my treasure

around christmas, mom and dad and the dogs and i went for a walk on a new route along the creek near our house.  dad had seen an old house in this area on a 1960s map he saw recently, so we went in search of it.  no house, but we found walls built around two old springs that still have water - see the wet leaves - so that was pretty cool.

we also found stones built into a hill - might have been where a house was, might have just been to keep the hill from sliding down.  but i spotted a treasure leaning up against the stones!  it is an old saw blade leaning up against the wall - like the guy who owned it left it there when he moved away.  i tried to get it out, to no avail.  then dad tried - still couldn't get it to move.  about a foot and a half was visible above the ground.  we would have to come back with a shovel to dig it out.

fast forward to saturday: it was 60 degrees and dad and i brought a shovel to the spot and tried to get the blade out.  but it went REALLY far underground.  after 20 minutes of digging and not being successful, we went back for an axe to chop the roots that were in our way.  15 minutes after that, we got the blade free.  um, it is at least 4 feet long.

dad helped show me how to clean it off with a wire brush.  it is a two man crosscut saw, and the curve that you see is on purpose - to give it a better edge for cutting through a log, apparently.

i love it because the blades are irregular - i think they're really pretty.  the part that was below ground for...oh...who knows how long (50 years?) is pretty rusted and degraded, but the part that was above ground it in okay shape.  internet research by dad has informed us that this is a lance tooth felling saw ("lance tooth" refers to the pattern of the teeth; felling saws are for cutting down trees, as opposed to heavier and stiffer bucking saws which are for cutting trees when they are already on the ground).  thanks to dad + the internet.

note: i have no idea what i will do with my treasure now, but it is pretty cool.