They Call Me Crazy Bastard

Anon named me 'Crazy Bastard' on this blog, and The 'Esteemed' Doctor seconded the motion.

I carried the motion as chairman of the board of Mossonwood because it made me laugh. And so ends Mossonwood. All thanks to a lowly anonymous punk, for a moment of wit. The identity of whom we shall never know. It's better that way. The Doctor can take the credit for this comedy gold.

Please follow the link to my new woodsman blog...

They Call Me Crazy Bastard

'Forest Storm No.7'

'Forest Storm No. 7' Bill Pocock, 2009

Stihl Life No. 3

'Stihl Life No. 3' Bill Pocock, 2009

One of a small series of photos posted on my art blog, Bill Pocock.

Writing two blogs at once, living separate lives.

Bill Pocock is all about the question,
"who am I, what am I, where am I, how am I, why am I?",
answered in the form of art documentation.

Saving Private Chainsaw Bar

I tossed and turned all night - how will I drop that tree?

Fit a new bar and chain to the chainsaw motor to free the stuck one?

Or, sharpen the axe and do it old school, hardcore lumberjack style.

My macho gave me no choice.

Axe, baby.

On the last chop the top tree suddenly shifted sideways
on the bar. Things happen so fast. That's why there's so
many accidents in lumberjacking. All I could do now
was give it a good push, get back, and hope for the best.
Time almost stands still as you look up, watching as the
tree decide which way it's gonna go. I like it.

One of the complications in axe felling is that with every swing, you shake the small or mid-size tree during the critical, final cuts. This potentially destabilizes the balance of tree above the cut and makes directing the fall not as simple and predictable as using the smooth chainsaw machine.

I got lucky again. The top of tree shifted off and got
held up by surrounding tree branches. The bottom
of the cut tree missed the bar on the drop and didn't
crush it. As the bar and chain was free, I could use
the engine again. Real lucky.

It's easy to get exhausted fast with the axe. The key is to take it nice and easy until your body is conditioned to this type of task. Let the axe head do the work. Pull it out of the trunk with the top hand near the axe head. Then slide it to the bottom hand at the end of the handle on the forward swing in. Alternate 45 degree angle cuts above and below in order to chip off chunks of wood. At least that's what I figure from watching those TV lumberjack competitions.


Boy howdy! There's the long stump (above) and the dropped upper tree with branches held up by surrounding trees. The tree is about fifty feet tall.

With chainsaw reassembled, I began and finished the difficult task of dropping the rest of the tree to the ground in 3 to 4 foot sections. Dangerous. It happens all the time in this dense 'core' forest. That will make a suspense filled video clip sometime.

I swear, I should host a kid's show on the interesting and dangerous things I do in the forest every day. I think young kids would like it in the same way those construction site videos enthrall them. Lumberjack Bill.

Axe Time

While I had a sharp felling axe on the scene, I thought I'd time how long it takes me to chop through the 10" sugar maple trunk - just like I was a real lumberjack.

The first chopped side took me about five minutes. I found that when chopping a tree down, it's best and easiest if you maintain a constant chopping rhythm. It's the same with shovelling gravel. There's a natural pace, then it's just a matter of time until the tree falls.


I found it helped to switch hand positions, side to side of the tree, as I wasn't used to using those particular tree chopping muscles. I should do a DIY instructional video for all those metrosexuals buying fancy designer axes to show how a real amateur does it. All part of my patented Lumberjack Workout Program.


The back side took me about two minutes. Near the end, I always begin to wonder, will this be the final chop? The chops then are directed straight in to the narrowest part of the remaining trunk. Just want to drop the damn thing. Then, on the last chop the whole thing popped off like chopping some one's head off.


And then, just for comparison, I timed how long it took to cut through the tree trunk with the semi-sharp MS 260. Seven seconds.

You do the math - 7 minutes versus 7 seconds.


I'm one guy in a forest that needs to be thinned throughout for improved growth and health. Think of how many trees I could cut down in a day by axe versus chainsaw.

During chainsaw season from September to April (?), it's definitely chainsaw. But in spring/summer, I could see myself swinging the axe and bucking logs with a swede saw. Or...a one-man crosscut saw.

Day in the Life

Another sunny, mild November day. Perfect. Almost.

Basically working up a sweat, clearing forest trails along the western ridge line.

A day working in the forest - every chore a celebration of life. And death for some unlucky trees.

It's hard to put together the pieces of the day....

Here's some photos. Here's a little slide show, whatever I can think up on the spot is set down on the lines below it. Not really a slide show. I'm too lazy to figure out how to do that on Blogger - and I don't want to know, thanks.

Imagine the lights dim, I hover over the carousel slide projector with a drink (or two) in hand.

Here's the first one...

Is it ladybug season? Went to FMO for lunch and they're all over
the place - all over FMO. Hope these little bastards don't try
to form a bloody colony. Then inside I find house flies up on the
ceiling, trying to get out the window. At first I was pissed, then
I realized, "Hey, with the fly zapper, this is the only entertainment
I've got". Yea, flies!

This afternoon the sun hit a large opening of moss on rock just
right. After a bunch of photos I settled on this one. Love
the close up setting on the Tek4 camera.

