the.com/chainsaw
a tool invented to slice through bone before it ever met a tree
means A portable power tool with a motor-driven toothed chain that loops around a guide bar, used chiefly for felling trees and cutting wood.
from From 'chain' plus 'saw' — a saw whose teeth ride a chain rather than a fixed blade. The startling part of the essence is true: an early cutting chain was devised in the late 18th century by two Scottish surgeons, John Aitken and James Jeffray, for symphysiotomy — slicing through pelvic bone and cartilage in difficult childbirth. That hand-cranked medical instrument, the 'osteotome,' is an ancestor of the modern chain. The familiar tree-felling chainsaw came much later, becoming portable and gas-powered in the 20th century.
- medical origin
- first built to cut pelvic bone during childbirth
- symphysiotomy tool
- hand-cranked version dates to the 1780s
- world record
- fastest tree cut: under one second
- horror fame
- the 1974 film weaponized its already grim history
- art form
- competitive chainsaw carving is a real sport
stihl ms 500i — german manufacturer's flagship model, world's most powerful production chainsaw at 79.2 cc
husqvarna 390xp — swedish professional grade saw used by loggers worldwide, 90.7 cc engine
echo cs-590 timber wolf — japanese-made utility chainsaw dominating north american consumer market since 2013