Today I went to our cabin with the plan of moving pieces of two already felled trees to a splitting stump and then cutting down as many trees as I could. This is part for firewood for next winter and part to make space for 25 basswood seedlings we have on order.
Most of the two felled trees was already cut in rounds, and it was short work to finish the job. The major problem was that I'm back to angled cuts rather than perpendicular. That does make splitting a bit more difficult. Another problem was that there was a big pile of wood right where I wanted to pull the cart. The second time I went around it I realized that I hadn't dumped wood there; it fell there off the stacked pile. As the snow between pieces melted, the pile shifted and plop went about a third of the stacked wood. My wife won't be happy when she restacks it.
Now that most of the snow was gone, I had hoped to use the sickle mower to clear brush around the trees I planned to cut. I pulled it out of the shed, filled it with gasoline, and pulled the starter rope. Nothing at first, then it would cough a bit. One more pull should do it. No such luck, a few more coughs and then no sound. In fact, one time the rope didn't retract. Oh, boy! Pushing a stick on the bigger disk did get it back.
OK, next step is to remove spark plug, pull a few time to unflood the engine, replace plug, and try again. Except, I can't find my small socket wrench. It's not in my tool box. It's not in the chain saw tool box. It's not in a couple of other boxes. Damn! What could I have done with it? I do know it is in a small box with my magnetic wand. That should be the sickle mower parts box. I bet I didn't look past the parts that are on top. Well, I better get on with the brush clearing and worry about it another day.
I take the hand brush axe and whack at some brush. The brush just bends and whaps me in the face. Also swinging the brush axe is a strain on my back. I guess I'll use the big nippers instead. Kneeling down is a strain too, but I start making progress. Later I discover I didn't take the guard off the brush axe blade!
Finally I have the brush cleared and can cut the tree. I look up at it and it doesn't look like its lean will let it go the way I want. OK, I guess it will have to go down a bit more clockwise than I wanted. Cut wedge. As usual, I have to work harder to get the wedge out than a real logger would have done. It's out. Now the back cut. Oh good, I'm only an inch above the bottom of the wedge. The back cut is widening, the tree is falling, step back, crash! Yay! Right where my second choice was.
Take a rest, have some water and chocolate.
Now I'm ready to take the next two trees both of which are smaller. I clear the brush around both and am ready for the bigger of the two. I make the cuts more easily than the last time and the tree starts to topple where I want it. Then it bounces at least two feet in the air. Good thing I had stepped back or I might have had a bruised chest. The tree had hit a stump; a stump I thought of cutting to the ground just to avoid this problem.
On to the third and smallest tree. Roar! Buzz! Roar! Buzz! The tree starts toppling in the opposite direction I want. I set the saw down and try to push the tree the other way. I stop its fall but it seems stuck in the branches of another tree. I try again with both hands and it drops off its stump. I try again and over it goes where I want it. Superman? No. Fool? Maybe. The tree is at most six inches around at the stump and does push easily.
Time for another break. Now I'm ready to tackle the fourth tree for the day. Bend over and cut brush. Hm! This is getting tough! After getting half way around the tree I say enough. I still have to pack up and drive home. Back into the cabin for a nap. What? It's only 3:30! I guess I worked harder and faster than I thought.
Next Saturday will be my next chance to continue.
Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Adventures of Superwoodsman".
Previous episodes include
Skilled woodsman? Hah!
Premonitions revisited and other woodsman stuff
The Adventures of Superwoodsman, Episode 3
The Adventures of Superwoodsman, Episode 4
