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Tricks of the Trade

Tricks of the Trade: Tractor Logging 201

One of my favorite things about writing for Northern Woodlands is that I get to meet so many folks who are incredibly passionate about forestry and equally “woods smart.” Al…

Tricks of the Trade: Tractor Logging 101

Small, maneuverable four-wheel-drive tractors create an opportunity for woodlot owners to do more of their own forest management work. Since these types of tractors are primarily designed for…

Tricks of the Trade: Greenwood Carving - The Five-Step Wooden Spoon

Before free time was subjugated to the mighty X-Box and “reality” TV, entertainment often took the form of functional crafting. Those looking for a break from digital overload…

Tricks of the Trade: Myths and Mistakes of Chainsaw Sharpening

Maintaining a sharp chainsaw chain not only makes for faster cutting, it also reduces wear and tear on the saw and the sawyer. Given those obvious benefits, it still surprises me to see people…

Woodlot Pruning: Hardwoods and Softwoods

I recently walked a woodlot with a landowner who had pruned his younger trees according to instructions that he found online. The problem was that those instructions didn’t differentiate…

Tricks of the Trade: Rope Firewood Carrier

Several years ago I was traveling through the mountains of central Mexico and was impressed with a simple rope firewood carrier that virtually every rural household used. Children had a…

Tricks of the Trade: Building a Better Sawbuck

Does your back hurt from bending over to buck firewood on the ground? Can you admit that occasionally you cut too far and run your newly filed chain into the dirt? Do you spend too long…

Tricks of the Trade: Wooden Felling Wedges

Not to endorse stereotypes too much, but I’m a card-carrying cheap Scot. As I walk through the local farm and forestry supply store, my mind instantly wanders to question, “how…

Tricks of the Trade: Building With Cordwood

The first time I saw cordwood construction was in high school when I shadowed a consulting forester for career day. His home office was made of cordwood and provided me with my first forestry…

Tricks of the Trade: Tools and Techniques for Splitting Firewood

I was recently in a big-box farm-supply store and saw a large sign that read, “Wood Chopping Headquarters.” What they meant, of course, was not chopping, but splitting.…

Tricks of the Trade: Make Your Own Choker Chain

Owning just a single choker chain is a lot like having one Crescent wrench in your toolbox. Sure, you can get the job done, but it would be a lot more efficient (and enjoyable) if you had a…

Woodpile Wisdom: How It All Stacks Up

In 2013, The New York Times ran a story exposing a Scandinavian controversy that has divided Norwegians (and New Englanders) for eons. The question centered around the proper way to stack…

Tricks of the Trade: The D-Log

In college, I spent a summer building hand-hewn Adirondack lean-tos. The work required both precision and persuasion. We’d chisel perfect saddle notches, which often meant rolling the…

Tricks of the Trade: Living Fenceposts

Fenceposts have always baffled me. Why would anyone take a perfectly good tree, cut it down, dig a hole to set it in, and then spend the next 20 years watching it decay? In my early days of…

Tricks of the Trade: Small-Scale Charcoal Production

After bucking this year’s firewood, I found myself with a collection of odd-shaped ends and crotches, perfect for charcoal-making. Charcoal is essentially wood that’s been…

Tricks of the Trade: The Perfect Splitting Block

Wood-splitting is a rural pastime rooted in tradition and experience – experience that’s often measured in broken axe handles and creative curses directed at knotty chunks of…

Tricks of the Trade: Peavey Proficiency

In the last installment of Tricks of the Trade, we examined the venerable peavey, and offered several modifications to make an already invaluable tool even handier. Now it’s time to head…

Tricks of the Trade: Building a Better Peavey

While the mighty axe rightly receives credit for felling most of the timber of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was the peavey that took the work out of moving these logs, on both…

Coppicing for Firewood

Of all the silvicultural techniques available to forest owners, perhaps no method is more underused than coppicing. Coppicing is a reproduction method where a tree is cut back periodically to…

Big Tree, Small Bar

Is longer better when it comes to chainsaw bars? Personally, I like a shorter bar. It allows me to use a saw with a smaller engine, which reduces overall strain on my back and muscles. Plus,…