THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 281 



the other should grasp the helve eight or ten inches from the 

 axe ; bring the axe right up before the face, and thrust it up into 

 the air as high as he can reach easily, letting the hand that held 

 the middle of the helve slip down against the other hand as the 

 axe rises. Now, the eye of the chopper should be fixed on the 

 spot where he wishes to strike. Now strike straightly, and 

 always look to the place where the axe cuts, looking between the 

 arms, and not on one .side of the arms. Let the arms be as 

 limber and elastic as a leathern strap, but keep the hand that 

 holds the hilt of the helve firmly grasped, so as to keep the axe 

 in just such a position as it is in when it comes down. 



379. Some choppers, in lifting their axe, give it a side swing, 

 bringing it round near one shoulder ; and some thrust it out for 

 ward of them, and raise it up .before them, with arms as stiff as a 

 stake, to an angle of about forty-five degrees, before striking. But 

 such are very awkward, feminine and inefficient ways of hand 

 ling an axe. 



Another consideration of great importance in chopping is, 



THE SHAPE OF THE KERF, OR CHIP. 



380. Fig. 130 represents a log cut off with an axe. At A the 



kerf, or chip, is shaped badly, 

 and at B it has a good shape. 

 The RULE, among good chop 

 pers, for the length of the out 

 side chip, usually is, not less in 

 length than the diameter of the 

 log. Then, as we chip deeper 

 into the log, the cut should be more, square across it, so that the 

 ends that have been cut off will be circular, as at B. If a log be 

 two feet in diameter, commence a chip, to take a log half off, 

 two feet long. The tyro may then trace the shape of the kerf, 

 with his axe, on the bark, until he can form a good kerf ly the 

 eye. In cleaving the outside chips, let three or four inches of the. 

 ends be cut off square, and it will be seen that a stroke of the 

 axe will start a chip the end of which is square, vfh en severa} 



