Bow Saw and Bark Spud

Had a good ole time today cutting down some maple saplings in an area beside the FMO. Not just for kicks, though. The area will be turned into a small forest meadow where deer can graze on clover. As it's the site of a decommissioned hydro line, the maples are just saplings with a diameter no greater than five inches.

Because Spring is mating season for the forest inhabitants, I'm reducing my use of the noisy chainsaw until fall so as not to disturb all the goings on. Instead I used a bow saw to cut down and cut up the saplings. The limbs were cut off with a hatchet.

Bow saw.

Next, I had a lot of fun peeling the bark off of the green wood (debarking) with my handy-dandy bark spud. It was the first time I'd used it and was amazed at how easy it was to use. It's just like peeling carrots. Really big carrots.

Bark spud.

Maple saplings before (top) and after (bottom) debarking.

Installed the saplings in the FMO attic as storage surface.