Product Description

Winner of the 2007 Award for Best Non-Fiction Book from Arts Hamilton

Winner of US Magazine Independent Publisher's IPPY Award for Best Western Canadian Regional Title

"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 worldwide 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 worldwide 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.

Chainsaws 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 WWII chainsaw industry, to the postwar 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55410 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Review
"In the story of the ongoing struggle between man and nature (not to mention between man and man), the chainsaw makes for a surprisingly colourful chapter."
--Stephen Knight, Quill & Quire (Praise for Chainsaws:A History )

About the Author
David Lee has been fascinated and frustrated by chainsaws since the early nineties when he moved to the Sunshine Coast and had to heat his house as cheaply as possible. He is author of Four-Wheeling
on Southern Vancouver Island and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where he no longer heats with wood, but still misses the thrill of a saw in his hands.

Customer Reviews

A most lively coverage
CHAINSAWS: A HISTORY rips into a little-known set of facts about the invention which changed and created the forest industry and became essential for country dwellers. If you think CHAINSAWS; A HISTORY will be a dry read, think again: both college-level collections specializing in agricultural history and studies as well as general-interest libraries, particularly in rural areas, will find it a most lively coverage holding lovely full-page color photos, discussions of models, specs and innovations, and more.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Perfect book for chainsaw enthusiasts!
What do you get for the dad who has everything but is irrationally obsessed with chainsaws? Well I got him this book and it was perfect. It is organized by brand, which is helpful for enthusiasts who tend to collect a certain type of chainsaw. Anyway, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Chainsaws are not evil, there just plain fun!!!
Chainsaw is an enjoyable, informative book. I always wondered what happened to a number of old chainsaw companies. The book explains it's a lot like the auto industry as it matured. Great pictures. Easy reading.
If you like mostly old chainsaws or machines in general this book is fun to read. I was suprised the chainsaw took a lot of time and R and D to become what it is today.