In Print |
| Subjects: | Social & cultural history: Forestry & related industries: Agricultural engineering & machinery |
"It rips, and cuts, it makes a horrible racket -- a chainsaw is a frightening thing. I write not to glorify its terrible power but to acknowledge its place in the most sweeping revolution that technology has wrought in the 20th century -- the revolution of individual empowerment". So begins author David Lee in this first-ever book on the world-wide history of the chainsaw, an invention that transformed the forest industry and eventually became the indispensable companion of every red-blooded country dweller. Chainsaws, it turns out, have a curious history and since the 19th century they have taken on many forms. From 600-pound steam-powered behemoths to gas chainsaws mounted on wheeled carriages to diesel chainsaws and electric chainsaws with portable generators, this book musters a curious collection of contraptions and inventors the like of which we haven’t seen since 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'. Carefully tracing the evolutionary threads of countless short-lived pioneer devices, author Lee, working together with a world-wide network of chainsaw buffs, traces the roaring, woodchip-and-oil-sprayed progress of what is now a lightweight modern machine that holds a place of honour in the world’s woodsheds. This is a handsome gift book full of wonderful old and new photos along with priceless chainsaw ephemera that will warm the heart of anyone who’s ever held a power tool. From Andreas Stihl’s Black Forest experiments to Vancouver’s booming World War II chainsaw industry, to the post-war race to develop one-man saws, the rise and fall of Canada’s proud Pioneer brand, and the late entry into the field of the centuries-old arms manufacturer Husqvarna, it examines why the chainsaw is no good for massacres (in Texas or elsewhere), and why it is unlikely to replaced by any new high-tech inventions such as lasers.
Introduction; The Early Years; Germany Takes the Lead; World War II and its Effects; Emerging from War; The Industry Expands; The Twenty-first Century; Chainsaw History: A Timeline; Collectors Corner; Index.
