Cutting Up a Tree

Recently all the firewood I have cut has come from already fallen trees. I’m currently working in an area off the rocks road where trees were blown down late spring or early summer last year. In this case the wind was from the east, usually strong winds are from the west or north.

There are different categories of windfall for firewood. An easy tree is one on or near a road and where the ground is level. Less easy are trees which have fallen down slope so the trunk is higher than the top. Least easy to cut but easier to split than the down slope trees are those that fall along a slope. Generally splitting for those trees is on ground that can be almost level. Cutting up a tree has the challenge of keeping the bolts from rolling down the hill. A large, heavy bolt can roll quite far, sometimes too far.

The tree I’m working on fell along a slope. It’s not a steep slope, but steep enough. In this case I cut up the top and along the trunk to where the tree was supported by a small broken maple sapling.

To keep the log from rolling down the hill I used a chain wrapped around the log and a tree further up slope. I piled cut and broken branches from the fallen tree a short distance down the slope which would hopefully slow and catch an errant rolling bolt. I also used cut branches and splits from the top to wedge under the log at intervals so a wedge was there to support each cut bolt.

I had already marked the log for where the cuts would be made so sawing the log was relatively straight forward once it was no longer supported by the sapling. I cut a bolt from the uphill side until just a small section of bark was holding it to the trunk. I engaged the chain brake for the saw, put the saw down, and broke the bolt free and turned it on end or sideways so it wouldn’t roll. The brush caught two bolts that wanted to go downhill.

So the process was cut, put the saw down while the brake was on, break the bolt free, and go onto the next cut. Once everything was set up, cutting went quickly.

Toward the trunk of the tree after the bolts were cut. The broken sapling that kept the tree from rolling is in the foreground.

A photograph looking from the broken trunk of the tree toward the top in the distance. This photo gives an idea of the slope and shows the brush I placed downhill to catch rolling bolts. The light brownish area to the left is the sawdust and chips from the chainsaw cutting. All the bolts are a little downhill from where the tree originally lay.

The cut limbs from the top used as wedges are visible in this photo. The largest bolts are about 18 inches in diameter and are heavy.

January 23, 2023