The main thing about building everything is you need to be very methodical to avoid cutting off your fingers or smashing your toes or being maimed or dying. All the building trades are very physical so the first thing people have to have is knowing about ergonomics.
For example, splitting wood is very dangerous and yet I did it all the time when I lived in mt. Shasta. Why?
Because my father taught me all the rules I needed to stay alive building anything or chopping or splitting wood without dying.
However, there are always unforeseen accidents and then you might die or almost die.
The funny one (NOW) wasn't funny then when I was getting firewood and cutting down dead Lodgepole pines in my area. I cut the base of the tree and it started to fall the wrong direction. So, like an idiot I ran in the direction it was falling and the last 6 feet of the tree broke on top of my head. However, I think I was wearing either a baseball cap or climber's helmet or workman's helmet for safety and this saved me but it did knock me to the ground.
After that I gave up cutting down dead trees and only gathered already fallen wood. That day I needed wood and there was snow on the ground and trees still standing are drier than those that have fallen so this is why I cut down a dead Lodgepole pine. Also, pine pitch can cause flew fires. I came home to a flue fire once after skiing with a fire engine in my driveway until I learned this about burning only pine. It's best to start maybe with cedar and then go to oak I found. Oak is harder to start in your wood stove so that's why I like to start a cedar fire and then later feed in oak.
Pine is tricky because of potential flue fires caused by pine pitch in your chimneys and fir is sometimes called PISS FIR because it smells like PEE when it burns. So, I found the best combination to burn 24 hours a day during the winters when you are coaling wood to keep your house warm is start with Cedar and then feed in Oak once the cedar gets hot enough. This way your home doesn't smell like pee from Fir and you aren't getting flue fires from Pine pitch in your chimneys either.
So, for example, now when you swing and axe or a mall for cutting or splitting wood there is a way to do this without pulling muscles in your back. You have to be very deliberate. There is a way to snap the axe or mall at the last moment to concentrate the power of your blow the most for the best outcome in cutting or splitting.
However, if you don't learn this technique you likely are going to throw your back out and be laid up for a week if you don't know how to do this.
So, this methodical approach to everything you are doing building or even cutting wood is going to keep you alive so you don't cut off fingers or smash toes or run and axe or mall into your shins or foot.
So, unless you are pretty coordinated to begin with even cutting wood is quite dangerous. So, if you ever need to do this to survive and to keep warm you need these skills to stay alive and unmaimed while doing all this.
I was lucky enough to have a father who taught me all these things starting about age 4 so this is why I could do all these things and survive them. many people do not survive attempting these things mostly because they have not had the proper training early enough.
It's a lot like training to be a basketball or football or baseball player or another sport. If you can do these things then likely you can build things or cut wood or split wood with a mall and survive it and be okay.
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