What is it?
- Thread starter wnwitzell
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it resembles an ice saw but I doubt that was it's use in NM. lee
chaparrito
Member
It's a bale saw, used for cutting straw or hay bales. I have two or three of them. If I'm not mistaken there is a lot of Alfalfa grown in the Mesilla Valley.
Vintage Antique Hay Saw Hand Wrought 37" Long Original Red Paint | eBay
Vintage Antique Hay Saw Hand Wrought 37" Long Original Red Paint | eBay
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dave holl
Absent Comrade
Back in the day before refrigerators, river ice was cut in chunks and stored in a sawdust lined structure. Your device was used to cut the ice.
That's my first guess. Second guess, a hay knife.
Dave
That's my first guess. Second guess, a hay knife.
Dave
dave holl
Absent Comrade
Wow, you guys are fast.
Dave
Dave
da gimp
Member
they were used for both reasons above... this was a hay saw primarily... the ice saw blades were shaped a lil differently but they could be used for it too..
my maternal grandfather & uncles still harvested ice from their ponds & the Missouri River in the mid 1950's.. the ice cellar was underneath a section of his tool shed... with the blocks of ice covered in sawdust & hay to insulate them & keep them clean. Their ice saws were much longer...
At one time folks built temporary structures from little square hay bales, in between upright 2X4's, with a roof, the bales all standing on edge, kept even the outer bales reasonably dry from rain & snow. The saws were used to cut a bale to fit & then retied with the twine...I believe "Mother Earth " even ran an article or two on how to build structures from hay bales way back when.. Modern balers (from 'mid 60's forward anyway, might be earlier),put hay into "leafs" , with heavier bales having more leafs than lighter bales.
my maternal grandfather & uncles still harvested ice from their ponds & the Missouri River in the mid 1950's.. the ice cellar was underneath a section of his tool shed... with the blocks of ice covered in sawdust & hay to insulate them & keep them clean. Their ice saws were much longer...
At one time folks built temporary structures from little square hay bales, in between upright 2X4's, with a roof, the bales all standing on edge, kept even the outer bales reasonably dry from rain & snow. The saws were used to cut a bale to fit & then retied with the twine...I believe "Mother Earth " even ran an article or two on how to build structures from hay bales way back when.. Modern balers (from 'mid 60's forward anyway, might be earlier),put hay into "leafs" , with heavier bales having more leafs than lighter bales.
Hate to disagree with LTC, but it's an antique hay knife.
An ice saw looks similar, is longer, and usually (but not always) has just one straight handle that is gripped with both hands. Also, the teeth are quite a bit different. (see photo)
Years ago, before we had hay balers, hay was cut with a scythe and left to dry. Then it was either stacked on the old traditional haystack, or would be tossed into the hayloft. Over time, of course, the hay began to compress making it difficult to remove the amount desired. Thus, the hay knife. You could cut into the stack and remove the amount of feed necessary.
Edit: Oops...I noticed that da gimp beat me to the punch.
An ice saw looks similar, is longer, and usually (but not always) has just one straight handle that is gripped with both hands. Also, the teeth are quite a bit different. (see photo)
Years ago, before we had hay balers, hay was cut with a scythe and left to dry. Then it was either stacked on the old traditional haystack, or would be tossed into the hayloft. Over time, of course, the hay began to compress making it difficult to remove the amount desired. Thus, the hay knife. You could cut into the stack and remove the amount of feed necessary.
Edit: Oops...I noticed that da gimp beat me to the punch.
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shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
It's Chuck Norris's nail clipper. Used them when he didn't have access to oxyacetylene torches.
meaneyedcatz
Member
It's a Hay Knife
Mule Packer is not only correct about both the hay saw and the ice saw, but he is also telling his age. I, being younger, have only seen hay saws hanging in barn rafters. I live near a small town that had an ice lake where ice was harvested by professional crews every winter. The ice saws for the most part have long forward facing teeth. These saws show up quite often in local yard sales.
olcop
Member
Looks like either of them would make a wicked machete,with just a little work and modification.
olcop
olcop
chaparrito
Member
Not just "at one time". There was a resurgence of interest in straw bale building in the 90s. A friend and I took a 3 day long intensive bale building workshop in Tucson in which about a dozen people put up all of the exterior walls and windows/door frames on an 1800 square foot house and learned to apply lath and stucco. We came home and built my buddy's house and my extensive patio and yard walls with straw bales. That was > 20 years ago and his house and my patio walls are still in great shape. Modern technique doesn't use hay, only straw. Hay is too prone to mildew and composting within the stucco. Straw is almost entirely composed of cellulose and doesn't decompose if protected from water. There are existing 19th century farmhouses built of straw in the Dakotas. Three string bales stacked on edge make a wall about 18" thick when plastered; about as thick as the adobe walls of my house. While there isn't the thermal mass you get with adobe, the straw walls make about an R90 insulated structure, and they go up much faster than adobe, which can only be laid a few courses at a time due to the curing necessary.
During the building process on my friend's house we became real good at using a bale saw and re-tying bales to fit in odd places.
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