Had two trees give it up this summer. One I expected. It was a nice red oak that we left in the front yard dead center on our front door when we built the house in 2019. My tree guy told me that I could loose it based on how much of the flare I buried but I took a shot. He was right. It's about 50% dead and loosing more limbs each year so time to drop it. I was goin going to rent a lift at HD and do it myself (close to the house and leaning a bit towards it...) but the cost of the lift was more than the cost of having my tree guy climb it and drop it for me. So, I'm having him come up in a week or two to get it down so I can process it. 78" circumference at 4.5' so it should put out some decent firewood... Next is a birch that is pretty decent sized. It died this summer like so many do when they get large. It's got a good lean in a safe location but I'll let him drop it for me just in case since it's close to my barn. That one is 49" circumference at 4.5' so a decent size for a birch albeit lesser wood. Between these two and what I grabbed from the side of the road 2 weeks back, I'll have enough to finish year three behind the shed. Then I can cozy down for the winter and get to burning.
With DBH's that big some serious wood should come from those. I can hear the 500i purring from here. If you dont feel comfortable smart move not DIY the oak.
The number nerd that i am had to convert that to diameter. Its 25" & 16" approx. Should get close to two cords.
Nice get That's good to know about burying the root flare of a red oak too; I've never heard that before. Not that I've been itching to hide the base of the trunks on any of mine, but good information regardless
Eric, I was told that the flare needs to "breath." Just covering it up is bad but my trunk is probably buried by a foot or two as well. So, it was either bury it or totally mess up the grade of my front lawn so I threw the dice. My bride wants to plant a sugar maple next to the stump of the current tree. We might not grind it. I may just flush cut it with the lawn, drill a bunch of holes in it, and fill them with stump rot. Then make a nice circle around it and the new tree with garden edging and then cover it all with landscape fabric and mulch.
Lots of trees don't like their roots/flares buried. When they built a library nearby here 50 years ago they wanted to save the trees around the library so they built these circular stone walls around all the trunks about 8-10 feet away then backfilled up to the stone walls. Lots of two to three foot tall circles around the trees. The trees are still alive. The circles really don't look big enough compared to the size of the tree but apparently for the kind(s) of trees it was enough.
Yes, that is what my tree guy recommended but mine was already buried and with the stress of GCing the house build, I let it go.
Tomorrow is the day the big oak comes down... Got the 28" Light bar on the 500 along with a new chain. Looking forward to turning it into 24" sections and getting it split and stacked. Perfect weather til Sunday here so time to get er done...
I just started cutting to 24” too. Makes for very heavy splits compared to the 17-18” I was accustomed to.
This means you cut less than you used to….I’m surprised and quite frankly disappointed in you Wait a second, this then leaves you more time to cut cookies? Never mind, carry on!
Only negative for me is, it'll take 3 years to start using the new size. My firebox can take 25" and I cut everything 18ish for the old one. Someone say cookies?
