That is the answer to my wife’s question from two days ago. “I wonder when that dead tree is going to fall down?” She asked. Well, while she was out grocery shopping this morning and I didn’t have anyone here to stop me, I decided to drop this red oak that had died last spring. Was going to wait until winter but opted to get some trigger time in today. The 61/272 hybrid was the tool of choice this morning. I used the little XS Jonsered 2150 for cutting up the top into manageable lengths, which I’m leaving to compost, piled in the woods. It was a clean drop that went exactly in the hole I needed it to go. I bucked a few rounds before calling it quits for the time being. This saw is running spectacularly now that it has an OEM 272XP cylinder, as opposed to the Chinese knockoff that I originally built it with. This is the first real cutting I’ve done with it since dialing it in, so the Caber ring isn’t even fully seated yet. It’s a bear to pull over without a base gasket and no decomp. There’s another 20’ of straight and clear trunk left to buck. Up to this point the work was super easy, since the trunk was suspended on top of these large half rotten sugar maple logs that I left here back in the winter time.
If it's as nice there today as it is here, perfect day for it! No point in waiting on it to fall on its own, especially if it could land in an unwanted spot.
It's absolutely gorgeous here today. 70 and dry, bright with a few scattered clouds and a very light intermittent breeze. One of the top 10 days of the year IMO. Yeah I didn't really want to be out there dropping it when there's snow on the ground. I like having a clear escape route and not worrying about fumbling my exit when it starts to go. The only casualty today was a pine holzhausen that had been up for almost 5 years now. It took out about a third of it, which I'll have to re-stack. Not a huge deal as I was planning on tearing into that pile this year anyway. The tree had a slight lean and all of the limbs favored that direction too, so I was kind of committed before I even started. Luck was on my side in that nothing weird happened. It started to go, I pulled the saw out of the cut and backed away, and it came down right where I was aiming. There's another dead red oak next to it I may drop in a few months too. It's over the line into the neighbor's yard so I'll have a discussion with him about it. Between those two trees, I'll have most of an entire season's worth of firewood covered.
Nice straight oak is such a joy to process. This is the fun part . Curious if you are one that dislikes the smell of red? Only time I’ve found it unpleasant was with a bunch of decay present.
Some types of red oak, yes. Pin oak in particular doesn't agree with my sniffer. This regular northern red oak is fine though. Black oak is my favorite in the red family; it's got an almost sweet scent. Not as nice as anything in the white oak group, but pleasant. At this point I'll take whatever oak I can get in my immediate backyard that I don't have to haul home. I'm doing my best not to resort to hauling wood in the new used truck.
What are the odds you and I fell trees on the same day and they're both dead? Dropped a sugar maple yard tree. Good job getting it down safely. How was the meat? Bark holding on tight yet? Yeah couldn't ask for a more perfect firewooding day.
Most everything was solid. Mushrooms just started growing in a couple spots on the trunk. As far as dead oak goes, this was primo. A lot of it looks almost as good as live cut. There were a few sections where the bark was coming off but not bad at all. The worst of it was 2 spots where a major limb had broken off from the main trunk years ago and rot had started inside. But I'll be able to salvage around those sections and toss the stuff I don't want to mess with. There's enough here to where I can be picky.
We certainly have been enjoying some beautiful weather. Great for the beginning of the gathering of firewood.
