sawman

plural sawmen

1. A man who operates a saw, especially to cut timber.

   Early in the century, Momma […] sold lunches to the sawmen in the lumberyard […] and the seedmen at the cotton gin […]

   1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 1, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 4

   2 more examples

   […] In the very furthest part A clearing, lately cut, circled a sawmill, A little shack that buzzed until it shook, And breathed rankly of elm. I walked around; The other side was open, whence I watched The fat back of the sawman as he fed.

   1924, Mark Van Doren, “Javelins”, in Collected Poems, 1922-1938, New York: Henry Holt, pages 18–19

   A good sawman can take out eight cords a day, but Frank, driven by the knot of Jackson anger and wildness that drove all his people, could do more.

   1988, Charlie Smith, chapter 7, in Shine Hawk, New York: Pocket Books, page 219

   Synonyms: sawyer