> The journal quotes George N. Clemson as follows:
"In 1884 we built a sawing machine for testing hack saws, in which we discovered that the blades we produced would cut twelve pieces of one-inch iron before re-sharpening was necessary. During the year 1886 we experimented with fifty-two kinds of hack saws."
And hack is an old German/Dutch word.
Maybe it's a stretch. But hacksaws are one of my favorite tools.
Long before personal computers, I was hacking on stuff. Explosives, rockets, guns, and whatever else my tween mind got curious about. I honestly don't remember when I heard the term "hacker". But in the early 60s, I was aware of Caltech ratfuckers vs MIT hackers.
And I'm pretty sure that I'd heard the term "hacker" in the NYC area. But not specifically about computers. More about mechanical stuff. And not about telephones either. That was phreaking. Phracking came later.
I think the phrase you're looking for is "sawing things". If you talk about using a chain saw you don't "chain a tree", you still "saw a tree". Your usage seems contrived.