This is a walkout basement well house thats about 50 years old. The block wall in the basement is cracking, being pushed in by the root ball of a white oak.
Knotched it too deep trying to get the top and bottom cuts of the knotch to meet. Pic was taken after I cut the hinge splinters off the stump. The south wind was strong and in my favor but it blew the tree over before my back cut got close to the hinge. The hinge broke when the tree got to about a 45 degree angle in the fall. All worked well and the tree fell right where I intended. Luckily for such a lousy job I did. I usually do better but this is my first felling of this winter. Maybe Im out of practice.
A new shop is going on the concrete slab. Another reason to get this done now. I should have taken the stump pic before I leveled off the stump. The back cut did come in at about the right angle to end up 2" above the knotch.
Have fun with that hairy vine! I'm allergic to poison ivy, that thing would be there forever if it was in my yard.
I'm very allergic too. But, I get into it regularly. Tecnu soap is a great thing. If I get cleaned up within 3-4 hours with the Tecnu and wash everything I'm usually good. If I do get it it's usually minor. Winter is much easier to control. The vine isn't as "weepy" and I'm more covered up. I still have it 5+ times a year, but good luck keeping me out of the woods just because of some itching.
Impressive tree you took down. That darn vine will try to grow back. I know you can't add an herbicide near the well, but if you put down a black tarp or some over thick cover you might be able to kill it. Any of that oak headed to the mill?
No one in the family is allergic so Im not worried about it growing back. All the wood is headed to the stacks.
I'm not allergic either. Glad I cut wood if it has it or not. Yea that is a super deep cut. If needed make another cut so that you van have them meet up. They only need to be 1/3 of the depth of the tree. That said a week ago I had one go 180 degrees from its intended place. I was useing wedges but the tree sapwood was doady so it was pointless as the outside was just crushing in it seemed so I let it for backward.
Knotching 1/3 of the depth of the tree is usually what I do. I intended to knotch this one 1/2 of the way to help off balance it in the direction I wanted it to go, because the tree looked too balanced for my taste considering the building. I ended up being over 2/3. Anyone else do an extra deep knotch (1/2?) to help off balance a tree in your favor?
ETA: If the tree wasn't so balanced it would have pinched the bar during the knotching cuts. Thats why I cut it today with the wind in my favor. The tree needed and did fall 90 degrees left of the pic. Luckily the unseen portion of the top was helping me a little.
If it was just itching for me I'd deal with it. Picture the kid Rocky from the movie Mask, that's what I look like after getting into it!
Good job On the ground, no one hurt , no damage, soon be premium firewood. I use various cutting methods, all depending on the tree. Standing by the tree is the only way I could give a useful opinion on how I would do it. PI vine making me itch just seeing it.
Well, I just noticed I spelled notch wrong about 50 times. My poor spelling gets worse with the years.
Felling is like landing an airplane. Any landing you walk away from is a good one. Tree is on the ground, no damage, no injuries. Good job!
That is how it was for me. I bought a saw, read the instructions, and went at it for 15 years. I had a few close calls that gave me more and more respect for the saw. I hated the ones where they got hung up in other trees. Took me a while to figure out how to avoid that or not cut those at all. Last time I did any cutting was about 5 years ago. Since then, my son comes over and does my cutting when it fits his schedule. He gets the wood. I get rid of some trees that are getting too big and intrusive. Now I look at the YouTube vids and see much better ways to safely do tree cutting. I just am not in shape to do it now. I can cut some up, but no to knocking them down.
