30/30″

I didn’t mean for it to become “A Thing.” We need firewood for the winter, and we’ve had a large standing dead tree above the cabin for some time. I wanted to cut it down, and didn’t want to wait for help.

So, I felled a 30″ diameter spruce tree with my 30″ bow saw.

Since the tree’s diameter exceeded my saw’s size, common sense dictated that I cut down the tree with one of our two-person saws. I quickly realized that, while I can use these saws alone to buck up felled trees, it really does take two people to make a horizontal cut in a standing tree. That meant waiting for Michelle or Aly to have a day off, and, ideally, decent weather for the project. Short of either of those two, I got started with my usual wood cutting tool, taking on a tree whose diameter matches my blade length. 30/30″.

Actually, it’s a bit worse than 30/30. The 30″ blade offers only 29″ of teeth. The extra inch allows for mounting.

Felled Tree

A man, his saw, and his firewood (Photo: Michelle L. Zeiger).

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of adventures with these saws (see, for example, A Little Excitement in the Wood Lot). I’ve gotten pretty good at working through larger logs a wedge at a time. I attacked this tree the same way. To avoid blade binding, I often cut most of a wedge, removed the blade from the cut, and knocked the waste wood out using a mallet and wood chisel. This not only made the job go faster, it provided many buckets of shower wood for the hot water heater.

I gnawed away for days on this project. I made good felling cuts early on, but one again, nature reminded me that trees grow to stay vertical; it takes considerable effort for a puny human, particularly one working with hand tools, to change that. Despite my efforts, the tree remained upright even after my wedge cuts had merged into a classic hinge cut. The 35+ knot (40+ m.p.h.) gales that blew through didn’t even make it sway! Years ago, the top broke off this tree; the taller trees around it broke the force of the wind from all angles.

Then, one afternoon, I chipped away a bit more on it. Michelle was home that day, and we could have used the big saw, but by then, it had become what we call a “stone boat” project (see The Stone Boat and Other Irrational Behavior)—I’d begun to hope that I’d complete the fell with my bow saw.

Felled tree

A moment of confidence before confronting the hang up. Note the budding Henry II face foliage (Photo: Michelle L. Zeiger).

That day, I also had an ax on hand. After filling another bucket of shower wood with chips, I wanted to move on to another project. Even so, I took one last swing at the forward cut.

I felt and heard the pop of the final cut—then turned and ran for cover.

The tree fell with a satisfying sound and fury. True, it hung up in the surrounding trees, which had proved more resilient than I’d expected, but the tree no longer stood precariously balanced on my wedge cuts. The scary part had ended; the real work has yet to come.

I have yet to figure out precisely how to bring the tree the rest of the way to the ground, but I have some ideas. I’ve got a long way to go, but I know I’ll get there. Hopefully, I’ll get to use the two-person saw more from here on out . . . .

Incidentally, today is Alaska Day!

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