Reclaiming the High Wood: In a Pinch
Solving problems and getting unstuck
“Damn, damn, damn.” My refrain as I realize my saw is stuck.
My wife and I had brought our daughter to the High Wood to remove a fresh deadfall maple my neighbor and I spotted while surveying our sugarbush. It was large, multi-limbed and completing blocking the old logging road adjoining the High Wood with our neighbor’s sugarbush.
It had to go.
Luckily, I have a crack logging team with me. A true hotshot crew.
I began by delimbing the tree and noted there was a lot of downward pressure on the center of the tree because it was resting on either bank of the logging road, creating a top bind which is an extremely common problem in the High Wood. Knowing this, I decided to make a pie cut so I could continue to saw the tree downward rather than coming up from the bottom. It simply feels safer to me.
It didn’t work out however. There was a little side tension I didn’t account for and the pie cut pinched my saw. “Damn, damn, damn.”
Luckily, with a little knowledge this becomes an incredibly easy problem to solve. Look again at the tree in the first picture. See the large limb shooting up to the right corner of the photo? I had just dropped that beside the larger log and realized it would make a perfect fulcrum for a lever. I also had a long straight limb about 3” in diameter that I could use for said lever. With enough effort on the lever, I would be able to exert enough force to push the log up thereby opening my pinched pie.
This saved my saw and resolved the pinch in less than five minutes.
Sometimes all you need to solve a tricky problem is a basic understanding of physics and a strong maple branch.
OMG! I loved the little chain saw in the truck. What a good Dad.