Saw pit

A saw pit or sawpit is a pit over which timber is positioned to be sawed with a long two-handled saw, usually a whipsaw, by two people, one standing above the timber and the other below.^[1] It was used for producing sawn planks from tree trunks, which could then be cut down into boards, pales, posts, etc. Many towns, villages and country estates had their own saw pits. The greatest user of sawn timber in past centuries was the shipbuilding industry. After falling, without bark, in smaller and more standardized sizes, and not intended as primary members in shipbuilding, the term 'timber' is often replaced by the term 'lumber'.