Snedding is the process of stripping the side shoots and buds from the length of a branch or shoot, usually of a tree or woody shrub. This process is most commonly performed during

hedge laying Hedgelaying (or hedge laying) is a countryside skill that has been practised for centuries, mainly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with many regional variations in style and technique. Hedgelaying is the process of partially cutting throug ...

and prior to the

felling Felling is the process of cutting down trees,"Feller" def. 2. and "Felling", def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009 an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the tree ...

of trees on plantations ready for cropping. The verb 'sned', analogous to today's

limbing Limbing or delimbing is the process of removing branches from a standing or fallen tree trunk. In logging, limbing follows felling. Limbing plays a role in fire prevention by removing branches from live trees that can otherwise serve as part of ...

, was also used by woodcutters in Scotland to refer to the process of removing branches from felled trees. Whether using an

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

, a

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, ...

or a

billhook A billhook or bill hook, also called a pruning knife or spar hook, is a versatile cutting tool used widely in agriculture and forestry for cutting woody material such as shrubs, small trees and branches. It is distinct from the sickle. It was c ...

, the relative difficulty of snedding was a key measure of the difficulty of the job as a whole. The word comes from the Scandinavian ''snäddare'', meaning a smooth log via the Old English ''snǣdan''. Snedding can also describe a form of

pruning Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...

when only some shoots will be removed, or when removing the leafy top from root crops (particularly turnips).

References

Notes

External links

Irish Forestry Safety Guide: Chainsaw Snedding
Horticulture {{Forestry-stub