Chopping the Tops- Axe Cordwood Challenge
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2017
- As I cut my first cord for the Axe Cordwood Challenge, I had mostly been piling up the tops for later processing. Now that I've forged my Nata billhook, I'm returning to those piles, limbing them, and bringing the decent sized wood home for adding to my woodpile for the challenge. Processing this sized material is a bit different from large diameter logs, and this is just to show how it has been going for me so far.
Skillcult video with more detail on the cutting technique. • Cool Unsafe Axe Techni... - Jak na to + styl
Makes me happy to see someone using that technique to process a lot of wood. It's really great. I think you could design an axe just for that, but I usually just use whatever I have in hand. I guess you have the advantage of a lot of weight. it's amazing what you can cut through in one blow even with a small axe, let alone that one.
Around here the most use I have for the Nata is just that, trimming brush. It's very well suited to it. For ages I used a large bush knife weighted for chopping, but a heavy compact Nata is better. That knife got shelved as soon as I got mine. i don't use it for much else, but since I do a lot of that kind of work limbing and clearing stuff, it's worth having. Looks like it works great.
I burn lots of small stuff because I don't keep the fire going all the time and have to re-start frequently. I cut up all my tops and a lot of limbs as well and still end up splitting some as I go.
We burn intermittently in Oct, Nov, Dec. But from about X-mas through March the stove is going most of the day most days, so its nice to have larger pieces for longer burns. I like the small stuff too, I just don't think a pile of it all by itself is that useful for our situation. If I had the nata to forge over again I would do the handle differently and maybe make it a few ounces heavier, but overall I'm really happy with it for my first ever knife making effort.
Tops are something I didn't utilize enough in the challenge. The ones I did cut, I either laid in the platform or used the side of the platform like you and Steven do. The restraint chain/wire Dudley described was hardly ever used to prevent kick ups. I found it kinda worthless and too much unnecessary bending.
The mass of that 4# ax gets it done. I've got a WWII machete shaped similarly to your nata. Mine is longer than yours and a bit more heavy, I'm guessing. I'll have to start playing with it for some top limbing.
I admire that you use the same axe for the whole cordwood challenge
Thanks Avery. I actually used two axes, this one and a 4.5 lb Plumb that is in several of the other videos.
I've changed my approach to the small stuff, any straight limbs from 1- 2" are kept for biochar and the twiggy bent tops are for ramial chips in the orchard. Big chips from felling and bucking into 5' lengths are donated to the forest and the big chips from bucking to length, after sledding the logs home, are saved for mushrooms. There's no waste and I avoid the inefficiency of the small stuff, not only the chopping but the stacking and carrying to the stove for very little return.
I had some commentary that I ended up editing about whether or not chopping this stuff was very efficient or not. If I had a chipper I'd definitely be interested in more experimenting with the ramial chip stuff. I'm waiting to find one that I can possibly mod/convert to run off my BCS pto.
I need a chipper big time, been chopping it with a hatchet into 6" pieces...talk about tedious. Actually the small stuff would be good for rocket stoves and people in warmer climates, or if their tree supply was limited. For me even the 3 inch stuff is looking better for biochar, I'm thinking of digging some 100 or 200 foot trenches and doing some char making on site, no grinding up the char or anything just spray compost tea, fill in the soil, plant cover crops and in 3 years put in fruit trees.
Both the billhook and axe look/work great! Think you guys in the states got the worst of the storm, just hitting us now. I just keep hoping spring gets here sometime!
Its been a pretty good storm, but we didn't get white out conditions, at least not yet. The wind is supposed to gust up tomorrow. I'd say we've had about 16 inches of snow, but its hard to tell with the wind blowing it around so much. Its nice to be a farmer and not have anywhere I need to drive till they've got it all cleaned up and it stops drifting onto the roads.
yey more trees you dont need to fell if the winds do thier thing.
I don't think we had many blowdowns. There was a lot of wind 12 or so days ago when it was much warmer and we did have a lot of trees go, and lost power for 24 hrs due to them I'm sure. So maybe the trees that were going to go already broke down, and the snow is not settling in the trees due to the wind, so they don't have any extra weight to break them. This storm is mostly a killer for folks on the roads, the drifts are brutal right now.
Great video. I can hear blackbirds in the background. Spring must be close. We got nailed by that same storm here in Mass. 18+ inches! We had a tornado here a few weeks ago. No trees on my property came down so I'll have do it myself. I love the Nata. I'd love to make one.
Yeah the blackbirds have been here for a couple weeks. No idea where they are right now in all this cold.
If you don't want to mess with those in the future, start some hugelkultur garden beds
have seen the hugelkultur beds mentioned often by permaculture types. We don't really have a garden, when you are a commercial vegetable grower its a bit redundant.
really been enjoying your videos! I was thinking to maybe lay a tarp down under your chopping station. All the wood will fall onto the tarp and can be pulled to where it will be stacked.
Thanks SubArcticWolf. Maybe I'll give that a try. There's a big composting area and some raspberries in between, so a tarp full of wood may be too wide for threading the needle vs the wheelbarrow I've been using. I'll have to see.
Mr.Edholm made it look fun, you make it look easy. Both seem applicable depending on the limbs. I'd wager use your method for bigger parts, but line up several along a long log, and try use Mr.Edholms method to butcher off smaller ones as part of the process.
Its a very easy technique, but somewhat dangerous. I'd say a chopping block that has a higher edge like the one Steven used in his video is superior to the one I"m using, the chopped stuff doesn't interfere with your work, and you have better access to the edge so you're less likely to under hit and flip the thing into your face (which is a real danger)
would a felling axe be good for this? I'm no axeman, but isn't slicing deeply into wood crossgrain exactly what a felling axe is for?
Well, I'm using a felling axe here, so it obviously works. My point was that it was overweight for swinging one handed, and a lighter axe would probably be easier to use, being more comfortable and likely more controllable and accurate.
Oxbow Farm ah, I see. Sorry as I said, I'm not much of an axeman (in terms of skill, not interest). The popular felling axes around here are those German oxhead axes which are a lot thinner and lighter than the head on your axe looked to me. 1 3/4lbs and quite thin until several inches up the blade.
actually 2.5lb. I misremembered.
That's right around the weight that is historically called "boy's axe" or "half axe" here in North America. So a good size for this technique I think.