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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...
If you're working on a slope where nothing is perpendicular, determine the tree's lean by lining up its trunk with a set of keys dangling from a string. If the tree is near a power line, call the utility company even if you're sure the tree will fall the other way—better to wait while they send out an expert to fell the tree, than take the chance you'll drop it on the line. The direction of fall of a large, hollow tree can be especially difficult to determine, because you can't always tell how thick the sound wood is and at what point the tree might split and pivot.
When you're done looking up at your chosen tree, look down at the ground around its base. Move fallen branches lying where you plan to drop the tree, so they can't get hurled through the air when the tree comes smashing down. Move any branches you might trip over during your retreat as it falls. Check around the base of the tree and along your escape route for holes from burrows or rotted stumps, that might be covered over by leaves and other forest debris. Falling into such a hole can cause you to twist an ankle or break a leg, and in any case may slow your retreat from the falling tree.
When you're ready to cut into the tree, study the trunk for signs that someone might once have used the tree as a fence post or sign post. Hitting a piece of barbed wire, a staple, or a nail can ruin your chain or cause you serious bodily harm. If unusual marks or ripples on the trunk signal imbedded metal, cut higher or lower than the marks, or consider moving on to another tree.
Avoid heading into the woods alone. If for some reason you have to, leave word with a friend or family member exactly where you'll be and when you will be back.
Start your saw only when you're ready to cut, and switch it off as soon as you stop cutting. Never leave your saw running while you carry it from one place to another. Once you start the saw, keep a firm grip on it with both hands. Stand with your feet far enough apart for good balance, knees slightly bent. Get the teeth running at top speed before you begin to cut.
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