This one goes in the Whoops file. It was getting late in
the day and I was pushing myself too hard to get to end of
trail. Sometimes that destructo high gets to ya and make hasty
decisions that you end up regretting. Ach-hem [takes drink].
Long story I won't bore you about why my chainsaw
bar got stuck in the back cut. It just is. You get overconfident,
thinking you're some kinda looper and this is what happens.

So I unbolted the bar from the saw engine and will fit another
bar and chain to cut this one free. And have the cut tree
fall in a highly unpredictable way most likely. I'm still toying
with the idea of chopping it free with an axe. I'll think about
it tomorrow.

Ahh, the southern afternoon view down the western trail.

Beaver Sign

I was clearing trail again today and came across a bunch of sugar maple saplings. Rather I stumbled across a bunch of former saplings as the local beaver mafia had 'taken care' of them.

What's that insect doing?

It's a bit hard to see, but the beaver drag trail (below) shows a bread crumb trail of wood chips. It's the on ramp for the flooded lowland beaver freeway to the overdeveloped beaver condo complex. They got skating rink and everything.

You win this time, beaver!!!

Guess you won't be needing this flooded

beaver freeway for a while. Sorry!

Beaver 1: Bill 1

In the morning I heard rifle fire of deer hunters not far off. The afternoon was quiet and am happy to say that I watched four deer grazing nearby. They only stopped when I stopped to watch them. They went back to eating when I started to toss logs left and right again.

Leaves in Ice

Last night gave us a good frost and surface freeze of the many woodland ponds.

Back on the Trails Again

Starting back into the trail re-blazin' and clearing groove.

I feel like an animal scratching my way through the forest, throwing sticks and logs to the side with saws and blades for teeth and claws.

I pity the wood that gets in my fevered trail-clearing state. Rocks are sometimes a different story. It's like they've got a mind of their own. And sometimes one will say to me, "I'm staying right here". You win...this time, rock. Gone are the days where you could buy rock and stump clearing sticks of dynamite over the counter at Canadian Tire. That and your 12 gauge pepper gun. The good ole days.

I've declared a Jihad on those spikey, dead hemlock branches that threaten to impale me at every turn. This is my new boot-to-the-head workout.


After a day working the trails I can take a picture that's destined to be the centrepiece of my tabloid TV 15 minute segment....

We Gots Moss

With much rain comes temporary runoff creeks.

I think they're called woodland 'seeps'.

Clearing trail yesterday and came across some nice moss. There's moss everywhere on wood and rocks, really. Though I rarely take the time to appreciate it.

It was handy to use the close up feature of the Tek4 camera. A tripod is a good idea.

Moss on hemlock stump.

Lichen (left) and moss (right) on granite covered in red oak leaves.

FMO Platform

I've gone on a bit about the FMO and the work I've done on it.

Here's a whacky innovation to solve some space issues. I've built a sort of levitating platform that I can raise and lower by ropes and pulleys.

It's meant as a storage platform for either people or supplies. By having it on a pulley, I can raise it up to the rafter ties (as it is in the photo), or even down a few feet, and still walk under the clear space below. It can be lowered to within a foot of the the floor and secured for seating. Though I think two people sitting on it is the weight limit. Should post a sign somewhere....

Haven't worked out all the pulley system stuff yet and may try another system when I install one on the other side.

There's also another rope and pulley shown in the photo for raising and lowering the ladder/stair ('lair') to access attic storage.

No Hunting Posted

Due to time constraints and budget issues, we settled on 20 off-the-shelf signs instead of the 40 of my design. The Deerwood logo might appear again in some future signage.... Boo-hoo!

Today I went into town to buy some signs. I wasn't too surprised to find that most stores were sold out of 'no hunting' and 'tresspassers will be shot' signs. So, I got an assortment of signs and some red paint for spraying the red dot on trees which signifies a boundary not to be crossed. I think.


And I went out and marked rough property lines with all that stuff. Got a few soakers, but at least it didn't rain. It did hail, though.

Deerwood FMO Status

I've gone about as far I'm going to on FMO construction this year.

The exterior siding will wait until...some point in the future.

Now it's time to clean up and organize every little thing inside the place.

I'll make full use of my dry storage container. That is, once I've dried it out from the flood.

Using a chainsaw tool to stir peanut butter. Yum.

No Hunting

A forest manager's work is never done.

I believe hunting season for deer begins today - November 1st.

Already got the dayglo orange baseball cap.

As Deerwood Estate is a forest preserve, I want to post 'NO HUNTING' signs around the property. I've come up with a draft version (below) and just need Ma Pocock's approval to do some colour printing. I figure the cheapest option is to print onto paper then get the paper sealed in plastic. Then, mount the signs on plywood backing for posting along the property line.

I think the doe and fawn image captures the
Deerwood philosophy of forest preservation.

The doe and fawn image took me most of yesterday to transfer from a photo. I'm no graphics whiz, but I'm satisfied with the result. It's difficult to communicate a complex message with simple visuals. I hope I've succeeded. As it's pre-approval, there may be another version.