e he strikes the grain at
right angles, it will only make a dent in the wood and bounce the axe
back; but in striking a diagonal blow he must use care not to slant his
axe too far or the blade of the axe may only scoop out a shallow chip and
swing around, seriously injuring the axeman or some one else.

If it is desired to cut off the limb of a tree, do not disfigure the tree
by tearing the bark down; trees are becoming too scarce for us to injure
them unnecessarily; if you cut part way through the limb on the under-side
(see the right-hand diagram, Fig. 121) and then cut partly through from
the top side, the limb will fall off without tearing the bark down the
trunk; but if you cut only from the top (see left-hand diagram, Fig. 121),
sooner or later the weight of the limb will tear it off and make an ugly
wound down the front of the tree, which in time decays, makes a hollow,
and ultimately destroys the tree. A neatly cut branch, on the other hand,
when the stub has been sheared off close to the bark, will heal up,
leaving only an eye-mark on the bark to tell where the limb once grew.

If it is desired to chop a log up into shorter pieces, remember to stand
on the log to do your chopping, as in Fig. 122. This will do away with the
necessity of rolling the log over when you want to chop on the other side.
Do not forget to make the kerf, or notch, _C_, _D_ the same as _A_, _B_;
in other words, the distance across the notch should equal the diameter of
the log. If you start with too narrow a kerf, or notch, before you finish
you will be compelled to widen it.

Fig. 119. Fig. 120. Fig. 121. Fig. 122. Fig. 123. Fig. 124. Fig.
125.

Fig. 126. Fig. 127. Fig. 128. Fig. 129. Fig. 130. Fig. 131. Fig.
131A.

Fig. 131B.

[Illustration: How to split a log, chop a log, flatten a log, and trim a
tree.]

To flatten a log you must _score and hew_ it. Scoring consists in making a
number of notches, _C_, _D_, _E_, _F_, _G_, _H_, _J_, etc., to the depth
of the line _A_, _B_ (Figs. 123 and 124); hewing it is the act of chopping
off or splitting off the pieces _A_, _C_ and _C_, _D_ and _D_, _E_, etc.,
leaving the surface flat, as shown by Fig. 125, which was known among the
pioneers as a puncheon and with which they floored their cabins before the
advent of the saw-mill and milled lumber.

Perhaps it will be advisable for the amateur to take a chalk-line and snap
it from _A_ to _B_ (Fig. 123), so that he may be certain to have the