How to cut a wooden plank too heavy to lift?

[michaelmkchu]

I have a small raised garden at the back of my house. The wood border is 3 planks high. I want to lower half of this raised garden so that my older dog doesn't have to jump up. 

This would involve cutting 2 of the border planks and then removing them and the dirt behind them.

The planks were set in a long time ago and are too heavy to lift.

How should I cut those planks? Should I use a chainsaw and do my best to avoid cutting the last plank?

The picture is what we currently have and I have draw what I am trying to achieve. 

I'm new to this, don't have any tools other than a shovel, but am happy to buy some. Just not all the power tools as I don't plan on doing a lot of other work myself.

[JacobZ]

Hi @michaelmkchu,

Thank you for your question about cutting out some sleepers so you can reorient your garden bed.

A chainsaw will work, but if you don't own one and have never used one before I definitely wouldn't advise purchasing one for this project.

Start by removing the dirt behind the sleepers as it will get in the way of your cut and any additional weight on the back of the sleeper can cause pressure in the timber that will make cutting more complicated and potentially dangerous.

Once the dirt has been removed, I'd suggest using a high-quality handsaw such as this Bahco ERGO™ Superior™ NXT 550mm Handsaw to cut through the timber. This will give you control over the cut to ensure you don't damage the bottom sleeper on the way through.

If you work in a smooth motion, using the full length of the saw on each stroke, you'd honestly find that it is not much slower than a powered saw. If you were doing hundreds of cuts, it would be worth investing in something powered, but for two cuts a handsaw will be perfect.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob