If there are obstacles, such as vines, bushes, limbs
of other trees, or rocks, which your hatchet might strike as you raise
and lower it while at work, clear them all away, making a generous open
space on all sides, overhead, on the right and left side, and below the
swing of the hatchet. Take no chance of having an accident, as would
occur should the hatchet become entangled or broken.
You may have noticed that the top surface of most stumps has a
splintered ridge across its centre, and on one side of the ridge the
wood is lower than on the other; this is because of the manner in which
a woodsman fells a tree. If he wants the tree to fall toward the west he
marks the west side of the trunk; then he marks the top and bottom of
the space he intends chopping out for the first kerf or notch (Fig. 13,
_A_ and _B_), making the length of space a trifle longer than one-half
of the tree diameter. The kerf is chopped out by cutting first from the
top _A_, then from the bottom _B_ (Fig. 14). When the first kerf is
finished and cut half-way through the tree, space for the kerf on the
opposite side of the tree is marked a few inches higher than the first
one (Fig.
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