How to buck a tree: Cutting logs for maximum yield (2018)

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-buck-a-tree-2218134

by brudgers • 4 years ago

138 43 4 years ago

thebalancesmb.com

nocy• 4 years ago

(2018)

dang2• 4 years ago

Year added above. Thanks!

js2• 4 years ago

Here's a really good companion video to go along with the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Animats• 4 years ago

The modern way: https://youtu.be/j2SwTK6p72U

bfung• 4 years ago

Way more interesting than any computer articles ;)

dang2• 4 years ago

Submitted title was "Getting the most from your logs".

Since most of the replies were about that, I'm going to move them underneath this stub.

Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or oh never mind.

dsimmons• 4 years ago

Am I the only one that (wrongly) assumed this was in reference to application logs and not... literal logs? xD

dopidopHN• 4 years ago

I kept scrolling to see what type of software logs that article was about.

While scrolling I was thinking it was the most well researched and involved tongue in cheek intro I read in a while.

m_antis89• 4 years ago

yes

LewisVerstappen• 4 years ago

Very good advice. Great tips on logging when you're working with trees.

joshxyz• 4 years ago

come on. hahahaha.

hlieberman• 4 years ago

I feel like I just got rick-rolled. I love it; brudgers, you are a mad genius.

hamasho• 4 years ago

I'm redesigning my project's architecture and like "Wow! This article is so timely!" It's exactly what I felt too.

mandeepj2• 4 years ago

The title can be edited to include “Tree” before “Logs”

whitesilhouette• 4 years ago

Nah! This one's better. A mood uplift.

AbraKdabra• 4 years ago

I don't know if you deserve a prize or a ban from HN for using that title.

physicsgraph• 4 years ago

The best part of this was getting to the tab I had opened long ago and wondering, "how did I get to this page?" and then realizing (after reading it) that I was rick-rolled by HN.

manibatra• 4 years ago

The one time I decided to open the link first rather than read the comments.

dvtrn• 4 years ago

Oh for crying out loud

Thanks for the evening chuckle brudgers

helsontaveras18• 4 years ago

Haha love it. Question regarding getting the most from your application logs. My practice is to prefix log statements with the file name and function that’s generating the log. Jumping to that code is just a quick search away. But it does require a bit of manual work to write that extra metadata. I do this because devs just put random logs and it’s so hard to know where they’re coming from. Any best practices?

MarkSweep• 4 years ago

Various languages have ways of automatically including file paths and line numbers without the caller having to include them every time

C# has CallerFilePathAttribute https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.runtime.c...

C has the __FILE__, __func__, and __LINE__ pre-processor macros.

jdadj• 4 years ago

Not sure about best practices. But at our small shop, we’ve rigged up our homegrown logging infrastructure to do that automatically by using the C/C++ macros __FILE__, __FUNCTION__ and __LINE__

We hide the data in our log viewer to reduce clutter but display it as a tooltip.

dmckeon• 4 years ago

Recently overhauled my rsyslog setup to do timestamps in rfc3339 format. Almost as good as keeping a chain saw chain nicely sharpened, and not replaced backwards!

TuringNYC• 4 years ago

I kept thinking this was going to be an Allegory for system logs until I realized it was literal

fnordpiglet• 4 years ago

Really I prefer structured logs.

brudgers3• 4 years ago

Something like a log cabin maybe?

brudgers3• 4 years ago

Are you saying the title was a clear cut violation?

trey-jones• 4 years ago

As someone who grew up cutting trees for milling, this all seems quite intuitive. We also used to just carry a tape measure... though I have flipped the stick on occasion as well.

softgrow• 4 years ago

I cut up broken trees as a volunteer emergency responder. I'm always fascinated by these puzzles, in that every tree is different in species, condition and nature of the fault. The aim is to make the tree safe for the public by getting the broken bit on the ground then cut up into manageable chunks. in practice it requires more time thinking than cutting. There are heuristics like remove unsupported bits to remove weight, avoid rolling etc but it often seems that you end up at a dead end. Then think, discuss and move forward (maybe). Could make some sort of game, where the top levels are branches suspended in trees, e.g. a bit of tree A comes off and lodges into trees B and C.

password4321• 4 years ago

Coming soon: Gary's Mod - Lumberjack

ggm2• 4 years ago

Naieve use of chainsaws is a significant risk. I know, I've tried the baby ones and its very easy to do what cartoonists love to lambast (cutting off the limb you're standing on)

(I meant tree-limbs, but the sentence works with the other ones)

otherme123• 4 years ago

I've never used one of them because they cause me panic. But my father has used plenty, and he always advised me _against_ the smaller ones. He says the small ones tend to refuse to cut a lot, so they kick back, and their small weight make the kick more quick and you end having an accident. The big ones on the contrary, tend to bite hard and when they refuse to cut they are so deep in the wood they doesn't kick back but get stuck.

EdwardDiego• 4 years ago

Indeed it does, hence why if you're not wearing chainsaw chaps (that work by clogging the chain with fibres), you're really asking to open up your femoral artery if/when the chainsaw kicks back.

throwaway0a5e• 4 years ago

Chainsaws and table saws catch a lot of shit because they are the biggest tools commonly used in basic woodworking and property maintenance (respectively) which is pretty much the only time preppy white collar types encounter power tools that are capable of hurting them.

ConstantVigil2• 4 years ago

Here's a helpful trick for those of you who might need to get some firewood going but the chainsaw gave up the ghost.

It can be kind of tricky and kind of dangerous for the foot if you aren't careful; but you can split a log length wise using only your axe and some torque. Carefully work your way up the length of the log slamming the axe down into the wood in a straight line, or as straight as possible. Depending on the tree and your strength; this may take one or two passes to get it splitting apart nicely.

Worst case scenario is you start cutting off small chunks on the side; but honestly you gotta be wailing pretty hard to get that happening on a strong log.

Otherwise, once you have your first pass done, start bringing the axe down harder to finish the split; twisting the axe each time to help spread it apart. If you did it right, you should end up with two long halves of a full log. Once that is done, you can do it again with each half; and then buck it down into smaller pieces with a hand saw.

Yes, you could use the hand saw first; but this is a much faster method. Or at least I think it is. I can get through a full log in about 5 minutes or so. 10 minutes tops. Never timed it; I just know how long I can stand outside chopping wood with a pair of jeans and t-shirt in -30c weather.

silisili2• 4 years ago

Being pedantic, but generally you shouldn't use an axe for splitting wood. Mauls are much heavier and meant for the purpose.

drewzero1• 4 years ago

A maul would be the proper tool when you've already got the log cut up into firewood length, and you can enter into the end grain. I think what GP is describing is to split the log before cutting it to length, which (as far as I'm aware) is also an unorthodox technique. A maul wouldn't be acute enough to cut into the face grain.

bergenty• 4 years ago

This is very hard work with just an axe. You have to use wedges as well. Once you get them in, just keep hammering them in equally until the log falls apart.

How to buck a tree: Cutting logs for maximum yield (2018)

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