Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

AXEMANSHIP 191whacking out from the upper side one layer of chipsafter another. Soon he would be driving his axe inat too sharp an angle, and his work would growharder and harder as he got to cutting more andmore nearly straight across the grain (Fig. 37).Finally the inside of the notch would get so narrowthat he would wedge his axe fast. The right wayis shown in Fig. 38. Make a nick at a as guidethen another at h, a little higher above a than halfthe thickness of the tree. Chop alternately at thesenotches, and split out the block c with a downwardblow of the axe. Proceed in this way until thenotch is finished, making as big chips as you can.A green axeman is known by the finely minced chipsand haggled stump that he leaves.If the tree is of such wood as is easy to cut, makethe cut ae as nearly square across the butt as you can.To do this keep the hand that holds the hilt of theaxe-helve well down. But if the tree is hard andstubborn to fell, or if you are rustling firewoodin a hurry, it is easier to make this cut in a slantingdirection, so as not to chop squarely across thegrain, and then make the opposite one diagonallyacross it.Having finished this south kerf (which is twothirdsthe labor of felling the tree), now begin theopposite one, h, at a point three or four inches higherthan the other. By studying the diagram, and takinginto account the tree's great weight, you can seewhy this method will infallibly throw the tree whereyou want it, if it stands anywhere near perpendicular,and if there is not a contrary wind blowing.Comparatively few blows are needed here. Whenthe tree begins to crack, step to one side. Neverjump in a direction opposite that in which the treefalls. Many a man has been killed in that w^ay.Sometimes a falling tree, striking against one of itsneighbors, shoots backward from the stump likelightning. Look out, too, for shattered limbs.If a tree leans in the wrong direction for yourpurpose, insert a billet of wood in the kerf B. and