See quotations.
1821. [I saw] in one of the mills, erected on the borders of the Hudson, what is called a gang of saws; that is a sufficient number to convert a log into boards by a single operation.—T. Dwight, ‘Travels,’ iii. 217. (Italics in the original.)
1883. In outward appearance a “gang,” as a set of saws is called, resembles the old-fashioned upright saw-mill, except that the vertical frame contains not one but many saws, arranged at different intervals, corresponding to the desired thickness of the cuts.—Herbert Tuttle, ‘A Vacation in Vermont,’ Harper’s Mag., lxvii. p. 824/2 (Nov.). (N.E.D.)
