Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

192 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTdrive a wedge or two above it in the direction of thekerf. A tree weighing many tons can be forcedto fall in any desired direction by the proper use ofwedges; and a good axeman, in open woods, canthrow a tree with such accuracy as to drive a stakepreviously stuck in the ground at an agreed position.He can even do this when a considerable wind isblowing, by watching the sway of the tree and strikinghis final blow at the right moment.Logging Up.—When the tree is down, trim offthe branches for firewood, if the stuff is good forright.wrongJ^w^J^^^^^^^^^^^^P^t^^^9»^^xr.Fig. 39.—Logging Upfuel (on the fuel values of trees see Vol. L, pp.236-239). Then log up the trunk. When a novicetries to cut a log in two he stands in front of itand chops on the farther side until he has most ofit and a good part of the top hacked out. Thenhe realizes that he is "up against it," for he cannotturn the tree over to get at the under side. Theaxeman must stand on the prostrate trunk, with hislegs well apart, and cut down between his feet.This, to a beginner, looks like a risky performance;yet I have seen* one of my woodland neighbors, whoprofesses to be "only a triflin' hand with an axe,"stand on a slender tree-trunk that was balancedabout ten feet over a gulch, whack away between hisfeet, with the trunk swaying several inches at everystroke, nor did he step over on the main trunk untiltwo or three light "draw cuts" sufficed to cut theend log free. But such a performance is tamecompared with the feats of axemanship that regularchoppers and river drivers do every day as a merematter of course.Make the outside chip not less in length than the