Tipping Snags

Snags usually contain good, dry wood that can be hauled to the house and used in the wood stove the same day you cut it, so I prefer to cut trees like this one when the firewood stack is a bit short. A well seasoned snag will have most of the top missing, so a wood cutter does have to plan ahead in order to tip it over successfully. Because the top is gone, and the wood is seasoned, a snag is lighter than a green tree, so make the hinge a little thinner than you normally would. Aim and make your open face as you normally would, punch through to make your hinge, leaving a backstrap. Pound in a wedge before you cut the back of the snag loose. Listen for the hinge to make noise as you drive your wedge, and if you can pound with one hand, you can keep the other on the snag for feedback. I made this hinge just a bit thicker than optimum, so the wedge required some hard pounding for the weight of the tree. Keep your helpers two tree-heights away until the snag is on the ground. You never know which way one of these will go if the hinge fails, so be alert while you are wedging.