Skills Every Guy Should Master - Axemanship

this grandfer is sick and today we're going to take it down using tools and techniques from a hundred years ago [Music] it's really important to consider where the tree is going to go not only just to keep it from hanging up in branches and causing you trouble but what's going to be easiest for you to work on what's the what's can be the easiest access if you're cutting it up for firewood in touch with the truck so for me I've determined we're gonna follow it down the hill right there in that clearing our first cut is gonna be what we call the face cut and that's going to be on the direction that the tree is going to fall we're going to use the saw at a 90 degree angle here and kind of go do that method use a method called gunning that we're going to get an idea you know line up the saw where that's going to be and many times are a lot of times guys will ask you know how come I cut my trees off so high and it's a they think it's our the worried that it's wasting wood and yeah it it does a little bit but I want to work at a company I want to be at a comfortable working height I don't want to work on my knees and I'm a tall guy so I'll work it pretty high I can come back later with a solid and cut it off to the ground but so I'm going to get just kind of gauge here what's going to be comfortable for me a comfortable working height for my cut I'm gonna make it just a little little notch with the saw and then we're going to remove the bark [Music] [Music] what I'm doing here is called girdling a tree and the reason I'm doing this is because the bark collects and carries a lot of debris blowing wind will fill the bark up with small pieces of sand and gravel and a little have a tendency to really dull my crosscut saw quickly you want to really look after your crosscut saws because there most people don't have the skill the ability to sharpen them you've got to send them out it's a tedious and expensive process so my taking 10 minutes or so and stripping the bark off we can really extend the life of our saws [Music] a good trick that'll help you get your sauce started is to use a good sturdy axe to help you as a guide to hold up the end not such a problem when you're working with a partner or when you're by yourself it gives you a little just a helping hand until you can get a curse started once you get your kerf established you can take your axe out don't use your best axes for this use one that has a handle you don't mind if it gets too chewed up a little bit because it will if you don't fit it properly now the curse will support the saw all on its own [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm gonna cut about a little over a third of the way through between a third and a half roughly now I'm gunning with my saw lining up ninety degrees off of this back of the blade and getting a pretty good idea where it's gonna fall didn't even gun right down off the edge here and see I want to keep it off the trail and just skim that little red fur my granddad told me the old Lumberjacks used to rest on the axe it was the crosscut saw that took the most strength and endurance and when they would get tired they would go pick up an axe to start chopping with an axe that was considered rest it's hard to imagine but this this small or medium sized axe the Scandinavian axe this is not too big of a job for it so now we have a we've got a nice undercut here this is our face cut and then they'll finish up with the back cut we're going to do a special cut so we can implement the jack but this makes a lot easier for us the problem with chopping down trees with an axe the upward swing is actually relatively easy we're coming from above and coming down the difficult swing is the swing this underneath and if you can make a nice cut with your crosscut saw in there and then just chip back to the cut it's a whole lot less work look what you can do in a couple minutes with a small or mid-sized axe is properly hung and properly sharpened wonderful wonderful tool alright so something to really be careful with right here this is life or death important where these two points come together right here where the saw stopped and the axe cut comes in there can be no overhang here none at all it's got to come together perfectly on both sides if it does not you'll get what you call a a little barber chair it'll be a little jack itself up and remove your holding wood your holding wood is the piece of wood right here if you just imagine it drawing a two inch by two inch square that is untouchable you do not touch it you do not touch it at all you leave it there if you're a beginner it's not even a bad idea to finish shaving the bark off and take a sharpie or a pencil or a crayon and draw that box right there draw that box on both sides when coming off the back cut you do not violate that check both sides make sure that we don't have that's what we call the Dutchman if I didn't mention it having that little bit of wood left and it's called the Dutchman and then finally we'll just clean out that corner go on a nice steep sharp angle there or a gradual angle so it doesn't hang up chop all that holding wood out hold that all that out of there we want to come all the way back to that socket there could be no question now before we go any further we're gonna gun that tree one more time if you have a good axe it's got a flat back on it you can lay it in there in the cut and sight down this and that axial point to right where your trees going to go you can do the same thing with your saw the back is going to be flat and the helper handle is going to come the true 90 degrees off of that will lay that back in the cut and we can sight down this and that's going to tell me exactly where that's gonna fall it's gonna skim right next to that red fir congratulations you made it through episode 2 probably gonna be two more before we reach the end so if you'd like to watch it in its entirety just wait till all four parts are out then you can watch it uninterrupted don't forget to Like subscribe and we always appreciate appreciate your comments thanks for watching and we'll see you guys on the next video

Channel: Wranglerstar

Views: 1,602,118

Keywords: family, family vlogs, vlogs, wilderness, how to, firefighter, homesteading, homestead, oregon, pacific northwest, off grid, do it yourself, diy, wranglerstar, modern homesteading, vlog, wildland firefighting, axemanship, gardening, camping, family vlogger, emergency, food, farm, garden, offgrid, chickens, funny, survival, prepping, organic, shtf, permaculture, canning, food storage, fermenting, bug out bag, prepper, itsjudyslife, daily, kids, family vloggers, daily vlogs, couples vlog, sustainable

Id: 2XOTejBfF2g

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 28 2016