King of the Wilderness

Chapter 116: Chapter 110: Building a House Starts with Logging Timber

Lin Yu’an looked at David and added: ”Summer is very brief in Alaska, and I must complete all the timber harvesting, transportation, and preliminary processing before summer arrives.”

”Calculating it, I have roughly one hundred days of effective working time.”

”One hundred and twenty trees, which means, on average, I must complete the entire processing workflow of one or two trees per day, from locating, felling, de-branching, and cutting, to transporting them back to the camp.”

”This is a very tight but executable plan.”

Lin Yu’an closed his notebook and summarized: ”It doesn’t permit any slack from me, nor any weather issues, and not any major failures from my tools.”

”David, Mike, are you ready for the first day of the hundred-day plan now!”

This clear and yet brutal plan was instantly infused with a sense of urgency; the timber harvesting operation was formally on the schedule!

Lin Yu’an dragged out the orange hard case imprinted with the ”STIHL” logo from the pile of supplies.

”Lin, is this the timber harvesting tool you were talking about?”

David immediately followed, filled with curiosity about this new tool about to make its debut.

”Exactly.”

Lin Yu’an opened the box, revealing inside the brand new, seemingly powerful professional-grade chainsaw.

”Stihl MS 661, my main tool for logging. 91cc displacement, 5.4 kilowatts of power, equipped with a 28-inch guide bar, sufficient to handle most trees here.”

”I chose it because of its reputation among professional loggers, it’s powerful and extremely reliable, which is the most important quality in the wilderness.”

He didn’t immediately ignite it; instead, he first took out a somewhat bulky set of equipment from another bag and began to put it on.

An orange, thick pair of pants, a safety helmet with a metal mesh face shield and earmuffs, and a pair of protective boots with steel-toed caps.

”Before handling a chainsaw, you must first wear these.”

He patted his thigh and explained to the camera: ”These are anti-cut pants with a special fiber layer inside. If the high-speed rotating chainsaw chain comes into contact with it, the fibers will instantly entangle with the sprocket, forcing the chainsaw to stop within a fraction of a second.”

”In crucial moments, it can save one of your legs. Remember, safety always comes first, especially when you’re far from hospitals in the wilderness; any mistake can be fatal.”

David listened in awe; he never imagined that so much preparation was needed before starting logging work.

”Lin, where did you learn all this? Have you ever worked in logging before?”

”I haven’t, but I’ve watched documentaries on Canadian loggers, which taught me a lot.”

This answer left David somewhat bemused, yet it seemed within the realm of reason—a top mechanical engineering student can learn skills just from watching videos, seemingly very normal.

With everything ready, Lin Yu’an poured the pre-mixed gasoline and two-stroke oil into the fuel tank, also filling the specific chain oil for the lubrication system.

He checked the tension of the chain, then forcefully pulled the starter cord.

”Vroom—Vroom—Vroom—”

The chainsaw was instantly awakened, emitting a deep and powerful idle sound.

Lin Yu’an pressed the throttle a few times, and the engine erupted with a deafening roar, the sound traveling far through the silent forest.

He didn’t randomly choose a tree near the camp but instead led David and Mike further into the forest.

”Today our goal is to find a tree most suitable for making the core structure wood.”

As he walked, he explained to David: ”We are looking for white spruce; its wood is tougher than black spruce and has a better load-bearing capacity.”

Ultimately, he stopped in front of a gigantic white spruce tree.

This tree was at least thirty meters tall, with a root diameter close to one meter, its trunk standing straight towards the sky.

Lin Yu’an didn’t start right away but took out a roll of professional forestry measuring tape to measure around the base of the trunk.

”Diameter at breast height roughly 98 centimeters.”

He reported a figure, then stepped back a few paces and aimed a height measuring device at the treetop.

”Eyeballed tree height, approximately over 30 meters, trunk straight, few branches, crown healthy.”

”Very good! This is it!”

Lin Yu’an stroked the rough bark, his eyes full of reverence for nature: ”This tree has been growing here for at least a hundred years, maybe even close to two hundred. Now it will continue to guard this land in another form.”

Before getting to work, he first carefully surveyed the surrounding terrain and finally determined the best direction for the tree to fall.

It was a relatively open area, providing enough space for subsequent operations.

Then, using an axe, he quickly cleared away the underbrush opposite the planned fall direction, revealing a three to four meters long ”safety pathway.”

”In logging, you always need a clear escape route.” He emphasized to Mike’s camera seriously.

He started up the chainsaw, first cutting a ”V” shaped notch on the side intended to fall, about one-third of the tree’s diameter deep.

Amidst the chainsaw’s roar, wood chips flew in all directions.

Then, he moved to the other side of the tree and began the final back cut slightly higher than the bottom of the notch.

