Sappling Cut with 4" or under Blade

We used to use that same technique in the Boy Scouts for gathering poles for shelters, and lashing projects. (Our troop had a land lease, and cutting saplings was permissible.) Also, small saplings like that are a good size and springiness to rig a 'cane pole' for fishing. In Louisianna, you could easily find bait, and if you brought 10 or 15 feet of chord, you could quickly catch a mess of small bluegill to cut up and boil into a soup. And have fun doing it too.
 
Kev, thankyou for relieving my concern, I may have been a little paranoid. I have come across anomales on walking trails that have I've had to repair or have had repaired by others and just recognise those things a little easier. Hope I didnt offend you.
Regards, Dave
 
You wouldn't normally cut the spike off in the bush then? Thats a great technique... but if it leaves a spike like that.... I'm not sure how practical it is. To go back and saw it off seems redundant.... why not just saw it in the first place? But I guess if you are making and emergency shelter, this is a very fast way to harvest saplings with only a small knife. You can deal with the spikes in the a.m. .............. just don't forget or your situation has the possibility of getting a lot worse.


Rick
 
Well, in this example he cut the sapling very close to the ground. But you can cut them higher up, so there is less of a tread-hazard. And its not hard to do a pretty good rounding over with the 4" knife if you don't have a saw. The technique demonstrates that you can cut shelter, fishing pole, spear, lash poles, etc with a 4" blade. You don't haave to have a chopper.
 
Good stuff. I first saw Cody Lundin do this on a TV show many years ago. After trying it myself I was surprised at how easy and efficient it is.
 
k_estela said:
As Dartanyon inquired about a spike being left on the trail. I responded this way,

"I was well off the trail. Never do I cut anything if it is in clear view of the trail. As for the left overs, I capped it by sawing it at the base with my SAK saw."

Cut trees on the trail are unsightly and I never would do that.

Hope this answers the question.
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Thank you for clarifying, I have used this technique many times for small sapplings and it works well.

Fiddelback....Not Have a chopper? Why I am flabbergasted!
 
Magnussen said:
You wouldn't normally cut the spike off in the bush then? Thats a great technique... but if it leaves a spike like that.... I'm not sure how practical it is. To go back and saw it off seems redundant.... why not just saw it in the first place? But I guess if you are making and emergency shelter, this is a very fast way to harvest saplings with only a small knife. You can deal with the spikes in the a.m. .............. just don't forget or your situation has the possibility of getting a lot worse.


Rick
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You can start closer to the ground, and cut at a steeper angle to the tree, takes slightly more effort but you don't have a spike, and don't have to saw or trim it afterwords. I can easliy cut a walking stick from green hardwood with a sak blade or even a sheeps foot blade on a 80t:)
 
I agree with Rick here - when you are in a survival situation you are not worried about your carbon footprint or the next guy who comes on the trail. If a guy DOES come on the trail and falls on your saplings - he becomes protein and his pockets are rummaged through... (that is just me - and I have no soul.... so...)

If he does not fall on your sapling - he helps you OUT of the survival situation.

If I was making a hasty shelter or what have you in a SURVIVAL situation - I could employ this method of harvesting wood. I would not care about aesthetics or safety of others. Kev trimmed it because he was NOT in a survival situation - he also chose the tree accordingly. If my 'survival' turned more permanent - I would trim saplings for my own safety.

I would start a small forest fire if it would work as a signal fire. I wouldn't kill myself to do it - but practice and survival are two different things. The omelet MUST be made...

TF
 
I've used this method too. And I just can't help but mention that it can be quite surprising how easy green wood is to cut compared to wood that has dried out. I've made a number of bows and axe handles etc, and it is so much quicker to rough them out to shape while the wood is still wet. Plus a roughed-out bow stave or axe handle seems less likely to split while drying compared to a whole sapling trunk.

Incidentally, the emphasis on 'batoning' that I read about on line fascinates me. But on reflection I realize I've done quite a bit of batoning when reducing a sapling trunk to a workable size to make a bow stave etc. I generally wouldn't use my sheath knife for the job though. What I do is 'baton' an old slasher (brushhook) blade down through the centre of the sapling trunk from one end to split it in half (or even quarters). But these saplings would generally be four inches in diameter or more, and I would have used a saw or an axe to harvest them.

I don't like seeing spikes left behind on the ground either. In fact I don't like seeing any tree pruned in any way that leaves a protrusion, even if it is square cut. Trees in public areas especially. When you push past a tree you don't need to be gouged by a branch.

If I have cut a sapling near the ground, I might 'hammer' the spike with the back of my hatchet or with a big rock....even if I am a long way off the beaten path.
 
I've cut saplings before like this and I stomped the remaining spike so that it splintered and did not leave such a sharp point.
 
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