Tree felling by hand is a humbling experience. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun, requiring some strength, stamina and hand-eye co-ordination. We fell trees this way on our courses: it takes about an hour for 4 people, working as two-person tag teams, to fell a mature oak tree by hand. It’s a shame that on the shoot day camera time was short and we had to finish the felling cut with a chainsaw.
A large tree is about the biggest living organism you are likely to deal with. When this one was a sapling, everyone was felling trees by hand. I do recommend going on a tree-felling course if you are inexperienced as it can be dangerous.
We are pictured here using a 6ft two-man felling saw and medium weight long-handled felling axes. All of these need to be kept razor sharp. Old saws that you find second hand will require a lot of sharpening and probably re-setting before being used.
Books; the axe book – D.Cook
Places to buy tools:see shingle post