FELLING AND LOG-MAKING 93 



the waste of timber which would occur if the usual method were 

 followed. 



The notch should be placed about 4 inches below the point 

 at which the felling cut is started on the opposite side. Its 

 height above ground is determined entirely by the policy of the 

 logger regarding stump heights. Notches are generally cut with 

 the ax, but the horizontal cut may be made by a saw and the 

 notch completed with an ax. 



On small- and medium-sized timber the notch can readily be 

 cut by a workman standing on the ground. On account of root 

 swellings and defective and pitchy butts of the large Pacific 

 Coast timber, it is the practice to cut the trees at a height of 

 several feet above the ground. A form of scaffold must be pro- 

 vided for notching and felling large timber and for this purpose 

 spring boards are generally used. In redwood logging where 

 trees of very large size are cut the spring board may be replaced 

 by a scaffold supported either on spring boards or timbers. 



FELLING 



With the Ax. — The ax was used almost exclusively as a felling 

 tool during the early period of logging in the United States and 

 is still used extensively for small trees. In felling with an ax, 

 the operation begins by cutting a wedge-shaped notch opposite 

 and slightly higher than the undercut. This cut is continued 

 towards the center of the bole until the tree falls. Wedges can- 

 not be used in felling with the ax, therefore, it is more difficult to 

 throw a tree in any direction except that in which it leans. It is 

 estimated that from 10 to 20 board feet per tree of spruce is lost 

 when the ax is used exclusively for felling and log-making. 



With the Ax and Saw. — This method is now almost univer- 

 sally used for medium and large timber because a loss of both 

 time and wood occurs in using the ax alone. The use of a cross- 

 cut saw increases by about 10 per cent the number of trees a 

 given saw crew can fell in a day. 



The saw-cut is started on a level with or slightly above and 

 opposite the undercut. When the saw has buried itself, wooden 

 or iron wedges are driven in behind it to prevent binding. As 



