Der Sägemeister vom Gampenpass | Der Letzte seines Standes

The Master Sawyer was produced in 2003 for the series "The Last of His Trade" in collaboration with Bavarian Broadcasting. Johann Piazzi is a 91-year-old sawyer. He lives in the small South Tyrolean village of "Zu unserer lieben Frau im Walde," at the foot of the Mandlspitze near Merano. His workplace is the "Jager-Säge." For almost 300 years, trees have been sawn into beams and planks at this location using hydropower. The building where the master can still be found on some weekdays was built by his father exactly 100 years ago. The old man still hoists logs weighing tons, which he calls "musl," onto the "block wagon," precisely aligning them with the "zapin," a hoe, and then sawing them into precise planks. The complex mechanism of levers and wheels that keeps the operation running only becomes clear upon venturing into the underworld of the saw. In the semidarkness, there's a whooshing, clattering, and creaking noise, with knee-deep sawdust everywhere. One level lower, where water is transformed into energy, the master craftsman explains how it all works. In a brief outline, the film presents the history of woodworking, a history almost as old as human history. From the author's archive, rare film footage of Brazilian Indians wielding stone axes and of timber sawing by hand on the African highlands are shown. The saw only has water for four months, after the snow melts. During this period, Johann Piazzi explains, work had to be carried out around the clock: two shifts every twelve hours. Only when the road to the Gampen Pass was built after the war were the complete logs brought down to the valley, and the sawmill lost its supra-regional importance. The 'Jagersäge' is the only one of twelve proud mills in the area that remains fully functional. The film documents the everyday work at this sawmill, the natural operation of a historic technique, and takes the opportunity to portray the man who spent his entire life there. Johann Piazzi learned the art of sawing from his father. With this experience, he kept the inherited mill running, improving and rebuilding it; he knows the names and designations of every detail. Even after him, the 'Jagersäge' will still exist, but then it will no longer be a workplace, but a museum. http://www.handwerksvideos.de/saegeme...