the narrowest point, an opening was hacked out to hold the pitch-collecting mug; a pitch nail was hammered in just below it, and finally the collecting mug with its lid was put in. The tree was now ready for resin extraction and, as described above, had to be de-barked at regular intervals. The trees that had been pitched for several years were processed in a similar way. General Description of Bark Removal Methods While the Scrap and Beer Mug methods were essentially the two approaches used in setting up a tree for resin extraction, some variation existed in terms of how the bark was removed and how the resin flow was managed. Some of these bark removal and resin flow methods are described below. Adze-based Bark Removal (de-barking): As mentioned in the collection methods described above, bark was originally removed via the use of an Adze or similar tools. This, however, was time-consuming and required much effort, as only small pieces of bark could be removed per hit with this device. The Planing Method Due to the strenuous nature of the Adze-based bark removal, the planing method was developed. Not only was it less strenuous; it also took less time. The working method for new pitch trees as well as those that had been worked on for several years remained the same as described above, only planing was used instead of the usual, Adze-based, de-barking. With the plane (a tool for smoothing surfaces), the Resin Worker cut a wide, flat chunk from the trunk with a single cut. When de-barking in earlier methods, this could only be achieved with many hits from the Adze. The Groove Method As with all processing methods, the upper section of tree bark had to be removed beforehand for the grooving method. Then, the Resin Worker removed a layer of bark several millimeters thick with a scraper. A precise cut was important. With this planing process, no contiguous surfaces were created, but rather V-shaped grooves within the trunk itself. This saved the Resin Worker from inserting the pitch notches, as the resin could flow through the grooves into the pitch mug. Although the Groove Method saved work and time by eliminating chopping, it was only used sporadically in southern Lower Austria, as the yield was up to 50% lower than that of the two other resin extraction approaches, namely adze-based de-barking and planing. A big