Billhooks and other misc edge tools

[john k]

In your first statement you asked why this tool had all but disappeared from the American scene.   The invention/perfection of the lightweight chain saw coincided with the disappearance of the billhook.   Before WWII, the few saws out there were extremely heavy, and often two man.  After the war, with the great leap forward in small engine technology, where in a few years power saws were available that didn't wear out a man in a few hours.   So, in the 1930s, not much of anything extra was purchased, they used up the old.   Then by the 50s it seems everyone had to be modern, getting the latest and greatest,  and the saws were available at every hardware store.   In too many ways the rush forward for what is new, ignored what was already available.   

[Billman49]

Hi John, your statement would apply much more to the axe - billhooks were (are) used small diameter green wood such a hedges, shrubbery, fruit bushes, even roses.... Chain saws are intended for heavier work, such as tree felling and de-limbing, thus replacing the axe, yet old axes are in abundance in the USA and Canada.... The billhook virtually disappeared from the USA by the beginning of the 20th century - yet in rural Europe where many immigrants came from, the billhook lived alongside the axe for centuries.... Maybe the axe became the tool of choice....

In the UK many old tools disappeared in the scrap metal drives of WW1 and WW2, when we had to recycle almost everything metal to produce ships and armaments, yet the billhook survived, and I still find many 19th century tools advertised on ebay and other sites...

[Branson]

Like Billman, I don't reckon the chainsaw had anything to do with the demise of the billhook.  Except in vineyards, the billhook was vanishing from the tool box decades before power saws of any kind.  By the last quarter of the 19th Century, about the only use for billhooks was military.  The army used them for building defences on the battle fields, primarily for gabions and fascines.  Military manuals, in fact, call them "fascine knives" from their primary purpose.  The military seems to have replaced them with machetes, doubtless because the billhook is a harvesting tool, and when sandbags came into primary status for field barricades, all they needed was clearing tools since harvesting small diameter green wood lost its importance.

Outside of making fascines (bundles of straight, green wood bound together)  they are most useful for making hurdles, and land clearing for slash and burn agriculture.  We long ago stopped making hurdles, and with our established farms, no longer needed to clear virgin land.

Smaller versions of the billhook (5 to 8 inch blades) continued to be used in viticulture, and may still be used  -- not sure here -- but still into the 20th Century.

[Billman49]

Fascines, hurdles and gabions made from woven saplings were used for defensive positions, repairs to breaches, and for preparing gun emplacements... They were also used by pioneer units, and later by signal corps to clear undergrowth for telephone wires. Calvary troops also used then to cut fodder for horses. In WW1 machine gun sections were also issued them to cut lines of sight and to camoflague gun positions...