51/198

A timber dog is an iron bar shaped like staples with points at each end. They were used in saw pits to secure logs so that they did not roll around while being sawn. One point was tapped into the timber and the other into the baulks under the timber where the sawyer stood. This timber dog was found in saw pit at a ford of the River Isbourne near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

1 timber dog: metal (iron); good condition

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –' When balance, adjustment and manoeuvring had abetted strength in fixing the tree over the pit, the "dogs" held it fast. A dog is a bar of iron bent into shortpointed bars at each end and at right angles to its streight length. I possess a pair of them in the Hermitage, one large and one small. One point was tapped in by the back of the axe into the timber, the other into the wooden flooring round the pit-head where the top-sawyer took his stance.' (pp. 62) [see also 51/193, 51/197], MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/198 // NAME: TIMBER DOG // NEG NO.: 35/1868 + OTHERS // STORAGE: P.Ex. (Permanent Exhibition) Timber.'