Rating: 
Summary: Dubious Authenticity
Review: Although the "Good woodcutter's guide" reads well and is loaded with information from techniques to equipment, it does suffer from some shortcomings, most notably a lack of clarity in the description of potentially lethal activities and materials. For example, the discussion of chain saw "kickback" in which he disagrees with conventional wisdom is interesting, but if the novice is to follow advice that runs counter to other expert opinion, he'd better be supremely confident in the author's ability. I have found reason to question the reliability of some of the claims the author makes. An outstanding example is his advocation of a tree felling practice he calls the "open face" method in which the central concept is the cutting of a "notch of 90 degrees" in the trunk. The photographs and drawings shown decidedly contradict this since they appear to be 45 degree notches (Pgs. 91 and 109). It is actually mathematically impossible to cut a 90 degree notch in a trunk unless the bottom cut slopes upward to some degree, yet Mr. Johnson specifically states that the bottom cut must be a HORIZONTAL cut. Has he ever dropped a tree using his own method? I'd like to know how. If I'm going to engage in risky task like falling trees, I want to know that the person's advice I'm following can be counted on to be the safest available. I hate to be picky, but when the clock strikes thirteen, it's time to throw away the clock. On the other hand, if I've missed something, I'd appreciate an explanation and offer my apology.
Rating: 
Summary: The Good Woodcutters Guide
Review: Dave Johnson is a practical guy, who writes a practical guide. He provides a very good review of chainsaw use, safety, and maintenance. He also does a pretty good job of discussing bucking, felling, and all other aspects of getting pine trees off your lot for money. The other areas discussed, such as sawmills, and economics were interesting, but only cursory. If you are already proficient with a chainsaw, but want to know more about woodlot management, this is not your book. My only two minor criticisms of the book are Johnson should use diagrams more when he is describing the techniques of felling, bucking etc. Also, It was evident that the author was biased to recommend products sold by his publisher. In particular, his acclaim of a sawmill that the publisher sells, even though he admits that he never used one. If you are looking for a good book on using your chainsaw to get wood on the ground, this is the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended for anyone who owns or uses a chain saw
Review: IT'S ALL ABOUT CUTTING WOOD By George Hesselberg "Every once in awhile you get a tip about life that is so logical that you wonder why you didn't think of it. Dave Johnson's The Good Woodcutter's Guide happens to be full of these tips.Johnson cuts a lot of wood and no corners.He and his wife Marcia run a 400 acre tree farm [in central Wisconsin]----. This book---is for the novice woodcutter and the experienced woodlot manager alike.It covers everything from how to buy a chainsaw to the economics of running your own portable sawmill. All of this is well written in a sparse, Wisconsin sort of way.----- The fun parts are where Johnson explains what he has done right and wrong in running a tree farm, cutting wood or, just picking out clothes to work in. Johnson's advice is understated and occasionally, unintentionally [I assume] amusing and he has a way with anecdotes that steer explanations.----- This book is full of bonuses-----.
Rating:
Summary: From The Wisconsin State Journal 15 Nov.1998
Review: IT'S ALL ABOUT CUTTING WOOD By George Hesselberg "Every once in awhile you get a tip about life that is so logical that you wonder why you didn't think of it. Dave Johnson's The Good Woodcutter's Guide happens to be full of these tips.Johnson cuts a lot of wood and no corners.He and his wife Marcia run a 400 acre tree farm [in central Wisconsin]----. This book---is for the novice woodcutter and the experienced woodlot manager alike.It covers everything from how to buy a chainsaw to the economics of running your own portable sawmill. All of this is well written in a sparse, Wisconsin sort of way.----- The fun parts are where Johnson explains what he has done right and wrong in running a tree farm, cutting wood or, just picking out clothes to work in. Johnson's advice is understated and occasionally, unintentionally [I assume] amusing and he has a way with anecdotes that steer explanations.----- This book is full of bonuses-----.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Topical Book
Review: Mr. Johnson writes from the viewpoint of a Wisconsin pulpwood cutter, but his chapters are applicable to most anywhere on the North American subcontinent. I would have liked to have seen more material on large-girth trees, especially second generation trees common to New England. His discussion of Swedish logging techniques is excellent, and conceptualized a growing trend towards ecologically sensible timber harvesting. The chapter on tree-felling, especially his cutting in a pivot method (with top of bar doing the cutting) is contrary to what most woodcutters have been taught and provocative. His chapter on which saw to buy (Yes, I have a Husqvarna, Dave!!!) was also compelling. It's too bad American companies let themselves get trashed by Stihl and Husky - I have a nice 1989 McCulloch Titan 50 and will put that up against any European saw, but cannot get parts for it anymore. Excellent discussion of the pros and cons of portable sawmills. Since I was considering the purchase of one, he pointed out several factors to consider that I had not thought of previously. This was a key reason I bought this book. I would like to see a complete book on portable sawmilling that covers all aspects of it. All in all a superb book for a beginner, and a good refresher for an experienced woodcutter like me with over 20 years experience.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Topical Book
Review: Mr. Johnson writes from the viewpoint of a Wisconsin pulpwood cutter, but his chapters are applicable to most anywhere on the North American subcontinent. I would have liked to have seen more material on large-girth trees, especially second generation trees common to New England. His discussion of Swedish logging techniques is excellent, and conceptualized a growing trend towards ecologically sensible timber harvesting. The chapter on tree-felling, especially his cutting in a pivot method (with top of bar doing the cutting) is contrary to what most woodcutters have been taught and provocative. His chapter on which saw to buy (Yes, I have a Husqvarna, Dave!!!) was also compelling. It's too bad American companies let themselves get trashed by Stihl and Husky - I have a nice 1989 McCulloch Titan 50 and will put that up against any European saw, but cannot get parts for it anymore. Excellent discussion of the pros and cons of portable sawmills. Since I was considering the purchase of one, he pointed out several factors to consider that I had not thought of previously. This was a key reason I bought this book. I would like to see a complete book on portable sawmilling that covers all aspects of it. All in all a superb book for a beginner, and a good refresher for an experienced woodcutter like me with over 20 years experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Response to criticism
