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can you do it without a chainsaw


Paul in France
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This is probably a heretical post for some on this forum but I'll risk it anyway cos you folks are so friendly.

I've been here living in my new old place in the south of France for over a month.

I've been felling fairly small trees (french oak) up to a max of about 8" diameter with a bow saw and hauling them out of the wood by hand.

This is mainly because I don't have any machinery to do it, but also from previous advice on this forum I haven'y wanted to commit myself to a lot of expenditure on machinery if it's not going to pay for itself. For example to buy a decent mini tractor I'd have to pay about 5k and that would buy me a lot of firewood here without me having to do the work.

I think I've been doing pretty well so far.

So here's my question do you think it's sustainable for me to produce enough logs using only hand tools?

Apart from the expense of buying in machinery there's the safety aspect that people have kindly brought high up on my agenda, and also it's nice and quiet without using chain saws.

All views will be received with interest particularly from anyone who has managed to do it - or who has tried to do it albeit unsuccessfully

Cheers guys - hope you don't think I'm crazy

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Anything is possible - just depends how much hard work you are willing to put in.

 

What did people do befor chainsaws/mechanical splitters?

Try it manually for a while - if you get too knackd buy something to ease the work.

Start at the less expensive end (hand trolley, chainsaw) and spend what is necessarry

 

Someone on here has a signature along the lines of

'A man who cuts his own firewood gets warm twice' - Good luck

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I did my personal fire wood for years with a bow saw. But also burnt coal. Now moving over to wood entirely, you just won't get the volume done unless you spend forever on it.

Might be easier with smaller diameter stuff though. I enjoyed by hand and it kept me fit but if you need several tons then a small chainsaw seems a no brainer.

Might be different somewhere that wasn't -2C and snowing outside!!

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You don't say how old you are. I cut and log my own firewood. Cutting small diameter trees is fine with Silky or Cutting Edge handsaws as long as you replace the blades as soon they start to show any sign of blunting. Use the blunter blades for trimming off side branches where you require less physical effort.

 

Your problem is with logging up. You will have to spend endless hours saws up your logs,thereby putting stress on your saw arm and shoulder joints. The inevitable result will be crippling arthritis. Get the best quality 45-50 cc chainsaw that you can afford: to make logging-up as quick and easy as possible. I build a "stack" of logs, secured with a ratchet tie, and saw them up in no time.

 

Felling smaller diameter trees will also mean that you won't need to do as much splitting as with large diameter trees. This is good as using a manual log-splitter or an axe will also put extra strain on your joints. The downside with using partly split, roundwood is that it will take longer to season and will produce more ash.

 

I try to manage(coppice) my woodland to produce an optimum mix of logs, sticks(1"-2") and fine kindling(<1") that will provide the most heat with the least effort and expense.

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If its not broken don't fix it. Reads like your only producing enough wood for yourself anyway?. Many firewood producers on this site are cranking out hundreds of cords every year with all the gear they need. Unless you discover one day that your body has given up on you,which it will I would just pace myself and enjoy while you can. Stay warm.

easy-lift guy

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