Felling using axes - big no no or not?

[Mike Hill]

mike, have you vever worked with guys that used xcut & axes ,they would tell you differant

 

I would like to see someone Bore Cut with a Two man saw........

 

I've Logged Timber that was passed up 100 years prior because there was no way to Fell and Recover the Timber at the time.Those guys knew the limits of their gear and ability.

[Johny Walker]

I would like to see someone Bore Cut with a Two man saw........

 

I've Logged Timber that was passed up 100 years prior because there was no way to Fell and Recover the Timber at the time.Those guys knew the limits of their gear and ability.

 

they would send a guy up the dodgey tree with a axe to knock of any limbs that would hinder a straite fell

[AndyGG]

the axe was the bread and butter of the industry 100 years ago. it started it all. when the saws break down or all the fuel runs out, we know what wil be used again.

[Quickthorn]

just wondering wer you got your copy from ,anybody else got it/read it

 

Someone was selling copies on ebay and put a post up on here a few years ago. I can't find it now. The nearest I've got is this site. It's an aussie site, I think, and that post's a year old, but there's an email address at the very end.

[Johny Walker]

Someone was selling copies on ebay and put a post up on here a few years ago. I can't find it now. The nearest I've got is this site. It's an aussie site, I think, and that post's a year old, but there's an email address at the very end.

 

it was my late father who wrote the book ,still got some off his old ellwels in the containers ,

[Quickthorn]

it was my late father who wrote the book ,still got some off his old ellwels in the containers ,

 

It's worth reading - is it still in print? Might make a good present for someone who hasn't read it, what with Christmas coming up

 

One thing that interested me: I've seen a few books that go through traditional ways of doing things, and they describe all the tools, but the axes always have a straight handle. I'd never seen felling axes with a curved handle until I saw some of the pictures in your father's book.

[Johny Walker]

It's worth reading - is it still in print? Might make a good present for someone who hasn't read it, what with Christmas coming up

 

One thing that interested me: I've seen a few books that go through traditional ways of doing things, and they describe all the tools, but the axes always have a straight handle. I'd never seen felling axes with a curved handle until I saw some of the pictures in your father's book.

 

i think my sisters still got a few............hundred left

[blazer]

Just wondered what we will use to cut trees down once the oil reserves are depleted. Will we revert to axe and crosscut or has someone designed a solar or nuclear powered chainsaw that I haven't heard about. Sometimes the old ways of doing things shouldn't be discarded....... just in case.

 

It wasn't just the tools that used less fuel but one man I knew used to go out up to 20 miles on a small 98cc motor bike with his mate on the back carring an axe & crosscut saw. True on a large tree it could take a few days to set up & fell.

 

I have a 5ft cross cut in good condition, which I have used to fell along with an axe, also a collection of (rusty) saws including an 8 ft cross cut and a 8 ft pit saw.

 

Yep in NZ I have heard stories of 'mega' cross cut saws used in the mountains of NZ. Correct me if I'm wrong, the method of bringing down the trees was to build a dam on a stream, stack the logs up - then collape the dam to flush the logs to the river below.

 

As I posted earlier, I learnt the techniques from the old boys that used the techniques but there was a difference to what they told me. They never let out there often 'secret' techniques in there working life as it mean they were less competive, but at 80 they told me and often gave me there old axes as they wanted them to go to somebody that would use them. That was about 15 yrs ago - so they have all gone now.

 

One old army sgt told me how when going across Germany, if they had a river to cross, they had a unit of Canadian lumberjacks. They would walk along the bank to select a crossing place and fell the largest conifer trees (with chippings the size of plates) across the river pull them together = instant transport bridge.

 

I found it safe to fell with axes as you are more fussy with the hinge.

 

Also coal miners used axes, it was more pick, shovel & hatchet - as one old Welsh miner told me," you would be more upset if somebody chipped your hatchet than if you found out they had slept with your wife"

 

On axes there is also the 'adze', still an efficent tool, I have seen films of them in use on the wooden deck of US 'kent' class aircraft carrier.

[Taupotreeman]

The first pioneers felled most of the big Kauris in NZ with axe and cross cut and yes, the dams were used to send the logs from the high points down to collection points at more managable sites. The terrain and bush in NZ is pretty rugged. There are still some of the dams up in the Waitakere ranges west of Auckland, or at least there were, and there are a couple of old pubs around, the main one being at Puhoi, which is full of old saws and pictures of the original pioneers that cleared the forest. They managed to get down massive Kauri so I can't see any of todays trees being a problem in the slightest. I also worked with an old fella, Kieth Wadkin, who had some choice old photos of him doing tree work with axe and cross cut. The boys in those days new a bit about hard labour I'd say. Still haven't found that nuclear powered chainsaw yet so what do people plan to use in the future?

[Andy Collins]

i think my sisters still got a few............hundred left

 

Why not sell them off through this site.... captive and interested audience:thumbup1: