Snow!

The Lumberjack Bill Show: Balancing Act

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The following program shows dangerous stunts performed by a professional, Lumberjack Bill. Parental guidance and caution is strongly advised with respect to all content presented herein. Lumberjack Bill (Bill Pocock) discourages anyone to use a chainsaw axe, hatchet, hand saw, any power tool, ATV, chisel, knife, and the like) unless licensed to operate, and encourages spectators to stand at a safe distance from all lumberjack activity].

It's The Lumberjack Bill Show!!!

Hi, I'm Lumberjack Bill.

On today's segment, I'm gonna show you what to do with a hung up tree. That is until things go horribly, horribly right.

Here's the pictures...

Here you can see how the cut tree got stuck like.
So, first thing I do is get the cut end on the ground by
undercutting the contact points. And with a kick or two
the cut end is on the ground. Hmm....


I start to 'walk' the hung up tree toward the hang.
I start with cutting into the trunk about waist
height from the top until the cut starts to pinch the bar.


Then I match the cut line from underneath.
After the two cut ends pinch together,
I often have to kick them apart. Maybe it would
be safer for me to throw a log at it from a safe distance....


Now normally, I will progressively cut four foot sections
off the bottom of the tree until the butt end walks vertical,
then I direct it down with a push. Unpredictable stuff.
The remaining tree can fall almost anywhere.
Dead limbs often fall on anyone underneath at this stage.


And sometimes the tree goes perfectly horizontal
and just stays there. I call it 'Balancing Act' and like
how the branches drape over the trail.

The 'Lumberjack Bill' Song

The 'Lumberjack Bill' Song

I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care.
I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care.
I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care...
All I know is now.

All I know is now.

All I know is now.

Better be ready,
My time will come.
Better be ready,
My time will come.
Better be ready,
My time will come...
Then I'll be no more.

Then I'll be no more.

Then I'll be no more.

I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care.
I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care.
I'm Lumberjack Bill,
and I don't care...

All I know is now.

- Bill Pocock, 2009

Droppin' Sugar

I'll show you the nice, non-scary still photos of a sugar maple tree I felled along a trail yesterday.

The semi-scary time was between cutting out the front wedge and the actual falling of the tree. When I did the back cut, the tree fell to about a 30 degree angle from vertical, caught up on branches from two adjacent trees.

I had to go all 'Lumberjack Bill' on the mostly cut 16" diameter stump. I finished the cut and gave the trunk a few good kicks and away it went. It can get dangerous when a cut tree gets hung up because it can suddenly shift and fall unpredictably, kids. You can be standing there, just watching it, and it comes down without time for you to move out of the way if you're too close. From moment to moment, alone in the woods, I don't know what's going to happen next.

I survive The Game of Death. This time.

There's so many dangerous elements to dropping trees in dense woods. Maybe I'll have a Lumberjack Bill series of posts now and then to describe the many dangers.

Why, just the other day, right after dropping a tree, a 2 inch branch fell 50 feet straight down and slammed into my face. Lucky I had my face visor down. If it was a 3 inch branch I'd have a broken nose and be spitting teeth. If it was a 4 inch branch....

Spalted Maple Stump

While I'm on the deeply fascinating subject of interesting log ends...

Take a look at this sugar maple tree stump end.

Partially spalted maple stump.

You'll notice perhaps 40% of the left side of the stump has decayed due to fungal rot. This is called 'spalted' wood. If left to active fungus, the wood would eventually become 'punky', too soft for furniture treatment with preserving oils and not enough BTUs for burning.

Looking at the stump end I know the one or two log sections cut from this tree for slab milling will produce entrancing decoration over the surface of the wood. That day of milling will be a happy day. People who know and love furnishings reserve a special place in their hearts for materials like this.

Enough of my boring wood talk!

Cut Silver Birch

This silver (or yellow) birch had to be cut down.

Such a nice bark. I should have taken a close up photo.
Maybe tomorrow.

And the log end grain patterns are beautiful to my eye.

These would make great tree decor in a contemporary living environment. I could see either adjustable feet or locking casters on the base with a furniture grade sand and oil finish for the top end. The pattern ends of some trees are just amazing. This is one of them. They remind me of cosmic nebula.

No Crime Scene

My previous post of a possible chopped-up-body-parts-in-a-buried-garbage-bag thingy, um wasn't the case in fact.

Steve and Sandy stopped by for an evening stroll in the woods yesterday. I tried, unsuccessfully, to spook Sandy a little with scary tales of mysterious buried garbage bags in forest clearings. "I want to see it", I believe was her reply.

So we hiked there and after some searching found the dreaded spot. I think Sandy may have actually pushed me aside, sweeping clear leaves around the bag with boots.

Sandy investigates the Crime Scene.

And so it was only the remains of a garbage bag after all. I knew, I'm sure, that I thought it was all probably nothing. Er, thanks, Sandy. Nothing to see here, folks. Keep moving. Did I mention Sandy doesn't like mice?

Chainsaw Chaps

It's a good idea to wear some leg protection when using the chainsaw.

Boy, howdy, look at that new tear in the chaps above my foot. I didn't even notice when it hit.

Droppin' Wood

Close-up of moss on a granite boulder.

