MY BROTHER, FRED, AND HIS HANDSAW!!!!

A GREAT STORY FROM MY BROTHER, FRED....

My MUSICAL HANDSAW 

by Fred M. Allen

“We invite you to come to our church to speak on your work as a missionary in Africa provided you first play your musical handsaw for us!” We had spoken in other churches, but now, my coming to that particular church was provisional in that first, I had to play my musical handsaw! 

My life with the musical handsaw (which is actually a regular handsaw) began in 1956 when I was a student at then ETSU in Commerce, TX. One day at the daily vespers service of the Baptist Student Union, a pastor and his minister of music came to lead our devotional service. The minister of music played a beautiful hymn on a handsaw which really intrigued me. Soon I bought a handsaw and began practicing. 

I began taking my handsaw with me to do my required practice on the violin. After practicing on my violin, I switched to my handsaw just at the wrong time, for my teacher came in to find me making music on my handsaw. He said, “Don't you ever use my violin bow on that saw again!” I apologized and I bought my own bow After college I went to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth where I sang and played my handsaw in the Booger Boys Quartet which entertained at events throughout that area.

I usually played familiar hymns or folk songs on my saw at church fellowships. However, when I was minister of music at a church in Lubbock, TX, I played a more challenging piece, “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked,” as prelude music in an evening service. Several years later a member of that church confided in me that on that night he turned to his wife and said, “Has Brother Fred lost his mind?” We laughed as we discussed that event which happened so many years earlier.

While serving as a missionary in Zambia, I had played the saw at a local church.  

After we had been in Zambia only a few months, my wife, Joy, attended a big Baptist Women's Meeting (Oops, I should have said “a Baptist Women's Big Meeting.” Thanks, Joy, for correcting me!) Since Joy was a new missionary there, she was introduced to the crowd as “The wife of the man who plays the handsaw!”

During the Annual Agriculture Show in the capital city of Lusaka, our Baptist churches had erected a platform on which choirs sang and preachers preached. At one point I was playing a hymn when a man began crawling up the steps and looking intently at me as he moved closer and closer to me. At the end of my song, I asked if I could help him and he asked, :”Are you a witchdoctor?” I said, “No, I am a Christian; why do you ask?” He said, “Where is the sound coming from?” I asked him to meet me off-stage and I explained it to him, and I also witnessed to him of God's love.

On another occasion in Lusaka, we were present one day at a local college when a country music band from America, The Virginia Boys, were presenting a culture exchange program as guests of the US Embassy. Before their program began, my son, 

Bruce, and I welcomed them to Zambia and they invited Bruce to join their band since he played a guitar nicely. They really warmed up to us when I asked if they knew the Oak Ridge Boys of Nashville, TN, in which my young brother, Duane Allen, sings lead. They knew him very well and could hardly believe I was his brother. After the program, my wife, Joy, invited them to our home for fried chicken. After a delicious meal, I entertained them with my musical handsaw. The next day their agent called me and asked if I would be on their program that night in the Grand Ball Room of the Intercontinental Hotel. I agreed and asked what they wanted me to sing. He said, “We don't want you to sing but to play your handsaw!” I played a hymn and gave a brief testimony about Christ and how much he loves all of us. It was well-received.

After our retirement from foreign service, we lived in Temple, TX many years during which time I played my handsaw in several places including care centers. Joy and I often attended senior adult activities including the annual conference at UMHB in Belton, Joy's alma mater. One year as I played my handsaw in the Talent Show, a picture was taken which was sent to the Baptist Standard editor in Dallas and it was included in the next edition of their monthly magazine which covered Texas and beyond. One day I received a call from a stranger in Houston who had read the article. He said he also plays the saw and was coming to Temple and wanted to meet me. We met at his hotel, sat around the pool at the hotel, and played duets on our saws. What fun that was! 

At times I play the saw at family gatherings or at the Cunningham Homecoming where I sent to school.. Many years ago Dana, wife of our son, Randy, made a carry-case for my saw and bow by taking a leg from Randy's old jeans and creating a work of art to carry my saw and bow. It always sparks much interest when people see me removing the saw and bow from the beautiful creation. Our son, Bruce, and our grandson, Ben, both have shown some interest in keeping the tradition alive in our family of playing the handsaw when I am gone.

Time moves on and so do my opportunities to make music publicly on my musical handsaw. A few years ago I enjoyed sitting on my back porch and entertaining the birds and squirrels in the nearby forest. In 2017 I suffered a mini-stroke which has virtually ended my ability to play the handsaw. Now I am wondering if they have handsaws in Heaven. Maybe my blue jean carry-case can go with me. Just imagine making heavenly music on my saw while accompanied by the angels on their harps!