Evening gents! I posted a few weeks ago about heading to Missouri to help a friend drop trees. Forgive the following long story - I'll keep it as brief as possible. Buddy was quoted $800-$1000 to drop two trees against his house. He figured it would be better to fly me out for a few hundred and let me drop them. He then spent the savings on an Echo CS-590. So I head out for a 4 day visit. Done. Ship my 372 to MO, along with straps, wedges, files, etc., etc. etc. Also had my new More Power Puller shipped direct to him (I'm going to post a review about this soon). First morning - unpack and find the front bar stud on my 372 pushed into case about 1/2 inch. No tools to try to knock out from oil tank and no hardware to pull the stud from the clutch side - and too far to drive to get them. Plan was to slowly break in the Echo and use my 372, but no choice - the Echo got a trial by fire - worked her hard. No choice. I rig the first oak and before I cut the notch, sound the trunk. Sounded hollow. Sure enough - no heartwood. Pic below. Took slow backcut - side to side - wedged the sides and kept a tight pull. About 3 inches before where the hinge would have been, tree split up the center about 15 feet up the middle of the trunk. I backed up fast and had my buddy hit the puller hard. She laid down right where we wanted. Phew. Next oak came down nice. Light lean toward house. Rigged a line and pulled her right over. Next tree was another dead post oak on his neighbors property - about 20' from the house. Rigged and down easy. All wood hauled to his house. Final tree was a monster dead post oak along his driveway. After dropping, was 114 years old and nearing 3' diameter at stump. Cut a fat notch, back-cut with a strong pull from the puller and she was over. Bucked most of the trunk and chunked to quarters. The pics with the Fiskars and truck are from this tree. My buddy took most of the pics with his phone - these are all I have. He took some good vid too. All in all, I had a great time. Worked each day from light to dark. Had great evenings catching up and finally meeting his wife and 2 kids. Was able to give my buddy some good pointers on chainsaw basics, care, and safety (his first time cutting and he's real keen on getting into this - wants to burn wood full time). Also tips on using his stove (Hearthstone Heritage) and I changed out his door gaskets while there too - they were toast. He has quite a nice start to his wood pile now - all oak, so he'll have to wait, but he can try to buy some softer hardwoods for next year now and let that oak sit. He and his wife were great hosts - fridge full of good after-work beverages and great food! Waiting for the 372 to come back this week and I'll fix the stud and make sure she's okay. She was leaking a lot of oil - hoping it was from the stud. Hope I don't find a big problem with the case. I think she's okay. Enjoy a snowy evening to you east-coasters south of me, and I hope all of you are warm by the fire. Cheers!
Looks good that you got all of the trees down that needed dropping without anyone getting hurt. Good job
Nice Job! Sounds like the new Echo had a nice little work out... Hopefully your 372 will be ok. Did it get pushed in during shipment?
Yep, must have been dropped hard and pushed in during shipping. I insured it for $500 - took photos of everything. Should probably make a claim in case something major is broken.
Great story NH_Wood sounds like perfect trip, had some fun, helped out friend he gets a new saw. what's not to like!
Wow! You da man! Lotsa good wood dere Sept fur day holler one. I's bet day's prolly some gooder wood up da trunk. Looks like the Echo earned its keep and then some. Just goes to show you that you don't have to be the biggest, baddest sunny beach on the block to get the job done. He's lucky to have a friend like you.!
Ducking a "chair" on the first tree- a BIG plus. (Betchyer looking up bore-cutting; saves dentures and changes of shorts. ) Impressions of the Echo 590? Seems like a competent engine. Bet you'd have gotten done lots quicker with (2) serious saws running simultaneously! You lucked out on the snow up there in NH. We got ~16". Shut everything down, and made for a good workout with snowblower beast.
I normally do bore cut, but with so little wood holding the tree I wanted to ease the backcut and keep constant tension on the rope - didn't want a quick release, lose tension, and have the tree start to buckle. I was constantly watching for any movement - was definitely worried it might barber on me. I really liked the 590 - at $400 or so, it's a great option. My 61 is stronger, but nice not to be hauling a heavy saw all day. Saw came off idle near the end - started idling high - had to set lower - other than that, it's a competent saw in that class and pricepoint. Yep, I did luck out in NH - not a single flake fell! Cheers!
