Abstract
The Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC), working with trail crews throughout the United States, has standardized a comprehensive document on the use and maintenance of handtools involved in trail
work. Information collected from industry experts, from interviews with trail crew members, and from extensive
bstract literature and market research on the subject provides the text for this document. It stresses safe and efficient tool use. It describes each tool and presents nomenclature and maintenance procedures, including sharpening techniques and rehandling methods. The document is intended for both experienced and inexperienced trail crews.
This document was prepared by William R. Hutcheson and Dale Mrkich, former forestry technicians at MTDC. The work was accomplished under the direction of Jerry Oltman, former MTDC forester and project leader. Special thanks to MTDC staff Bert Lindler, Sara Lustgraaf, Brian Vachowski, and Gary Hoshide for helping develop this revised edition.
The tools shown here are those used most often by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service trail crews. They are categorized into tools for sawing, chopping, grubbing, digging and tamping, pounding and hammering, bout This Document lifting and hauling, peeling and shaping, and sharpening and rehandling. Each tool is described along with helpful techniques for use and maintenance.
You can order a copy of this document using the order form on the FHWA’s Recreational Trails Program Web site.
Fill out the order form and submit it electronically.
Or you may email your request to:
ReportCenter@dot.gov
Or mail your request to:
Szanca Solutions/FHWA PDC
13710 Dunnnings Highway
Claysburg, PA 16625
Fax: 814–239–2156
Produced by:
USDA Forest Service, MTDC
5785 Hwy. 10 West
Missoula, MT 59808-9361
Phone: 406–329–3978
Fax: 406–329–3719
Email: wo_mtdc_pubs@fs.fed.us
Web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs
Notice:
This document was produced in cooperation with the Recreational Trails Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of this document.
The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Department of Transportation. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
