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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >He creates his own standing dead wood.  There is a lot to be said for 
> that.  It is surely easier on the back, less weight to move and haul.
> 

Harder only on the saws.  Chainsaws and most manual saws were designed to cut 
green wood. There are special manual saws with teeth and rakers especially 
designed for dry wood.   We've only cut dead wood for so long that all our 
tools 
are for that purpose.  Yesterday we bucked up  a dry maple log maybe 14" in 
diameter.  It began to resist the bucksaws so we broke out one of the two-man 
saws (teenaged son and I) and the log resisted it as well.  We took a break 
to 
put the saw in the vice and after twenty minutes with the mill file, it 
sliced 
the log like hot butter.  It's the sharpness that does the work.

And oh, by the bye, Gene's suggestion to get logs out of the woods with 
cables and chains is a good plan .... second only to getting a horse to do it.


James