Welcome Woodchick ...There are a few of us chainsaw toting women on this site and the guys are most helpful, hope you can get your saw going or better yet as Backwoods Savage said get a lighter saw with an easy start and that's half the battle....best of luck to you....
Welcome to the FHC Family. Bunch of great big hearted people on here. You got a gold mine with that oak....
yes sure do! that particular tree is along a stone wall that was once part of a neighboring farm that dates from the mid-1700s. So it is likely at least that old -- I should measure its circumference one of these days. There's a couple more large oaks in that general area. It's neat to think of the original settlers of clearing land, but leaving a few shade trees here and there for the animals. I often think of oaks as the gift that keeps giving. As in, they're always spitting out branches after wind/storms/snow/etc.
Hi XXL: When I first started using it, I thought it was too heavy, but I must be getting a good workout cuz the weight doesn't bother me much anymore. It does cut pretty sweet. My son uses it as well when he helps me out around here. We've cut down many a tree together. I think I mentioned in my first post that I also like to plant trees and also garden. Unfortunately for me and the existing trees, the "perfect" placement of a landscape tree usually means cutting something down. So the stihl comes in handy for that. I'm pretty sure that in the jumble of messy corner of my garage, there is another chain saw. I should dig it out.
Maybe a little G2G could be planned. Win win possibility. A couple guys who love to cut wood and you get some of that ice storm damaged bush cleaned up...and you'll have a few years supply of seasoned wood to boot. BYOPF (bring your own pizza fixings) and you have a party in the making A friend of mine has a stone faced masonry fireplace and I was going to bring it up last week but never got around to it. An amazing unit. His is two stories through the middle of his house. A single fireplace on the downstairs and a two sided unit with pizza oven on the main floor. His main floor has 15' ceilings and it makes for a beautiful (and efficient) center piece. I'll see if I can get some photos. Great technology where a quick hot fire radiates heat from the stones for hours after. I would definitely build one if I was to build a new home.
Hey Woodchick! Welcome to the forum. I haven't been 'round here too long, but I haven't seen 4 pages of welcomes!! It seem that you've got the boy's stirred up ! They/we are a fine bunch & eager to help, nice to have you here.
It really matters not if male or female on this forum. We are all looking for the same thing and the more that welcome new members the better. I feel it is a great starting point to make them feel welcome. I well remember Charlie. I did not know it until he had been on the forum for quite some time but he told me that I was the first person to make a post in his first thread and that it meant a lot to him. I was happy to help. RIP Charlie.
I am all for this idea! Pizza, beer, wood chopping -- does it get any better than that? Masonry heaters are nice. I didn't build a fire yesterday or today, but the stone face is still giving off some heat from this weekend's burn. Had I known that the temp outside was going to go down so low tonight, I would have built a fire earlier today, just so that it would be toasty tomorrow. But it's too late now and I am tired and drinking a glass of port so . . . fire will wait for the a.m.
Here's a before pic of one of my landscaping/chain-sawing projects. This is a red maple in my yard that has exceptional color each year, but it was getting swallowed up by a beech, a poplar, and a white birch. This fall, I finally decided to liberate it.
And here's the after. I still have more work to do in the spring, but I got s good start on its liberation.