12 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In many cases, however, the trees are merely trimmed or cut into 
sled lengths and hauled to the consumer to be sawed into stove 
lengths, or to central points in the woodlot or along a road to be 
cut up and piled for future hauling. It is possible that extension of 
this practice may in many instances considerably reduce the cost of 
producing wood fuel, both by reducing the amount of hand labor: 
required in cutting up the material, in centralizing the work of cut- 
ting it up, and in increasing the amount which can be hauled by re- 
ducing its weight through seasoning. | 
Skidding or hauling out to a roadway or central point should not 
cost over $1 per cord. 
SAWING AND SPLITTING. 
Stove wood is no longer “ bucked up” by hand with a bucksaw, 
except in isolated cases. Few men can saw more than from 14 to 2 
cords of 4-foot wood into 16-inch lengths in a day, while with power 
saws of from 6 to 10 horsepower a three-man crew can saw up from 
10 to 15 cords per day. 
For ordinary use a 24 or 26-inch circular saw, driven by a 6 to 12 
horsepower gasoline or kerosene engine, is used. The engine and 
saw frame are mounted on a truck so as to be readily moved from 
place to place. Long sticks can be cut up by such a saw as easily 
as 4-foot pieces, except that in case of larger wood one or more addi- 
tional men will be required to pass wood to the saw. At the present 
time complete sawing outfits cost from $200 to $500, depending on 
the horsepower and the size of the saw. Saw blades cost from $6 to 
$12, and saw frames from $30 to $40. 
Farmers who do not have this equipment and whose requirements 
will not warrant such an investment may hire such a saw and engine 
and exchange the necessary labor in its operation within the com- 
munity, as is frequently done in grain thrashing. Many have gaso- 
line or kerosene engines or tractors, and a small portable saw would 
therefore be a comparatively minor investment and would pay for 
itself in working up the average wood lot. It could be used every 
winter in cutting the yearly supply as well as a surplus which might 
be marketed. Good opportunities exist for operators of thrasher 
and silo-filling outfits to do custom sawing during the winter. 
For cutting large logs there are on the market several types of 
power-driven drag-saws, such as are in common use in lumber opera- 
tions in the Pacific Northwest. These machines, which are generally 
operated by a 4-horsepower gasoline engine, can be carried from 
log to log by two men, and cut logs up to 7 feet in diameter. It is 
claimed that they can cut from 10 to 30 cords of firewood (soft- 
woods) in 10 hours. 
