When the kerf is well started, the whole weight of the saw may be applied.
The cut is made on the pulling stroke, and hence the kerf can be very narrow.
Make the notch, or kerf, large enough to avoid pinching your axe in it.
The teeth should cut a kerf just wide enough to clear the blade.
The first chips that flew were ten inches long, but they quickly dwindled as the kerf sank in.
Where the whole body of the tooth is bent, the saw will run smoothly and easily through the kerf and produce a smooth-cut surface.
Cut your kerf on the side toward the landing place, let the notch go half-way or a trifle more through the trunk.
Little by little the axe bit through the tough wood, until the kerf was well past the heart of the tree.
By letting the saw run in the kerf thus made, you can cut pieces off square.
When the first kerf is finished begin another one on the opposite side of the tree a little higher than the first one (Fig. 114).
