lumberjack poetry

Ryan tripped his first tree yesterday.

We wanted to make shakes for the roof of the pooper. So he picked a sweet spot to build the pooper and picked a tamarack (really a western larch - but folks around here call them tamarack anyway). It was leaning in the opposite direction of where we wanted it to fall.

Good wedge cut. Good back cut. When the cracking sounds started, he pulled the saw and stepped to the safety area.

It stood there.

I thought the cuts were all just right (good job Ryan!) but the tree was leaning the wrong way. At the same time, the hinge seemed thick enough that the tree was not going to fall the wrong way.

There seemed to be no wind. But if you watch carefully, there was sign of some slight breezes. Mostly trying to blow the tree to fall the wrong way.

We decided to wait for a puff of wind that was going in the good direction.

We waited the better part of ten minutes for that breeze. And the tree fell in the perfect spot.

It just seemed to be a pretty awesome moment. Using the power of patience to drop a tree in the right spot.

Reminds me of a paragraph in "Shelters, Shacks and Shanties"

There was a chestnut tree standing close to my log house and leaning towards the building. Under ordinary circumstances felling this tree would cause it to strike the house with all the weight of its trunk and branches. When I told Siley Rosencranz I wanted that tree cut down he sighted up the tree, took a long chew of tobacco, and walked away. For several days he went through the same performance, until at last one day he brought out his trusty axe and made chips fly. Soon the tree was lying prone on the ground pointing away from the house. What this old backwoodsman did was to way until a strong wind had sprung up, blowing in the direction that he wanted the tree to fall, and his skillful chopping, with the aid of the wind placed the tree exactly where he wished it.

- D.C. Beard

The power of waiting and observation!

1) Observe
2) Work out a strategy
3) Pick your moment
4) Do a good job
.
.
.
5) Don't mess with it.
6) Observe
.

6) Now you can mess with it!