148 FORESTRY WORK 



but with stiffer ones a specially made key should be used 

 for setting, and a gauge used for correcting the set. 



It is a mistake to bend just the top of the teeth over; 

 the whole tooth should be slightly pulled out of line with 

 the saw blade. 



A badly set and sharpened saw means hard and also 

 bad work. 



For lopping trees a light axe or a heavy two-handed 

 bill-hook is used on light boughs, and a cross-cut saw 

 for severing the larger ones. 



All limbs must be cut off as close to the stem as possible, 

 to make dragging and work on the saw bench easier. 

 The trees should be cross-cut into the lengths required 

 by the timber merchant or for estate purposes. The 

 wedges are for driving into the saw-cut, behind the saw, 

 to keep the weight of the tree off it, and help to throw 

 the tree in the direction required. A grooved wedge 

 will grip much better than a smooth one, and a little 

 sand placed on the wedge will often make it grip better. 



The first work to do when felling with axe and saw is 

 to " lay in " the tree i.e., to cut off as much as possible 

 of the roots of the tree that are above ground, and to 

 trim up the butt in line with the bole. With some 

 conifers there is very little of this to do, although it is 

 always wise to cut off the bark, as it " sucks " the saw. 

 Hardwoods, however, often have very large " spurs " 

 coming out of their butts. After the tree is ** laid in " all 

 round, a face must be made at the bottom of the butt, as 

 close to the ground as possible and in the direction in 

 which the tree is to fall. A " face " is a V-shaped cleft, 