'Twas another day of felling fuelwood trees marked for death.

How do I decide which tree's 'gottago'? I look up in the canopy to see which trees have a healthy, dominant crown of branches - they stay. They'll improve with room to grow more leaves and have less ground competition for vital nutrients and moisture.

Taking out overtopped trees helps prevent mass tree deaths due to insufficient ground water in dry years. Deerwood has lost many otherwise healthy trees in years past because there are more trees in the woodlot than annual rain falls often support.

The result, hopefully, is fewer, healthier trees which are able to survive dry years, grow into open spaces, and seed future generations.

So please, understand why I cut down trees!

Sap's flowing inside this soon to be ex-sugar maple.

Notice the pool of maple sap collecting on
the stump five minutes after the cut. Sap flows when
it's above freezing during the day and below freezing at night.

Fuelwood Season

Makin' fuelwood.

Did a bunch of things today, back from a week in the city.

With all the trails cut and cleared for end of season, it's time to cut fuelwood timber and pile it along trails for winter sled pick-up.

Some photos of the day...

Two yearlings grazed past me while throwing

slash off the trail. The doe passed nearby.

Puddle Jumping

Pulaski Axe and Co.

After a very rainy night, I spent the day doing long overdue sustainable irrigation of some woodland seeps.

Every year wind-thrown trees and fallen leaves choke up the flow of water pooling. And then there's...The Beaver Clan.

Leave the standing trees to drown? Not on my watch, babe.

Oh, and if Beaver Clan play their games, I can play mine.

Sketches of clan members from Fort Beaver.
Note small drawing of huge Fort Beaver in the
background as clan members guard the frontier.

Mondo Pine

Believe me, this is a big pine tree. Could get my

arms only halfway around the bottom branch.

Squirrel Perch

Clearing brush today, I saw a red squirrel perched on a regal balcony formed by the precarious splintered end of a fallen hemlock.

Can you see the squirrel up there?



Chewing on something.



Then I'm spotted...

And the squirrel books.

Crime Scene?

There's a woodland clearing in Deerwood I intend to use for a slash [wood litter] bonfire on December 21st as a Winter Solstice celebration called, 'Sunburn'.

Yesterday I stopped the ATV with a haul of slash at the clearing and noticed something odd uncovered by the ATV tracks.

I've taken a series of photographs from wide angle to close up, establishing the position of my find...







Closer, you can see the top knot of a garbage bag buried in the ground. Now I wonder what to do next. Do I touch it? How long do plastic garbage bags take to break down? The ground looks undisturbed and seems naturally compacted.

Aside from an old fire pit and some broken booze bottles nearby, there's no reason why someone would bury anything on this spot. Ma Pocock thinks a neighbour's son may have burned and drank there a decade or so ago.

Why does the idea of this being a crime scene and severed body parts inside the garbage bag spring to mind? Too much crime TV I bet. If I call the cops - what do I say - "Gee, Constable, I found a garbage bag in the woods." Do I dig it up and see what's inside on my own?

Then there's another thing. Just a feeling - a feeling I don't recall having before. There's something different about this forest clearing. A strange sense about this place.

Any advice?

The Way of the Chainsaw

See Crazy Bastard dispatch invisible bears over at Bill Pocock with his Kung Fu Chainsaw Form (1).

'The Chainsaw Sharpener'

I sharpened the chainsaw today, but didn't flip or file the bar.

'The Chainsaw Sharpener' (BP091114-180561) Bill Pocock, 2009

Deer Here

Yesterday was another mild, sunny day. A real treat.

I went to the FMO and went inside to have lunch. I turned to close the door behind me and there was a male yearling deer standing, looking at me about fourty feet away. Didn't even see him.

I hailed the buddy with my usual, "Hey, how's it goin', deer?"

Then I noticed there were a female yearling and the doe about sixty feet away. So, I sat down and ate a sandwich inside the open FMO door, and watched the deer as they grazed. The male looked up out of curiosity if I moved..

And that's how I spent the half hour.

I can't wait to hitch them up to a sleigh!

'Blow Up'

'Blow Up' (BP091112-192861) Bill Pocock, 2009

Now and then I like to do some retro art movie photography.

Normally, I'd post this sort of thing on my Bill Pocock art blog. But I thought I'd toss it here as it shows the forest area I was working in today.

'Here's Billy!'

Set up a printer for Ma tonight.

It works.

FMO Woodstove

Just to prove They Call Me Crazy Bastard isn't all about destruction, I want to show you the FMO woodstove.

Look. See? That's where I burn things to keep warm.

The nice little wood stove with the stack of drying logs, and mill saw heat shield.

And...the water kettle I destroyed in the previous post.

Whoops! There Goes Another Kettle....

A former and current leaky kettle.

I noticed the kettle Ma Pocock lent me for the FMO had a leak along bottom seam.

Water had soaked the top of the wood stove and started a thin layer of RUST!

So, looks like I'm gonna have to get me a new kettle.

.........................................

Welcome from Mossonwood to 'They Call Me Crazy Bastard'. It was either that or Leaky Kettle.

I'm Bill Pocock, your host as I stumble my way as a sustainable forest manager in Seguin Township, Ontario, Canada.