We've been working on fencing in one of the fields to be pasture for a couple steers. We put in about half of the posts last weekend for this section of pasture. After looking things over this morning while over seeding, I figured I better drop a bunch of dead stuff that was within reach of the fence line before we string the fence. I dropped 5 20" DBH Honey Locust that I had girdled 3 years ago. Hinges are a feller's friend. I always try to examine every stump I drop to ensure that I'm getting the hinge set well. I've been practicing because I have a dying hickory that I'm going to have to drop between the house and my woodshed. I'm trying to get better and boost my confidence so I can drop it and not fret about it too much. Here's some pix of the HL and a few other smaller trees that got dropped. There were a pair of HL here and I had to drop the one the saw is setting on up high first, then cut off the stub so I could cut the one behind it at a comfortable height. Hinges on both were fine and they dropped right where I was aiming. These are the twins laying on the ground. Notice the bar couldn't reach all the way through on the bottom one and I couldn't come in from the other side since it got cut first. I could have brought a plunge cut in from the rear to trim that corner first, but I figured it wasn't going to be a problem. This is the first of the twins that came down. It was aimed to miss where the new gate will be. The gate posts are just off the right side of the picture. Aimed this one between the fence posts and to minimize collateral damage to other smaller trees. Overall I was very happy with the felling and the hinges. All went as planned and I'll get this all cleaned up later. Some of the straight locust logs will go on the sawmill to become deck boards for at the back of the house. The rest will be primo firewood for us and I'll be sharing with the neighbor as well. We do a lot together.
Like AC said, it's solid as a rock. I cut and burned some HL logs I found back in the woods that my nephew had cut 15 years prior. It had been laying on the ground in a swampy area and took a year to season after it was CSS. The girdled stuff has a head start on drying out, but will still take a couple years after CSS. I'll get as much lumber out of the straight stuff as I can first though.
Some thorns fall off but not all, they are still pretty wicked. I try to knock them off with the saw where it falls and then skid the logs out of that area. Most of the time the thorns only are up to twenty feet or so on the trunk and those logs go to the mill unless it was a crooked or diseased with rot in it. I don't work on HL with tennis shoes on... EVER... and chaps are somewhat helpful too. I rarely wear anything other than work boots out in the woods anyway.
I girdled several in our woods 3 years ago cause of thorns and the location of the trees. We were getting thorns in our atv tires. One year after the trees were girdled I burnt the thorns off with a weed burner.
Looks like some quality time w/ a saw! I strive for a nice hinge as well and it appears you nailed 'em.
I cut a bunch of the firewood size stuff using a square ground chain that I sharpened for the first time. I'm liking the square file but have to fine tune my technique. Lots more to cut for firewood and skid the saw logs over to the mill. This isn't the most wood I've had on this truck but it is for sure the heaviest load. This stuff is solid and weighs a bunch. It'll burn real nice in '24...
Square grind does cut good. Make sure the logs are clean, a little dirt dulls it quick. I put one on my 28" bar to break down some big knotty oak rounds, didn't see some dirt stuck to the bark on the lower side...didnt last long...
