Hand Tools and Techniques for Home Landscaping

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To fell smaller trees and cut up small logs near house or barn, you can't beat an electric chain saw for economy and convenience. You can spend several hundred dollars for a name-brand electric, but you're better off investing that kind of money in a good gas-powered limbing saw (see below).

From mail-order discount houses and many hardware stores, $35 to $50 will get you a 2 to 3 hp. electric saw with a 12" to 16" bar and a chain that moves at 1,800 ft. per minute. It will get the work done if you avoid seasoned oak, keep the chain sharp with frequent licks on the job with a round file, and give it a good sharpening each evening with a Dremel-type power tool.

Electric saws come in several well-known chain saw brand names, but are nearly identical, and from the greyish cardboard packaging they come in, it looks to me as though they come from the same Taiwan factory that makes lower-priced woodworking equipment for name brands in that field.

Get the largest diameter (12 gauge minimum) electric cable you can find and plug it into a circuit that serves no other high-draw appliances. Use the conventional chain saw safety equipment and practices detailed in the instructions that come with any chain saw. These little units lack the chain speeds and savage power of their gas-powered brethren, but they can still kick back and chew you up good if you let the tip get stuck in the cut. The cutting bar will be thrown up and back with such force and speed that it will beat your reaction time. So keep the chain sharp, arms well out in front and slightly to the side of you, and learn to follow those printed instructions.

My own favorite lightweight, everyday gas-powered chain saws are in the Echo line. Weighing just a tad over 7 pounds, a third the weight of a conventional felling saw, these little machines come with 12" to 16" bars and 1.8 or 2.4 cubic inch engines. They have all the power you need for limbing, light felling, and small-diameter cordwood sectioning. At around $250, they aren't cheap but are professional quality and so nicely balanced and convenient to use they've become the standard for arborists who have to wield them as they climb around in trees.

For occasional use, you can't beat the many brands of small, reconditioned, consumer grade chain saws sold by Harbor Freight. These are units made in Taiwan or Korea that have been returned by buyers, usually because of hard starting due to a faulty carburetor. They come with a full factory warrantee after the factory has rebuilt or replaced the malfunctioning parts. A recent Harbor Freight catalog listed a Homelite CS 3314 with a 1.8 cu. in. engine, a 14" bar, electronic ignition, anti-kickback chain, and bar tip for $99.99. Order as soon as you get a catalog, as quantities are always limited for bargains like that.

Lacking a team of horses, chains, grappling hooks, and skidding tongs, you'll need something to man-handle (or woman-handle) logs in the woods. Easiest is to limb and section them into manageable lengths on the spot. To rotate logs for cutting you'll need a cant hook or peavy. A cant, or Hitch, is a tree trunk that's off the stump and limbed just enough to be maneuverable. A cant hook is a giant malleable steel fishhook in traditional duckbill or crowfoot pattern that's hinged about a foot up a 3 to 4 ft. long, 2 1/4" thick fire-hardened hickory handle, with the open end facing inwards toward the pole. You poke the hook into the log, lodge the pole end into the bark, and pull or push away from the hook to rotate the log.

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