Chapter 155 Slacking Off
When felling trees, the saw operator first makes a "saw cut" on the front side of the tree facing the direction it will fall.
The depth of the cut is determined by the diameter of the tree, and is generally about one-third of the diameter of the tree to be felled.
The cut at the bottom is actually made by sawing twice, with the height of the cut being half the depth.
After the sawing was completed, the assistant used a steel ingot axe to aim at the saw crevices, making two cuts up and down, and two taps to the left and right, to pull out the hawthorn slices.
After the hawthorn leaves are removed, the saw operator needs to go around to the back of the tree facing the direction it will fall and start cutting the "upper hawthorn incision".
The cross-section of the upper cut should be flush with the cross-section of the lower cut, and it should not be cut through. Leave a "tree string" of five to twelve centimeters on each side.
The purpose of keeping the string in place is to control the direction in which the tree falls and slow down the time it takes to fall, thus serving as a deflection mechanism.
If the string is cut off, it can easily cause the tree to "roll over" or "sit down," leading to a safety accident.
During the logging process, the sawer and his assistant must shout "Shout!" three times.
After starting to saw, advancing the saw, and calling out to the tree, one must shout out the direction in which the tree will fall.
Trees shout "Fall towards the mountain" when going uphill, "Fall down with the mountain" when going downhill, and "Fall across the mountain" when going to the left or right.
The purpose of shouting from the mountain is to remind nearby workers to avoid the area in a timely and appropriate manner to prevent accidents.
Once the tree is in place, shout "Safe!" and the tree is considered felled.
After the tree is felled, its branches need to be pruned.
Pruning is the process of manually removing branches from a tree trunk after it has been felled, leaving only the main trunk.
The remaining tree stumps, branches, and other byproducts can be distributed to the work team as firewood.
In a few years, as forest resources become increasingly scarce, the forestry bureau will begin to pay attention to comprehensive utilization, and these branches and timbers will become valuable resources.
Pruning can be divided into mechanical pruning and manual pruning.
Mechanical pruning is mainly used for broad-leaved trees. After the tree is laid down, a saw operator uses a saw to cut off the branches that extend from the broad-leaved tree.
Artificial pruning is mainly used for coniferous trees, such as Korean pine, fir, pine, Akasaka pine, and pine.
Manual pruning is the assistant's job.
When pruning branches, the assistant first determines the safe position of the tree after it falls, and then starts from the base, "pruning the right side when standing on the left, and the left side when standing on the right."
When chopping with an axe, the cut should be close to the main trunk of the tree, creating a "fish-eye" effect.
When pruning coniferous trees, the branches must be pruned down to the smallest end of the tree, which should be eight centimeters in diameter. The remaining portion can be cut off in one go.
Li Dazhuang originally intended to slack off and prevent Sheng Xiping and the others from working properly, which was also a way to vent his anger and that of his family.
The two brothers stole a pig from the mountain and brought it home, intending to cook it into a stew and have a delicious meal.
As a result, some unscrupulous person used firecrackers to bulge out his kang (heated brick bed).
The house was completely destroyed; the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room was ruined.
The meat was eventually washed and eaten, but Li Dazhuang never managed to vent his anger.
Later, the Li family also pondered this together, and realized that only Sheng Xiping and his group could pull off such a move.
They must have gone into the mountains to hunt, discovered their prey had been stolen, followed the tracks to the Li family's house, and then, in a fit of anger, set off firecrackers on the Li family's kang (heated brick bed).
After all, the forest farm knew about Sheng Xiping and his men using cannons to shoot down badgers.
Only a handful of people can handle firecrackers this well.
The Li family suspected that Sheng Xiping and others were responsible, but they couldn't easily retaliate.
This is like how Sheng Xiping and his group knew that the Li family had stolen the pig, but they couldn't very well go and confront them.
It's useless to only suspect someone without actually grabbing their wrist on the spot.
Li Dazhuang was holding a grudge, so when the production schedule was being arranged, he specifically requested to be transferred to the educated youth team to be a chainsaw operator.
The production scheduler was unaware of the inside story, but since Li Dazhuang had made the request, they simply assigned him to this location.
Li Dazhuang had thought it over. Anyway, he was just earning a salary, so whether he did a good job or a bad one, it wouldn't matter.
He never gets the title of "Advanced Lumberjack," and he doesn't care about prizes or bonuses.
He would dawdle and annoy these educated youth, preventing them from earning money.
He'll only start working properly when these people are willing to bow down and give him benefits.
But Li Dazhuang didn't expect that Sheng Xiping would directly assign him two assistants.
Despite being Zhang Zhijun's first time participating in winter mining and transportation, and his thin and skinny appearance, this guy is surprisingly strong and works quite efficiently.
As for Wang Jianshe, he has been working in the forest farm for several years and knows everything, so there's no need to say more; he's a very efficient worker.
Moreover, Wang Jianshe was not only a fast worker, but also had a sharp tongue. Whenever he saw Li Dazhuang stop working, Wang Jianshe would urge him to get back to work.
When Li Dazhuang tried to find an excuse, Wang Jianshe would make all sorts of sarcastic remarks, or threaten to go to the production scheduler to send Li Dazhuang back and replace him with someone else.
Li Dazhuang was so angry with Wang Jianshe that he had no choice but to work harder to cut down trees.
But he only had two assistants, and Wang Jianshe and Zhang Zhijun worked very quickly.
Well, that's great. Li Dazhuang was chased away by the two men, and he was lucky if he could smoke two cigarettes in the morning.
Often, they would just sit down, not even having a chance to smoke a cigarette, before they had to get up and continue felling trees.
Within a few days, Li Dazhuang couldn't take it anymore.
He's never worked this hard before; he's been exhausted these past few days, with a sore back and legs.
"No, whatever you two say today, I have to rest enough first."
What are you doing? Are you in such a hurry to be reborn? I've never worked this hard on any construction team I've ever been on.
This is a public job, not yours alone.
This logging season lasts almost half a year. After we finish this area, do you think we can give you another plot of land?
When Li Dazhuang arrived at the mountain site, he sat down on the ground and muttered to himself before even starting any work.
"How can they be the same? We have independent settlement here; we only pay for the amount we do."
Besides, our work team has a lot of people; how can we earn money if we do less work?
Wang Jianshe got angry as soon as he saw Li Dazhuang's behavior; this guy was a complete scoundrel.
Wang Jianshe has really gone to great lengths to get him to do some work these past few days.
He and Zhang Zhijun played opposite roles, one good cop and the other bad cop.
When they were working, Wang Jianshe urged them on, and when they stopped to rest, Zhang Zhijun would offer them cigarettes and coax them with kind words.
With progress finally picking up in the last few days and enough material to keep up with the work ahead, how could Wang Jianshe let Li Dazhuang sit back and soak mushrooms again?
Whether you make money or not is none of my business.
You guys earn more, but you didn't say you'd share it with me; I'm still receiving the same salary.
I used to work on other work teams, and they never rushed me.
"But coming here, it's like you're constantly pressuring us to our deaths. How can you treat people like this?"
Li Dazhuang was determined to cheat today. No matter what Wang Jianshe said, he just sat on the ground and refused to get up and work.
This infuriated Wang Jianshe.
"Damn, you think I can't make a steamed cake without you, you rotten egg?"
What? You think our work team won't work without you? Let me tell you, take it or leave it. If you don't want to work, get out.
"I'll go find the production scheduler right now." Wang Jianshe, in a fit of temper, didn't care about anything else and turned to leave.
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