National Forests of the United States are designated as Wilderness Areas and as such the use of mechanized and motorized equipment is prohibited except by special circumstance. Because of this, the United States Forest Service (USFS) organizes the crosscut saw training of USFS employees and forest working volunteers in an effort to maintain skills and proficiency among those who need to use such saws. Training within the Angeles National Forest concentrates greatly upon the safety of the USFS employees and forest volunteers, the safety of animals in the area, and the safety of the surrounding environment. Training also includes an examination of the differences and benefits of vintage saws and modern saws created with modern materials. Vintage saws are those saws which were manufactured over fifty years ago, being made of high carbon steel instead of the exotic alloys which are typical of contemporary saws. Crosscut saws are used with a variety of other small hand tools. Wedges are usually used to keep the sections of the log being cut in place as the saw is worked through the rest of the log. Wedges are placed to keep the sections apart but tie wedges may also be applied across the cut to hold sections together until the sawyer is ready for the sections to roll or drop out of the way. Also covered in typical training sessions is the safe use of the common axe. To keep the saw sharp and to avoid cutting through rocks and dirt, the bark of the tree around the area to be cut is often removed with an axe. Crosscut saw training is mostly safety training with the mechanics of working safely with top bind, bottom bind, and radial (twisting) bind comprising much of the training required to work with such saws. The establishment of escape routes for both felling and bucking may require that both operators at either end of a double-handled saw be constantly aware of the environment around them, and constantly aware of other people within the immediate region which might enter into the sphere of crosscut influence. Traditionally over the past 250 years the use of crosscut saws in the many forests of the United States lacked the use of safety clothing and equipment. However, safety training in contemporary usage in the United States dictates the mandatory use of gloves, eye protectors, chainsaw boots with hard tops and high-top ankle