Sawbuck
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A sawbuck is a device for holding rough wood so that it may be sawn into pieces of length usable in a stove or fireplace. Easily made in the field from rough material, it consists of two "X" forms, one at each end, which are stabilized by a central piece. The stock to be cut is placed in the upward facing "V"s of the end pieces where it may then be sawn.
A sawbuck is very simple to build. The five "V" sawbuck (middle right photo) was designed with 10 vertical 2x4's each 4 feet long and 4 horizontal 2x6's 5 feet long using 3.5 inch wood screws. It was designed this way in order to cut two or more smaller pieces (2-4 feet in length) of firewood in rapid succession. A sawbuck should be heavy enough to negate any kickback from the chainsaw while cutting. Building a sawbuck that is too light weight could result in injury as it may tip over while cutting.
Sawbuck is also slang for a U.S. ten dollar bill. The term may derive from the fact that older versions of the bill included the roman numeral for ten, "X", which resembles one of the ends of the wood supporting device described above; however, this is somewhat problematic because the first known use of sawbuck in print refers to the money and not the wood device. This name was most common in the days of large-sized notes. In poker terminology, "sawski" refers to a sawbuck.
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