: The neighbors find it interesting that while I do have a chainsaw I prefer to fell trees with a saw and a hatchet/axe.
Yes the crosscut is making a huge comeback
Vintage crosscuts that were made between 1880 and 1930 are often the tool of choice for trail workers who maintain the country’s roughly 112 million acres of protected land. That’s ahead of chain saws and newly made crosscuts.
@corlin: Those are wicked cool. My grandad has a 10-footer, inherited it from his dad and granddad, though Papa himself was a lawyer. My dad and uncle sold all the cool stuff when my grandmother died, alas.
@thedisasterautist
Young forest workers have to take and pass a 4 week field training, and safety test. Before they can use one.
If you learn how to properly use one you can saw all day long.
@corlin: Affirmative. I'm old, but I can handsaw and hatchet/axe for about three hours at a time, with a 45min. to 1hr. break between. That's what I did today. Of course, I had to shower twice, but I got the stuff done. LOL
@corlin: I use a little 12" handsaw, the kind with the good wooden handle that you can replace blades with with working two bolts. Sometimes you just need the precision when you're got to make sure the trees land where and how you need them to. For the broader work where more force is required to clear shit out, it's the hand axe or the proper axe.
I love the physics of it all. My favorite are tangled trees. They're a puzzle you have to carefully take apart... with gravity. I love it.
@thedisasterautist
This is very true, with wind filled forest trees in rough terrain.They are basically springs.with enough stored energy to do very serious harm. Cut the wrong branch, or the trunk in the wrong place. And people die.
I have seen forest workers, wait days, for an expert to come and mark cuts. And even then only allow the sawers within 50 feet.
@corlin: Affirmative. As with most things I do or plan to do, I am very big on conditioning my plans with ye olde reliable "...weather permitting". Despite all the "manifesting" and similar mumbo jumbo in high fashion lately, physics, maths, and nature give no shits about how you feel or think and won't hesitate to kill or injure you, the same as how they will reward you. You just have to Follow The Rules and Don't Be Dumb and/or Careless.
i too have a chainsaw
but use it as little as possible
maybe on a big log
to be cut into short pieces
i consider it noisy
and overeager to cut things
do not like inhaling fumes
used to use
my grandpa's double headed axe
to take trees down
you feel it in your hands
when it us ready to fall
before you hear it
my wrists began complaints
so i now use a hand saw
just as precise with control
perhaps better in tight spots
but have to listen for the
cracks when it starts to fall
@thedisasterautist
In my part of the national forest, chainsaws are banned. All forest workers use long hand crosscut saws. For cleaning trails. And all other uses. A pre WWII 6 foot crosscut saw, can be worth as much as $1,500. The old saws use higher grade of steel. Yes they are still making new one, but everyone says they're not as good.