Up until the1870's trees were still being felled or chopped down by using an ax.  Once felled the trees were sawed into lengths of ten to sixteen feet long.  Sawing the log was usually done with a saw called the crosscut.  it needed two people on either end to work it.  In 1876 the Disston company offered something new, a buck saw with cleaning teeth.  this was a big step in the production of lumber because the cleaning teeth,  they were later know as raker,  made it possible to saw down trees instead of chopping them down.  T he rakers had to be shorter than the cutters for the saw to work properly.