JWR:
I had to smile when I saw your comment about Fiskars products yesterday. A recent experience pushed my Fiskars lopping shears (“loppers”) up to the top of my favorite tool list.
During a lull in this ridiculous winter, my kids and I cleared a small area of my land to make room for some fruit trees we’re planting this coming season. The vast majority of the stuff we cleared was between 1″ to 2″ in diameter. It was not really big enough for firewood, but big enough that it seemed a shame to us to just waste it. So in the space of a few hours we took my two Fiskars loppers and “lopped up” this small stuff into close to a face cord worth of small firewood or large kindling, depending on how you want to view it.
I kept thinking about OPSEC as we did this. Except for our own voices, we barely made a sound as we worked. The loppers were quieter than any saw, and in addition my seven-year old daughter could easily help using the lopper (and believe me she was thrilled to be helping) while a bow saw would have been impossible for her.
After that day I got online and ordered a bunch of replacement blades for my loppers for potential post-TEOTWAWKI use.
Thanks for your work, – F.S.