I know many of the people on this board don't cut their firewood out in the woods, but there are a few who do, and we can use all the help we can get when it comes to safety and productivity.
I cut between 15 and 20 full cords every summer, mostly in one-hour sessions after work. I generally cut a tank of gas (1/2 cord) and haul a load of last summer's wood home. That's about 1/3 cord per trip. Over time, it starts to add up.
Anyway, I wear all the safety gear, including a logging helmet with face and ear protection, kevlar chaps and kevlar-lined steel-toed logging boots. I carry a couple of plastic felling wedges with me, but other than that and the saw, nothing else except a cell phone. I used to carry a small hatchet, which was useful for pounding in wedges and on occasion, chopping my saw out of a jam. But then I lost the hatchet. I replaced it with a claw hammer, which I also promptly lost (Woodlot: 2; Woodcutter: 0).
That's when I wised up. Now, when I think I'm going to need to wedge a tree over, I cut a small wooden club from a sapling or a branch before starting to make my backcut. It's easy to bang the wedge or wedges in with the club, and you can just abandon it when you're done. Make a new one next time you need it. So that eliminates one heavy tool that I have to carry around and keep track of.
You've probably had situations where you're cutting a branch or a stem under compression, and it pinches the tip of your bar so firmly that you can't get the saw loose, no matter how hard you pull or how much you cuss. This is really frustrating because it's usually a relatively small branch and it's pinching a very small part of your bar and chain, but there's no getting it loose.
Now, everybody should have an axe (at minimum) in the cab of their truck, and even better, a spare chain saw, for occasions such as this. I have both, but they're usually a couple hundred yards away, across a sea of slash. Unless absolutely necessary, I try to find a way to avoid making the trip. One way to do that is to use a cut round to bash the branch until it lets your saw go. This isn't as hard as it might sound. A big, green block has a lot of weight and momentum, and you can exert a significant shock load to a branch or other offending tree part, often enough to break it. You can also use this method to knock a hung tree off the stump, or break through a partially-cut tree stem that might be pinching your saw bar.
Both approaches may sound a bit crude, but they work, and can save you a lot of time and aggravation.
I cut between 15 and 20 full cords every summer, mostly in one-hour sessions after work. I generally cut a tank of gas (1/2 cord) and haul a load of last summer's wood home. That's about 1/3 cord per trip. Over time, it starts to add up.
Anyway, I wear all the safety gear, including a logging helmet with face and ear protection, kevlar chaps and kevlar-lined steel-toed logging boots. I carry a couple of plastic felling wedges with me, but other than that and the saw, nothing else except a cell phone. I used to carry a small hatchet, which was useful for pounding in wedges and on occasion, chopping my saw out of a jam. But then I lost the hatchet. I replaced it with a claw hammer, which I also promptly lost (Woodlot: 2; Woodcutter: 0).
That's when I wised up. Now, when I think I'm going to need to wedge a tree over, I cut a small wooden club from a sapling or a branch before starting to make my backcut. It's easy to bang the wedge or wedges in with the club, and you can just abandon it when you're done. Make a new one next time you need it. So that eliminates one heavy tool that I have to carry around and keep track of.
You've probably had situations where you're cutting a branch or a stem under compression, and it pinches the tip of your bar so firmly that you can't get the saw loose, no matter how hard you pull or how much you cuss. This is really frustrating because it's usually a relatively small branch and it's pinching a very small part of your bar and chain, but there's no getting it loose.
Now, everybody should have an axe (at minimum) in the cab of their truck, and even better, a spare chain saw, for occasions such as this. I have both, but they're usually a couple hundred yards away, across a sea of slash. Unless absolutely necessary, I try to find a way to avoid making the trip. One way to do that is to use a cut round to bash the branch until it lets your saw go. This isn't as hard as it might sound. A big, green block has a lot of weight and momentum, and you can exert a significant shock load to a branch or other offending tree part, often enough to break it. You can also use this method to knock a hung tree off the stump, or break through a partially-cut tree stem that might be pinching your saw bar.
Both approaches may sound a bit crude, but they work, and can save you a lot of time and aggravation.
!)
