Cutting Shakes

Using a wooden stave as a mallet and his parang, or bush knife, as a froe, this Dayak villager from West Kalimantan cuts roofing shakes out of a downed Dipterocarpus trunk. Same resin infused (and extremely resistant) hardwood as recorded in the village of Ensibau (see Shingle Maker). Neither craftsman is wearing shoes as he chops away. [NOTE: It takes a forester to notice this, but the fellow in the upper right background of the image is wrapping a d-tape around a tree to measure it's diameter. Apparently, we were running transects when we passed the shake cutter].