As the chainsaw chain rotated rapidly, the depth of the cut gradually increased. When the depth of the back cut approached the notch, the massive trunk emitted a tooth-grating creaking sound, and the entire tree started to tremble slightly.

”It’s going to fall! Retreat!”

Lin Yu’an shouted lightly, quickly withdrew the chainsaw, and retreated swiftly along the safety pathway he had cleared.

Accompanied by a massive cracking sound, this over a century-old white spruce fell precisely in the predetermined direction.

”Boom——” A loud roar shook the ground, stirring up a storm of snow mist.

David shouted excitedly, ”We did it! The first one out of 120!”

As the giant tree fell, a new challenge immediately presented itself.

Lin Yu’an stepped forward and skillfully used the chainsaw to remove the massive branches one by one, operating very carefully, always keeping the trunk between himself and the chainsaw to prevent the chain from accidentally snapping back and injuring him.

Soon, a stark, gigantic log lay visible before them.

”This tree is of excellent quality. We can cut a twelve-meter long main beam from it, and the rest can be divided into four-meter short pieces for the wall structure.”

Lin Yu’an took out a tape measure and marked the trunk.

He fired up the chainsaw again, precisely cutting the log into sections.

Now, before them lay several enormous logs, each incredibly heavy.

Looking at these giants, David raised the most crucial question.

”Lin, cutting them down is just the first step. How do we transport these things from the forest to the foundation site hundreds of meters away?”

”Your loader might be unable to maneuver in such complex woodland, and the tricycle can’t drag such heavy stuff.”

Lin Yu’an wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled confidently.

”You’re right. Heavy machinery isn’t the best choice in this terrain, so we need a smarter strategy.”

He returned to the supply pile and took out a small orange machine that looked like a motor but was more compact, along with a large amount of steel cables, pulleys, and connectors called ”shackles.”

”What’s this? Another new magical tool?”

David asked curiously, his camera sense immediately perceiving that a new highlight was emerging.

”Portable gas winch.”

Lin Yu’an placed the machine on the snow and introduced it, ”Though it’s small, its maximum pull can reach one and a half tons.”

”Using pulley sets, the force can be doubled, enough to move any segment of wood in front of us.”

He securely fastened the winch to a robust living tree far away with special binding straps.

Then he connected one end of the steel cable to the winch’s spool and the other end was looped around the front end of the longest twelve-meter log with a shackle known as ”lock chain.”

”In my country, many forestry workers use similar methods to haul logs out of mountains when large-scale gathering machinery isn’t available.”

”The core is to use leverage, pulleys, and friction, achieving big results with minimal cost.”

Lin Yu’an selected several key large trees along the path of the log’s progress to serve as turning points, skillfully hanging the heavy pulleys on them.

”What are these pulleys for? Can’t we just pull directly?”

David played the role of the curious child, tasked with interacting with Lin Yu’an and recording more material, though his inquiries would ultimately be edited out, leaving only Lin Yu’an’s instructional commentary.

”No.”

Lin Yu’an explained, ”Pulling directly makes the steel cable easily get caught by trees or stones.”

”With these pulleys, I can accurately change the direction of the pull, making the log move like a greedy snake, bypassing all obstacles.”

”Meanwhile, look.”

He pointed at a freshly arranged set of pulleys, ”Using a moving pulley here theoretically doubles my pulling force. Although we’ll lose half the speed, right now, we need pulling force the most!”

David and Mike watched Lin Yu’an set everything up, completely captivated by this intelligent method of operation.

Once all the steel cables and pulleys were in place, Lin Yu’an pulled the starter cord of the gas winch, and the small engine buzzed loudly.

He put on gloves, gripped the winch’s clutch lever, smiled slightly at the camera.

”Alright, everyone, let’s see how this little guy moves this mountain of wood!”

Finishing his words, he gently engaged the clutch to start the winch.

The steel cables instantly straightened, emitting a low hum.

The winch secured to the distant tree began exerting force, and the engine’s speed slightly increased, delivering powerful torque.

Everyone’s gaze focused on that twelve-meter main beam.

One second, two seconds...

The log remained motionless, but the steel cables tightened to their limits like a soon-to-break string.

David couldn’t help but ask, ”Lin, can it do it? This log is so heavy!”

”Don’t rush.”

Just after he spoke, a creaking sound was heard and the massive log barely shifted on the snow.

Once it started moving, the subsequent hauling became smoother.

Lin Yu’an skillfully adjusted the winch’s cable reeling speed, and the huge main beam began to drag forward on the snow at a measured pace!

Soon, the first challenge appeared! The front end of the log was about to hit a blocking massive rock.

”It’s going to crash!” David promptly shouted in alert.