Presently 64ºF but no way am I going near any tree. The 25 MPH wind plus gusts is just something I don't want to deal with.
I'm going to cut tomorrow on a log pile I inherited about 15 mins. ago lol. I will post pics in the morning when I get down to it.
Cutting some of the 9 trees I had dropped. Will have two helpers and hope to get a bunch of it bucked up. Then will pay my help with beer!
I have been eyeing 3 lodgepoles that died this fall/winter from beetles. I'll probably take at least one down this weekend, and the other two will be done before spring. It is early enough and they are already dead, so I could easily burn them this fall. But I don't have to, cause I am on the 2+ year plan!
No wood cutting planned here gonna be a fence fixing day, couple of yearling angus decided they would rather be in with the neighbors horses and tore out a section of fence. Might get to trim a few trees in the process though, so the little saw might see some action.
Im going to hit the woods. Too muddy to be runnin the tractor around so I will be cutting and splitting on the spot and get the wood out later.
I also wil be ding some "cutting" tomorrow but will wait until after dark. We have a dance tomorrow evening and will be cutting the rug! (Thats dancing for you young ones!)
To much snow in the bush to even get a truck any where near some workable trees. Even with an early spring we are quite some time yet from cutting season.
Melting snow, hillsides and chainsaws don't mix well. I will have to wait a couple of months for safe cutting.
I went after that 8 inch wild black cherry fence buster today. It turned out to be about 11 or 12 inches dbh when I was up close to it so I am glad I took plenty of time looking it over for hazards. I was cutting over the top of a chain link fence so not exactly ideal conditions to set the face or back cuts. Before I started I tied it off to a nearby maple and tightened up that connection so it could not fall into the neighbor's garden although I had to stand in his garden to make my cuts over my fence. I used an open face cut and had to do a little maintenance on it before I started the back cut in order for it to be a clean face cut. I had undercut the angled cut by about 1/2 inch and was not going to tolerate that. It was probably 10 degrees off of horizontal because of the awkward way I had to hold my saw. At least that matched my back cut. I started the back cut as a plunge cut and got the hinge the way I wanted it with about an inch of holding wood at the hinge and another inch or so at the back surface of the tree. Then it was a couple of felling wedges to prevent the tree sitting back on my saw, because it was a slight back leaner. Then I released the back with a cut maybe an inch above the plunge cut and I was happy because nothing moved. Driving the wedges to force the tree forward I realized I was never going to get where I needed to be with my little 16 ounce hammer so I went and got my boy's axe to finish driving the wedges. Once I got that going it was only about 3 or 4 strikes to over center the tree and get it going down. Naturally, with my face and back cuts not level and a rope tie off point that was far from ideal, the tree did not go exactly where I wanted it to go but it did clear all obstacles I had intended it to miss. One I had not really considered was the chain link fence and it did take out a section of that between 2 posts by crushing the top rail in that area. $20 tomorrow will take care of that by replacing it. I have bucked up enough of that 12 inch cherry to be able to stand that section of chain link back up but it is still tied to the bent top rail so that is going to be a tomorrow project. All in all I am happy that nobody was hurt and all the damage done was a bit of chain link top rail. That tree was taking out the corner post for that chain link so I am not at all upset by the small amount of damage to a top rail. Before I even started to buck up the trunk I treated the stump with some Tordon so I should never need to deal with tree again.
Back in the early 90s I was living in Laramie. Used to go to Murf the surfs in Centennial quite a bit on the weekends, quite a little town right there. Another 3 years and I'm taking my wife out there to see all she has missed. Do you guys get to cut all you can out of the forest / park land or do you only get permits for an amount? Not anything we really need to deal with here.
We have to go to either the BLM or National forest office and get permits. It is 5 dollars for a 1/2 cord, so for 20 bucks I can get 2 cord, then I will go with my brother in law and get another 3 cord with him. I love going up there during the week because no one else ever shows up. Centennial and that whole area through WyColo on the way there is pretty nice.
So OldMan is this the tree you have been dreading to cut and decided to go after it? I hope you got that back cut nice and level.
$10 a cord is cheap enough especially if it's easy to get to the wood. Definitely a beautiful area there, whole different world from Maine but I know it goes both ways. Not many places you can pick potatoes cut a load of wood and haul lobster traps all in the same day.
Took down a medium sized lodgepole, a smallish Apple, and a couple of small pines. All were dead or dying. Obligatory pic from kitchen attached. Still some cleanup to do. The PP5020 ran like a champ.
No cutting here today, windy as all get out this morning and muddy as we just went to 60º with 7" of snow. I did wheelbarrow a few loads up and topped off the back patio pile. Then off to my son's for a little get together as he is deploying to Kuwait for 4 months.
