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John Hushagen earns $10,000 a year...and creates new forests at the same time!...
A simple program that will help keep your woods in good condition, and provide firewood and some lu...
A small woodlot has the potential to provide a homestead with firewood, lumber, sawdust, compost, p...
Maintaining wooded property, including timber management, making a plan, clear-cut, seed tree, shel...
When you get into the woodlot, park your vehicle well away from your work area, and watch where you drive. A small-diameter tree, cut at an angle, can puncture a tire like a dagger. So can cable screws. Wet, sloping ground can cause your truck to slide sideways into a tree or stump, seriously denting a bumper, fender, or running board. Driving up onto a stump can get your truck hung up, causing serious embarrassment or damage to the truck—possibly both.
Oh, and take care not to run over your saw. I felt pretty sheepish the time I ran over my brand new Stihl. When I took it back to the dealer for repair, he told me (a little too cheerfully, I thought) that he fixes at least one run-over saw a week. If you do manage to run over your saw, get an estimate on repairs and weigh the age of the saw and cost of repairs against the price of a new saw.
Back at the woodlot, count your tools as you remove them from your vehicle. When you're done at the end of the day, count them again to make sure you've got them all. You won't have trouble keeping track of your tools if you paint them blue—not red, yellow, or orange (colors that blend too nicely into autumn leaves) or green (which disappears in lush summer grass). Hunting for lost tools during the day is time consuming and frustrating, and a mislaid tool can trip you up at an awkward or dangerous moment.
When selecting a tree to fell, first look up and study its branches. Carefully consider any dead limbs still on the tree or that started to fall but got hung up in live branches. It doesn't take much vibration from your saw to shake a dead limb loose and cause it to come crashing down. For good reason, such branches are called "widowmakers." A tree with several widowmakers, or just one in a strategic place, is best left to an experienced logger.
Assuming the tree passes the widow-maker test, study the way it leans, which is the direction it will tend to drop. There are ways to trick a tree into falling in some other direction, but don't try them unless you have substantial experience.
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