After acquiring a source of firewood, you have the problem of cutting and splitting it. This is another very dangerous link in the whole wood-heating chain, and it is made even more dangerous by the enormous capacity for destruction possessed by modern chain saws, cord wood saws, and mechanical log splitters (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1. Power tools for cutting and splitting firewood.
Cutting Wood by Hand
If you are totally dedicated to farming or homesteading, you probably have the time and perhaps the inclination to cut all your wood by hand. Some do it. It is far quieter and safer, although even the old-timers had their share of accidents felling large trees with crosscut saws, axes, sledgehammers and wedges. But, cutting wood by hand is extremely time-consuming and impractical if you have to make your living doing something else. Most of us cannot or do not care to take that kind of time.
If you do have the time, you will need a large and a small bow saw and a two-man crosscut saw if you will be working with a friend. An old-fashioned bucksaw is also nice to have around the woodpile for sawing logs on the sawbuck. The bow saw and bucksaw tend to get stuck in wet or green wood, especially hickory. Here, a single crosscut saw will work better, since its teeth are bent slightly to each side of the blade and cause a wider cut to be made. This saw also takes more energy to push, but the blade will not likely get stuck.
Cutting Wood With a Chain Saw
The modern chain saw has contributed greatly to keeping our paper, lumber, and all other wood products relatively cheap. The time gained by using one is almost exponential: an entire cord of wood can be cut by one man in one day.
Buy a Saw or Rent One?—If you do not need much wood (say, a couple of cords per year), you may want to forego buying a chain saw and rent one instead from a tool rental agency. On the other hand, if you own a woods and want to manage it over a period of time by felling here and trimming there, it would be a nuisance to rent a saw frequently. There is also a certain danger in being unfamiliar with the weight and the cutting and starting idiosyncracies of a rented saw.
It is best to buy a reputable brand of chain saw with a bar at least 16 inches long, or longer if you can handle it.
Keep in mind that the heavier models will tire you faster, and exhaustion is a very dangerous condition when working with a chain saw. Most accidents occur from exhaustion and carelessness, and even professional lumberjacks have accidents. So, you may want to try out a saw before you buy one, in order to determine the ideal weight and length of bar. If you plan to cut very much wood at all, you should not buy one of the extremely light, short-bar saws (under 14 inches). Another important consideration in buying a chain saw is the dealer. He should be close by, be a good and reliable mechanic, and have a good inventory of parts.
Observations on Using a Chain Saw—Before cutting with a chain saw, you should read the instruction manuals that come with your saw, or other bulletins, pamphlets, and books from the chain saw manufacturers. They are well aware that they make a very dangerous tool, and they have consequently invested enormous sums in publishing safety literature. Some of the advice will not make a lot of sense until you make you own mistakes. For example, you may think that running the blade into the ground (Fig. 6) would not hurt it too much. It does. The sand and grit in the dirt dulls every little tooth, and your next cut will be impossible because the saw is too dull. Then it is a big hassle to sharpen it or take it to the dealer to have it sharpened. Other mistakes could be more costly, and even fatal.
5 Chain Saw Safety Tips
1. Don’t cut alone 
ersonally speaking, I feel it is preferable to work with someone else when sawing. Then if a serious accident occurs, your companion can go for help immediately. Talk with people who use chain saws frequently and you will hear enough hair-raising accounts to make you be extremely cautious. If you cannot find someone to work with, let your wife or neighbour know you are going out to cut, and tell them about what time you will be back.
2. Watch for fatigue: I also feel that working with a chain saw can be extremely tiring. To avoid fatigue, work in short blocks of time—say, for 15 or 30 minutes—and then rest for ten. 1 like to cut until the saw's gas tank is empty and then rest. This gives the saw a chance to cool off and be safer to refill with gasoline. If you spill fuel on the hot motor, it may explode, or burn you with a flash fire. The reservoir for chain lubricating oil (Fig. 7) must always be checked at refuelling time. If it runs dry while you are sawing, you can dull or permanently damage the blade. Some chain saw operators do not like to depend on automatic chain oilers and prefer to use the manual pump.
Fig. 7. Check the bar oil reservoir at refuelling time, or sooner.
3. Wear safety equipment: It is also important to wear snug-fitting, heavy gloves. They will absorb most of the vibrations and keep you from premature fatigue. Earmuffs or earplugs must be worn also, because of the noise of the saw. Too many people have had their sense of hearing permanently damaged for this to be an old wives' tale or a case of over cautiousness. Injury statistics are frightening, but if you are constantly vigilant, accidents can be avoided.
4. Read the Manual: Preventive maintenance should be followed to the letter. Chain saw manuals carefully list the steps you can take to keep your saw running in tip-top order. Use the recommended mixture of gasoline and oil, the required viscosity of oil, and the correct tools for servicing. For example, if the manual says to sharpen your chain with a 5/32-inch cylindrical or oval file, then do not use a 7/32-inch file. This discrepancy may sound slight to you, but a chain saw is built to tolerances so precise that even a slight deviation from specifications can cause the saw to function inefficiently or improperly.
5. Let the saw do the work: As a final observation, I feel that you should always try to let the saw do the sawing. Do not press down hard or. the hand bar, for only a slight pressure is sufficient. The saw will partially feed itself because of its own weight and the direction of chain rotation. This means that you can saw in a relaxed manner but with a firm grip. The main effort you expend will be in guiding the bar, holding it in position, and being alert and careful. You will be tired enough without pressing, pulling, and pushing unnecessarily.
The chain saw is a marvellous instrument that can save countless hours of effort over the years and pay for itself in the first two cords of wood cut. But, it is a sensitive and sometimes temperamental machine which demands attention and correct operation. This is essential for its sake and your own.
How Much Should You Cut?
Cutting, splitting, and stacking can be backbreaking work if you are not used to moderately hard labor. But it is easy to get in shape if you just try not to do so much all at once. Some see it as a much more productive exercise than jogging. You will be using a lot of muscles in your arms, chest, neck, and legs, and you will know which ones they are after the first day's work, because they will all ache the morning after. If you cut and stack all during the year, the work is spread out over a long period of time and requires only about fifteen minutes a day (plenty, if done nearly every day). Some people, however, like to go into the woods for one or two weekends and get all the year's cutting done at one time. They will even cut four to six-foot logs in the field and bring them back to saw into stove-length sizes later, at their leisure. This means they spend less time in the woods and more in their back yard. From a safety point of view, this is perhaps desirable.
What Size to Make the Logs
Cut your logs at least two inches shorter than the depth of your firebox. Longer logs will lie in the stove right up to the loading door and cause a lot of smoke to be let into the room every time you open the loading door. The charcoals and ashes of such long logs are also liable to fall out onto the floor, especially if you are trying to push the logs back with the poker or are raising them up a bit to get some air underneath them. Another disadvantage of trying to cut logs to exact firebox-length is that you may miscalculate, get a number of logs one-half-inch too long, and have to cut all of them again. Obviously, it is best to cut them too short than even a quarter-inch too long. Shorter logs can be used to good effect when adding wood to a fire that has already burned for an hour or two. Logs contract after being in the stove for a while and another log can be squeezed in periodically.