Review: Since my book was published over a year ago, it has been reviewed many times in many publications. Of all the reviews I have seen, only two are, in my opinion, unfavorable enough to require a response. Both of these appear in the "Customer Reviews" here. In his review of December, 1999 Dr. Gil Gaudia questions whether "open face felling" is a legitimate means of tree felling. He asks if I have ever actually felled a tree using that method. Well, yes; thousands at least, maybe tens of thousands, including about 30 yesterday. It is the only method taught by the "Game of Logging", the premier logger training course in the US. DR. Gaudia states, more or less correctly, that it is impossible to make a 90 degree notch with a horizontal cut at the base. You can make the 90 degree notch if the tree trunk spreads at the base but, that's not what I meant. I know that the lower cut will not normally be exactly horizontal but, how else can you say it? Parallel to the ground? In a horizontal plane? What I meant and, what most people grasped, was that the saw should be held with the bar more or less parallel to the ground. That's the best I can do. In April,2000, Hubert Halkins, who tells us he is a retired math professor takes me to task for a math error. I said that the volume of a cylinder equals the height times the diameter of the cylinder where I should have said the Area of the cylinder. I wrote this in explaining how the volume of a saw cylinder is calculated. It has no bearing on anything else and I should have simply left it out. I put it in to show how smart I was and ended up showing exactly the opposite. He says that this is only one of many math errors in the book. If this is so, I wonder why he picked it to illustrate his point. There are quite a few really interesting calculations in the book for such things as btus in firewood, moisture percents, board feet and cord calculations, log scaling etc., etc. Mistakes here would have some impact on the reader, not so the one he chooses Unless a reader mistrusts the saw manufacturer's calculations and wishes to mike the cylinder and see for himself, the error is insignificant. Professor Halkin goes on to say that the book is "useless for an inexperienced person who wants to learn about chainsaws." He says I do not define "dozens of technical terms" which I use. This really puzzles me. I, and two editors, went over the book to avoid just this problem and, in my opinion, we have. Since he gives no examples, I have tried to see if I could find any terms which should have been more fully explained. I wrote from the viewpoint of an amateur woodman who uses a chainsaw in his work. That is who I am and, I so state in the first sentence in the book. I can find no undefined terms in the book which should trouble anyone who even spent some time in hardware stores. True, I don't really know if this baffles a retired math professor. I sincerely hoped that it wouldn't but, it seems as if it has. I never meant the book to be a primer on mechanical basics. I wrote about things I knew as best I could. The book is a collection of anecdotes and descriptions of the work I do together with wisdom gained from my life experience and from others. I meant it to be entertaining as well as instructive. I put 20 years of woods experience into it. It is the only book I have ever written and, the only one I ever will. It is not all things to all people. There's no way it could be. Self serving as it is, I suggest you read the book and judge for yourself. Incidentally, I e-mailed prof. Halkin but, he didn't answer. Sometimes, reviews say as much about the reviewer as about the book being reviewed.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly A Guide
Review: The author has an easy readable, style that found me reading the book in one evening. It is laced with humorous anecdotes, but that is where the "goodness" stops.The information on saw and tree safety is a gloss over at best and very disturbing considering the immense danger involved in proper cutting, nevermind improper. A chainsaw manual from a reputable dealer has more safety and technique information than this book. Novices beware, this book will not teach you how to be a "good" woodcutter.The pages on selecting clothing at the Salvation Army and driving around in a beater of a truck would have been better used discussing wood cutting, but it obvious that his self-taught methods and his "it's not the right way, but the way I do it" attitude will get some unlucky beginner killed. Don't buy this book if you are looking for info on Chainsaw milling, he knows nothing about it.
A better title might have been "Subsistence Living with Pulp and Cordwood."
Rating:
Summary: Hardly A Guide
Review: The author has an easy readable, style that found me reading the book in one evening. It is laced with humorous anecdotes, but that is where the "goodness" stops.The information on saw and tree safety is a gloss over at best and very disturbing considering the immense danger involved in proper cutting, nevermind improper. A chainsaw manual from a reputable dealer has more safety and technique information than this book. Novices beware, this book will not teach you how to be a "good" woodcutter.The pages on selecting clothing at the Salvation Army and driving around in a beater of a truck would have been better used discussing wood cutting, but it obvious that his self-taught methods and his "it's not the right way, but the way I do it" attitude will get some unlucky beginner killed. Don't buy this book if you are looking for info on Chainsaw milling, he knows nothing about it.
A better title might have been "Subsistence Living with Pulp and Cordwood."
Rating:
Summary: The Good _Logger's_ Guide
Review: The title is misleading. While they mention sawmills in the title, there is precious little information on milling, 11 out of 212 pages. If you are looking for info on wood and drying it, try Hoadley's "Understanding Wood", and "Fine Woodworking On: Wood and How to Dry it".
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