216 FELLING AND CONVERSION OF TIMBER. 



axe combined, with the help of wedges, is the best of all 

 methods, for in no other way can the tree be thrown in any 

 desired direction so accurately, or is it less liable to splinter 

 in falling. 



Where the saw alone is used, several wedges may indeed be 

 introduced, but the tree rests on one point of the circumference 

 of the cut, and during the fall it frequently turns on its stump 

 in a way which cannot be prevented by the use of wedges. If, 

 however, a small notch is cut on the side of the fall, and the 

 saw- cut opposite to this is opened-out by wedges, the stem 

 when ready to fall rests, as shown in Fig. 143, not on a point, 

 but 011 a straight line perpendicular to the direction of the fall, 

 and any turning of the stem on its stump is an extremely rare 

 event. A very simple and safe method has been long in prac- 

 tice in the Schwarzwald, as shown in Fig. 144 ; the pole ab, 

 fitting into a notch in the stem at a, is lifted by two men by 

 the horizontal lever mb, and is thus forced into the required 

 direction. This is a simple form of Wohmann's apparatus. 



The greatest waste of wood is involved when the axe alone 

 is used for felling, and this not only because a considerable 

 portion of the base of the tree is hewn into chips, which in 

 mature trees may be 4 to 7 per cent., and in poles 2 to 2j 

 per cent., of the volume of the bole ; but also because the end 

 of the log remains pointed, and it cannot be used in its full 

 length. Where the saw alone is used, there is least waste 

 (about J per cent.), but even where both saw and axe are 

 used the waste is small (1 to 1J per cent.). There are, how- 

 ever, localities where working with the saw involves a greater 

 loss than when the axe alone is used, and that is in steep 

 rocky places where one is obliged to leave a high stump in 

 order to work the saw at all. 



The loss of bark in conversion is 4 per cent, of the prepared 

 bole, for the beech and other smooth-barked trees ; 7 per cent, 

 for oaks and coarse-barked broadleaved species; 8 11 per cent, 

 for the Scotch pine, spruce, and silver-fir ; 15 18 per cent, for 

 the larch and black pine. 



As regards facility in working, this depends on the practice 

 and skill of the woodcutters. We should compare only the 

 labour of men equally skilled with saw and axe, and in 



