Tree Cutting

My view in survival terms is that there is no need to cut anything thicker than a pole that can take your own weight. Several smaller poles strapped together could achieve the same.

Probably because we are all so impatient, and we want the job done now, brawn over brains all too often comes into play. I've once had to cut a knife out of a tree trunk because it had been hammered home; I think the bloke thought the tree would fall over dead :rolleyes:
 
We call the type of trees you want to cut ...and I ain't callin you any names eiter... "pecker poles" your knife can work, while a hawk or hatchet would be better.. bend the pole hard where you want to cut it, and then chop, or slice a few times, and bend the pole back hard the other way and repeat. more or less that will get the pole cut free, and almost pointed.... the troble with any saw is that the tree can get to be too big... with a 8" saw about the biggest tree you can take is 16"diameter, but I have the idea you would not want a tree that big, unless your heating a house.... and then a chain saw is the tool for that..or an ax, but the ax will damn near kill an modern human trying to heat a house. That would be a lot of chooping indeed to drop cut stove size, and split with just an ax... Our fore fathers did that, but beside chop wood and grow grains they slept......Mac
 
it is possible to set up a leanto shelter with no cordage... You leave some limbs a bit long...forks drive 2 poles in the ground that have forked tops with an off set,meaning the centeral part of the pole is a bit longer than the fork...also leave a few cut limbs to hang things on..no sence wasting good hangars. Set a pole across the 2 vertical poles, then cut more for rafters...If there is going to be a low rear set with 2 verticals, add the rafters upside down, catching a fork from each rafter to the cross pole at the rear of the shelter. other wise point them to set in the dirt....For pounding poles try a rock which is better than a knife for pounding.

Once that is done with thin poles you can weave across the rafters, which makes a good way to add the rest of any roofing. You would then add what ever is the best brush for the area to the lowest parts, and work up to the top, so each layer covers the one below.... this is for a more or less semi permanet shelter... When that is done you can do the sides the same way, but not dead vertical, angle the sides out towards the bottom.... Mac
came back on edit.... you can also use this same method for a tripod for cooking, by interlocking the forks.....
 
Traditional Japanese scaffolding, for building up to the height of a skyscaper, uses bamboo and cord. Its an art in itself.

Yes, you can get away without cord with A frames and a little ingenuity. Easier when you get some weight on the top to hold the structure anchored firm. Some places natural cord is hells hard to find, well anything with any strength. Knowing how to make cord from local raw materials is a worthy skill; something I wish I was better at. Carrying your own nylon cord is a pleasure and saves so much time and thought. Cord is my filling for my CR Project's hollow handle. If you have room to carry a knife then you should have the room to carry some cord.

Hot tip: you can get a bobbins worth of cord in the waist band of some pants/trousers.
 
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