Dropping a pine by hand+Hewing (pics N vids)

G

G-pig

Joined
Jul 5, 2011
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Noodling around in the woods today cutting a hangup out, I noticed a little ridge in the blanket of snow (around 2 feet), heart went pitter patter, and I looked up and saw a pine snapped bout a third of the way up-- the high winds snapped the top off the poor fella. I had anticipated bucking a small pine for joists, but didn't pack accordingly to fall a tree this size. Didn't care; used the 4ft. simonds bucking saw to start the nick for the face cut, everything else was done with a 2 1/2 pound Snow & Nealley on a 28 1/4" handle. Had it on the ground in under ten minutes which included running the camera by myself, balancing it on a stump. sorry for the poorish footage, it was hard to get and I couldn't keep out of the way of the camera all the time.

Yeah, I swing like a whimp, I know. Put the tree on the ground in under 10 minutes though (using tools I did not intend to use for this, set up for limbing and bucking). This handle was Maple and around 3/4 of an inch thick-- not gonna wail away on a fine cutting implement like that.

No editing skills, I just took separate videos.

[video=youtube_share;Q7a561ByoJM]http://youtu.be/Q7a561ByoJM[/video]

[video=youtube_share;NyUAlifctMc]http://youtu.be/NyUAlifctMc[/video]

[video=youtube_share;wTGHA0g4mZ8]http://youtu.be/wTGHA0g4mZ8[/video]
 
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[video=youtube;XWQ84ESxPKM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQ84ESxPKM[/video]

did some bucking too.
 
You forgot to yell 'Timberrrrrrrr!' :D

Good stuff. I could see the grin on your face when that baby came down. I'd have been grinning just as big.

Well done!
applause.gif
 
Square_peg said:
We don't need no steeenking chainsaw!



Your saw sings real purty.
waytogo.gif
Click to expand...

Never run a chainsaw in my life, despite 5 years of this kind of thing under my belt. I did carry one out to the woods for a fella, but regretted it afterward :p

Hope to get some more videos of hewin', sawin', all that good stuff. lots of that to do.
 
006_zpse5c19cf6.jpg


Thats a good view of the sharpening on the little axe. Thats not just filed on the surface-- spent several hours "zeroing" it in, so the radius from the edge to the top of the filed face is super gradual.
 
That banana grind cuts like the dickens, don't it? Just watch the tips around knots in this cold weather.
 
Square_peg said:
That banana grind cuts like the dickens, don't it? Just watch the tips around knots in this cold weather.
Click to expand...

Yessir. I work the whole bevel first, and then go back and work the very edge, then work 5 or 6 MM back from the edge, then blend the whole face together. the first 5MM and how it leads into the rest of the face makes the axe bite.

I went right through those knots-- figured it would tell me what I wanted to know. This axe had not endeared itself to me until today, I wanted to see how it held up. I mostly trust Maine companies to temper their axes to cut frozen maine trees during logging season, but ya never know.
 
Put some muscle into it G-pig... You swing like a girl :p :D

Just kidding!

Good show. Those 'boys axes' can make short work of trees that size without any problems.

Thanks for the vids and story :)
 
Nice footage! I must say, however, that I'm disappointed by the lack of a Leon Redbone backing track on these ones. :D
 
G-Pig, Great videos. I just love the song that a crosscut sings. I think that you need to consider a small metal or plastic wedge for your pack. I could see that tree just waiting to trap your saw. Been there done that.

Tom
 
Double Ott said:
G-Pig, Great videos. I just love the song that a crosscut sings. I think that you need to consider a small metal or plastic wedge for your pack. I could see that tree just waiting to trap your saw. Been there done that.

Tom
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Good Simonds steel sings like that, the longer teeth really ring too.

I usually make my own wedges in the field if I need them. In this case, a wedge wouldn't have saved me since the body of the saw was close to the size of the tree (no room to fit). There wasn't much bind on this piece, the two parts when severed pinched the body of the saw at a given point-- hence why it would pivot so freely. When I cut a 25" maple by hand a couple of weeks ago, I had 2 wedges with me plus a small axes for making more. We ended up only needing one. I should have had some solvent too, this pine was very green and sappy.
 
Some more work today. Got more video.



[video=youtube_share;KXjXFvnmQnY]http://youtu.be/KXjXFvnmQnY[/video]

[video=youtube_share;1mnbvWyX1cE]http://youtu.be/1mnbvWyX1cE[/video]

[video=youtube_share;ZrAg5Ws4NEU]http://youtu.be/ZrAg5Ws4NEU[/video]
 
This is another Simonds which has short worn out teeth. Doesn't have the same ring that the other saw does. Cutting in this posture is a pain, I usually cant manage more than a 20 or 30 minutes of sawing without a good saw buck. 2 man saw runs fine with the log on the ground though, so make friends with your neighbor or something.

[video=youtube_share;-MHPAtd808U]http://youtu.be/-MHPAtd808U[/video]
 
Thanks for the vids, great stuff! Nice to see someone felling a tree the old way! :thumbup:
 
Just noticed I got a thumbs down on youtube for my first video using the crosscut to start the face cut. Must be doing something right!
 
G-pig said:
Just noticed I got a thumbs down on youtube for my first video using the crosscut to start the face cut. Must be doing something right!
Click to expand...

What?!? someone must have pressed the wrong button by mistake. :-/

Thanks for posting these videos - I'll watch 'em sometime soon. It's good to know that at least some of us on the Axe forum are actually getting out there and using axes! :)
 
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