{"id":144459,"date":"2025-10-12T08:46:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T13:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=144459"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:58:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:58:52","slug":"how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In a wilderness survival situation, you may need to cut down a small tree. Maybe you need to make a debris shelter and need a long ridge pole to get it started. Or maybe you need some logs for creating a parallel fire lay (one of the 6 fire lays every man should know<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But what do you do if you don’t have an ax or a hatchet?<\/p>\n

Well, as long as you have a solid survival knife<\/a> on you, you can still fell a small tree.<\/p>\n

You want to use a knife that’s sturdy and isn’t hollow ground. A simple mora knife is ideal for this job. It can take a beating.<\/p>\n

You’ll need to find a sturdy stick too. Then, by pounding the back of the knife with it, you can cut small wedges out around the tree until its structure is sufficiently compromised for you to push it over. <\/p>\n

This technique takes some time and sweat, but it works if you need to fell a tree<\/a> in a pinch.<\/p>\n

Like this illustrated guide? Then you\u2019re going to love our book The Illustrated Art of Manliness<\/em><\/a>! Pick up a copy on Amazon<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a wilderness survival situation, you may need to cut down a small tree. Maybe you need to make a debris shelter and need a long ridge pole to get it started. Or maybe you need some logs for creating a parallel fire lay (one of the 6 fire lays every man should know). But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42378,42392,42259],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-illustrated-guides","category-outdoors","category-skills"],"featured_image_urls":{"aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife-328x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife-320x244.jpg"},"yoast_head":"\nHow to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a wilderness survival situation, you may need to cut down a small tree. Maybe you need to make a debris shelter and need a long ridge pole to get it started. Or maybe you need some logs for creating a parallel fire lay (one of the 6 fire lays every man should know). But […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"328\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett & Kate McKay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett & Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett & Kate McKay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"headline\":\"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":209,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/knife.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Illustrated Guides\",\"Outdoors\",\"Skills\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/knife.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/knife.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/knife.jpg\",\"width\":328,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"A person using a knife to fell a tree.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/skills\\\/outdoors\\\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men's Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\",\"name\":\"Brett & Kate McKay\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness","og_description":"In a wilderness survival situation, you may need to cut down a small tree. Maybe you need to make a debris shelter and need a long ridge pole to get it started. Or maybe you need some logs for creating a parallel fire lay (one of the 6 fire lays every man should know). But […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Manliness","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness","article_published_time":"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":328,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brett & Kate McKay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@artofmanliness","twitter_site":"@artofmanliness","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brett & Kate McKay","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/"},"author":{"name":"Brett & Kate McKay","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3"},"headline":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife","datePublished":"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/"},"wordCount":209,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg","articleSection":["Illustrated Guides","Outdoors","Skills"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2025","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/","name":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife | The Art of Manliness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-12T13:46:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-18T19:58:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/knife.jpg","width":328,"height":250,"caption":"A person using a knife to fell a tree."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/outdoors\/how-to-fell-a-tree-with-a-knife\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Fell a Tree With a Knife"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/","name":"The Art of Manliness","description":"Men's Interest and Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3","name":"Brett & Kate McKay","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}