Brotherhood of the Broadaxe

I am a olde man now. I still have me broadaxe which I used to build log homes. Hand forged. Fin style homes. Cut off the outer layers to expose the hearts of the log. Olde school but effective against beetles and rott. Third generation home builders. My joints are wore out. Many a surgury. I still live in the high country n breathing is good. I loved the art. All the homes we built are still occupied and beautiful. I mayed funiture after I could no longer push or peel log. My draw knives are still sharp. Once n a while the peeling "songs" the knives would make and there is no other satisfaction. I no longer have that "pinsSol" smell my wife fell in love with. My hands don't work as well. I rock in a old chair I made a long time ago. Had to double up on the cushon! All you hear off in the distance nowdays are those chain saws....but once in a while..... a familiar ring...a song that needs no words, tells that story, of a broadaxe well in tune, and some olde soul of times past....takes the time...to "tie one on"! and navigate a stream of flow, a balanced step and a jam undone, and new bendels in the river in of life....flow...flow...flow!

Fifty % of the internet is trash but programs like this is why I love it. Videos like this should be shown in schools to show some of the people that built America.

jeez man..learn't something new again. Would never have seen this if it wasn't for youtube bringing this valuable history to my home. Thank you PBS and the internet.

Great story telling! I found a tie hacks axe in the high mountains of the Wyoming range. Sitting right underneath the last giant stump at the very end of a long forgotten trail ...a prized possession for my mind! The trees are just now becoming old growth after nearly 100 years of no logging...even with modern equipment it would be an undertaking to do what they did, where they did. Amazing.

"... there was no doctor, you either got well or died!!' Brilliant. Thanks for the fascinating documentary.

Holy smoke, I'm 57 and I thought us IRONWORKERS worked hard building bridges, skyscrapers and such! Damn these were real men and women!! Little wimps and mammas boys now days should be required to watch this in school! Most of the younger generation doesn't know what work is what alone knows how to do it! Thanks for posting it was awesome!

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVE , TO BRING US THIS

all the young pups nowadays,need to watch this.

It’s hard to believe the difficulty and amount of work that these puny humans could do. Those ties are stacked so deep and so high! Just remarkable. Thank you PBS Wyoming.

love this videos - the historical consept - my dad came to US of America in 1923 - he was 21 years old - and he came right from a drama - when the tall-ship went down , round terra del fuego patagonia ... they was headded for Antofagasta in Chile - but around the cape horn the sailship went down - a gaocho rode to a little village and telegraph to Buenos aires - so a british navy boat came and get them up to New York - where my dad worked in the harbor on tug boats ... he was in beautiful America for 12 years - and had work all the time...he passed away in 1990 ... greetings from Norway - sorry for my lousey english :<) I've never been over there ... but i have allways loved America ...

"Amazingly, in thirty years of tie drives no one was killed". It took some skill to manage that. A LOT of skill.

Good food makes just about any difficulty more endurable.

The guy who is wearing the Red petticoat junction cracks me up being so serious😂🤣

Wonderful look at the past; and so much history of what it took to make America great! These folks came to build; not destroy. These are the "little things" that contributed to the building of America.

Ma was born in SW Virginia in 1925, and grew up on a small farm w/11 brothers and sisters, and she told me she would get an apple and an orange at Christmas and was thrilled.

My grandfather and my father worked in the woods in California, Oregon, and Washington. When I was 15 I won a physical fitness contest over 3000 other kids. Of course I didn't tell them that my dad who was a woodsman and 55 years old two days earlier had out ran me, oh did i forget to mention He was running backwards and he gave me a head start . Ya he was pretty tough alright. Thanks for the story. good job.

Brilliant, I can't get enough of this, what an incredible time in that day

I love listening to the old men speak. Their voices remind me of my grandpa and how he would talk.

This dude that chopped the notch and sawed the tree down, you wouldnt want to tangle with that old man, he would tear you up. Incredible work for a guy his age and you can bet back in the day, he and his crew could definitely work you into the ground.

This was a tremendous program. I had so much to do but sat mesmerized by this story. It reminded me of my days framing houses with the last of the American framing crews who had a love and pride for all we built. What an experience that must have been to work those ties! Thanks so much for your post. I love your videos, I wish the internet looked a lot more like this!