WOODWORKERS' TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT 
97 
PICKAROON 
Laborers engaged in bringing crossties, stave bolts and other 
timber down steep slopes often use a pickaroon, which has a 
handle 3G or 38 inches long on the end of which is attached a 
head with a recurved pike. These heads are frequently made 
from worn-out ax heads by removing a portion of the cutting 
edge. 
UNDERCUTTERS 
The undercutter is a tool used by the "bucker" or log-maker 
in the Northwest. It serves as a support for the saw when 
making an undercut on a fallen tree. 
It is a round or flat rod of iron 
about 2 feet long with a head on one 
end and single or double claws on 
the other. These claws are sharp and 
are driven into the side of the bole. 
Sliding on this rod is a block carrying 
a milled wheel which can be raised or 
lowered to accommodate the depth of 
cut, and on this the back of the saw 
rests. Buckers frequently dispense 
with undercutters because of the 
annoyance of carrying them and in- 
sert the bit of an ax in the bole in 
such a way that the ax handle serves 
as a base on which the back of the 
saw may ride. 
Fig. 18. — A Type of Under- 
cutter used in the Pacific 
Coast Forests. a is the 
saw blade resting on the 
milled wheel. 
USE OF KEROSENE 
In felling coniferous woods, resin collects on the saw and soon 
causes it to bind. This is remedied by the use of kerosene. 
Fallers and log-makers in the pine forests of the South carry a 
pint bottle of kerosene, fitted with a stopper made from green 
pine needles. The crew usually keeps a gallon can near at hand 
from which to replenish its supply. At frequent intervals the 
saw is sprinkled on both sides with the oil. A crew cutting from 
12,000 to 15,000 feet log scale, daily, will use from one and one- 
half to three pints of kerosene. Four gallons per week is re- 
garded as a liberal allowance. 
