99% Invisible

99% Invisible

The Wilderness Tool

March 21, 202344 min

0:0044:23

About this episode

Vintage crosscuts that were made between 1880 and 1930 are often the tool of choice for trail workers who maintain the country’s roughly 112 million acres of protected land. That’s ahead of chain saws and newly made crosscuts. And the reason this old tool has stuck around so long -- even in an age when there’s a newer, better gadget coming out every year -- it goes way beyond the physical saw itself. The rise, fall, and unexpected second life of the crosscut saw is also the story of how America

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About the show

99% Invisible

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. A weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture.

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