So I called the fellow from whom my spring score came. We had a tree he wanted to work on together. But, he had another tree on the ground that needed dealing with. Red oak, some of it cut up, all the brush gone. But the trunk gave me the willies. I've never gotten surgical on wood, but this was.the time to cut a little, see how it reacted, cut a little over there to release the tension, and stayed ready to move quick if something was about to release. Essentially, the tree fell and twisted. 22" around. Sca
Rot extended from the stump maybe 3'. And thats where it broke. Everything on the ground is solid. After the pictured cuts, I made a handful of relief cuts just to take the tension out. Nothing popped or snapped. But it could've been nasty. I stayed well at arms length to the side, and was prepared for the saw to move unexpectedly. Sca
Sometimes those can be tricky. Read the log carefully to see active and reactive forces. Prop with stickers under log if possible. EDIT: which i see you did. Much easier to buck elevated than if directly on the ground. Use my "door stop" wedges to keep the kerf open to avoid pinching your saw. Nice that it split open. Probably dry rot and/or ants inside. Been my experience with bigger oak. Wish i was closer id help you out.
Good job, brother. Got some pre-split...that's a bonus. Sometimes you have to plunge cut in and then down to relieve the tension. Glad you got it done safely.
Nice work getting that apart safely. We've got 4 or 5 similar trees to get off properties yet from storm damage. Finally got all the real hazard trees finished up so that's good.
It was definitely an abundance of caution type job. Mostly cut up as of this morning. A.bit of splitting and a few more cuts, and we're done. Cord and a half so far. Sca
When i gave some to Ctwoodtick when we met up he asked me "what am i going to do with doorstops"? A tradition now when i meet up with a new FHC member. Those are actually cut off scraps from rafter birds mouth cuts!
