# Bucking

Cutting a felled trunk or a fallen limb crosswise into shorter lengths. It is the stage of the work that produces firewood or sawlogs once the tree is on the ground.

Source: https://chainsawdata.net/en/glossary/bucking/
Site: ChainsawData (chainsawdata.net) — open technical specification database
Last updated: 2026-08-24
License: free to quote with attribution to chainsawdata.net

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The hazard in bucking is not the tree falling but the log moving: a trunk under tension pinches the bar shut, and one under compression splits and drops. Read which side of the log is in compression and which in tension, cut the compression side first to about a third of the diameter, then finish from the tension side so the kerf opens rather than closes. Keep wedges or a spare plastic wedge to hand for when you misjudge it. Never buck with the log resting directly on soil, since one touch of the chain on stone or grit dulls it instantly.