Well, the 1st Norway Spruce is no more having met it's demise and 9:36am today. All of the expected traffic had passed so out came the chainsaws and I went to it. The notch, an open faced, face cut, 70 degree cut down meeting a 30 degree cut up with a bored back cut leaving a trigger. Then checking for traffic and seeing none, pulled the trigger and down it came hitting my target with the top of the leader. My target was an orange 5 gallon bucket. Since the tree bends as it falls, it kind of flicked the bucket pushing it away. On video, which I won't show, in slow motion it was highly visible. (I won't show it because I'm in it) And without pictures, it didn't happen, so here are a handful of pictures for your enjoyment: First up, my target and my neighbors cat. My little friend had moved on moments before I started the chainsaw. The target is where I expect the end of the tree to land and is what I'm aiming for. Next is the tree as it fell diagonally across the road. The orange bucket would have been in the picture but as I said, the leader flicked it into the ditch. This one I am in the process of bucking it up when a vehicle came down the road. I told the older gentleman that it would be at least a half hour before I would have the road cleared for any vehicle to pass through. Then I went back to work, and he waited, or so I thought. Well, he had gotten out of his vehicle and helped clear all the branches as I limbed the tree. As I went I kept bucking the tree into about 4 foot lengths in order to make them easier to move. Once the road was cleared the older gentleman left. I did thank him and offered him something to drink, even money because that made everything move along a lot quicker, but he declined. And from the other side: After the limbing and bucking, everything had to be cleaned up: And moved to where I'll process the works down to firewood or send what remains through the chipper. (a good number of those rounds were sure heavy!) There are also rounds under the pile of branches. But you know, felling a tree is no good without the stump. What I did was do my felling cuts at about 34 inches from the side away from the road since. This way, I would have clearance of about 2 inches for the end stump, and have a 32 inch round which I would cut into two 16 inch rounds. And how the stump looks when I left it. Note, there are no wiskers! Plus, I am happy to say, no Arborvitae were damaged as a result of the Pine falling on them. As you can see, it missed them by at least a foot!
Great work tree killin' lady Also to the nice old man who helped, and for you offering drink and $. You sure he didn't ask you on a date? Or were you trying to woo him? Too bad we can't see your cinematography efforts......
Thanks! Would you ask me for a date if I was holding a large running chainsaw? And no, I don't try to woo anyone even in this modern age. The older gentleman was in his mid 70's to low 80's, so I was really surprised he helped. The video was though my security cameras. And really it is kind of funny. The moment I pull the trigger, the tree lurches forward, falls and a moment before it's laying totally on the ground, it flicks the bucket. You know, with all the suspense that was building for the tree to be felled, after it was all over it was ............ Ehhhhhh! NEXT!
Kudos to you Star Gazer, for documenting a well thought out plan that was executed perfectly. Now, on to the next one and we'll be waiting to listen to the same song, but the second verse..... And to quote our old friends Siskel and Ebert....."Two Thumbs Up"...!!!!! ....about that old man, you probably made his day, he probably went home and unplugged his pace maker just to slow his heart back to normal...and not from the exertion.
Oh, maybe a little different song. There aren't nearly as many branches, but it is a double stem reaching about 103 feet up according to my guestimate using a torpedo level, speed square, and a 200 foot tape measure. I'm already working on a new plan. I don't know about my making the older gentleman's day, but he did make mine! He even asked where I wanted the branches put. (I told him right next to the road where I could retrieve them would be fine, and he did.) Now if I were wearing a halter top and some Daisy Dukes (I'm way to old for those) he might have had a heart attack right there.
Aww shoot, I misspelled it! I spelled it "supercalafragalisticexpalidocious" and the correct spelling is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" but I was close!
I started splitting yesterday and over the course of an hour and a half only managed to get about 16 cubic feet worth split. (4' x 3' x 1.33') Knots? Yep, hundreds of em! The smaller stuff wasn't too bad, but the bigger the round, the worse it gets. Slabbing off the side is wicked to near impossible. I'm seeing a lot of noodling in my future for this tree. The next one I think will be better since the branching isn't nearly as dense as this one was.
Awesome job.... I am about your age to and do a lot of stuff like you but...Reading this thread wore me out Lol....Keep doing what your doing as long as you can...
Thanks! I'll keep on doing as long as this old decrepit body of mine keeps going. This week, I might take down the double stem pine, wind and weather permitting. Oh to heck with "might" take down. I will strip it and fell it this week. (climb it, remove all but the top branches, stabilize the stems, and fell it) I'm already getting excited!
