Tree Chopping

By George Dodson


One of the favorite stories parents used to tell their children was about a famous lumberjack named Paul Bunyan. Paul had a big blue ox named Babe. So popular was this tale that people designed restaurants around this theme in the Pacific Northwest.

Paul was about 20 feet tall. One of the things Paul was very good at was chopping down trees. You can imagine with a splitting of that giant acts that felling a tree was fairly easy. These days it is obvious that lumberjacks are not 20 feet tall and do not come up with lakes to water their livestock.

There is an art, rather a technique in chopping down a tree properly. The whole thing is not simple grabbing the axe and heading to the forest kind of thing. One cannot fell a fir with a simple axe. If you do the above, then you are going to take plenty of time and use a lot of energy doing nothing. How is felling a tree done?

The first thing that you must consider is the fact that trees are a danger if you are doing more than watching them. Depending on the size of the tree, most trees are very wet and slippery. That's why loggers special boots.

Most trees that you be interested in chopping down our large and weigh a lot. When they come down they can cause great injury if you don't bring them down properly.

It is required that you have the correct gear not forgetting a helmet. A tree limb falling from 30 or 40 feet can ruin your day quickly.

You need to make sure that you get the right tool for the right job in this case a chopping axe is preferred to a splitting axe. If you don't know the difference find out.

Settle on the direction you want the tree to fall ensuring that it does not fall on people or property.

Begin by making a wedge on the side of the tree of the direction you want tree to fall. Begin by chipping out the tree in a wedge shaped design until you get a vee cut on the tree side. Next moved to the other side of the tree opposite of the vee cut and began chopping above that the cut on that side of the tree. Continue chopping out pieces while watching the tree. Though you want it to fall in the direction of the cut, most of the time this happens not to be the case. If it starts leaning towards you, make sure to get out of the way. That means clearing yourself away from the tree stump itself. When the tree falls it can kick up on the end. If you're in the area, you could seriously injure yourself.

As you chop down the tree, be keen on the groaning sound as this marks the weakening of the tree. Just as the tree is falling, steer clear of the stump until it comes completely down.




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