Real life chainsaw milling

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
Taking a trip down memory lane I came across this picture I took of a couple of men cutting boards with a chainsaw in Guinea in West Africa.  Picture is dated 4 November 2012 and was near the town on Forcarieah along the Kissadougou River.

   These guys were just free hand cutting these boards and they are very accurate with it especially not to use any kind of jig or guide. I saw the sawing technique used all over Africa and they do the same thing down along the Amazon in South America and other remote areas of the world.


 
The people were real friendly and I got someone to take a picture of me with some of the neighbors.


 
Of course the women still had chores to do like laundry and preparing dinner. Utensils were a little different than our wives use.


 
Here is a typical wood working shop where the boards would be used.

[azmtnman]

I take it you are the Caucasian-looking guy in the 2nd picture... :D :D :D :D
It's hard to see people like that and feel bad about what we don't have.

[WV Sawmiller]

AZ,

   Very astute picking me out that way.

    Yes, we take so much for granted. These were some of the friendliest people I ever met. As I would walk down through the village you would hear kids yelling "Forte (For Tay), Forte..." meaning "White guy" for blocks ahead. The kids loved seeing themselves on the camera viewer and I'd get mobbed. Got lost one night and told some of my followers the name of our hotel/camp (we leased the whole facility) and two little girls grabbed me by each hand and walked me back though the alleys and back to the camp. One guy saw them and followed to make sure I was not some pervert child molester (which I greatly respected him for making sure). At the camp I gave the lead child 10,000 Guinea francs (About $1.40) and pointed to each kid and told her  "Une Bon Bon" (One candy) for each.

   I routinely got invited into their homes and shops and had a blast seeing how they lived and worked and they seemed to be thrilled that I was interested.

[Savannahdan]

Hey, they copied the design of their woodworking shop from mine even to the engineer-perfect angles of support boards.  Ha.  I watched a youtube video quite some time ago about fellows chainsawing lumber in the Phillipines using what appeared to be a Stihl 090 chainsaw.  They also cut very accurate lumber with it.  I have to admit that it's got to be a lot cooler to be there and experience them doing it.