It seems that all it wants to do is rain. I still don't have the fence back up in the little valley. I wanted to take care of some trees that is shading the garden and it keeps raining. I decided the garden was dry enough I could drop the sweetgum and dead locusts. I had to take down a small ash tree that had limbs entwined in the locust as I thought it would be too dangerous otherwise. I cut the small ash and left the hinge in place as it was not going over. Then when I drop the locust the ash was pulled over as well. I was surprised to find that the locust was not completely dead; there were a few green limbs growing up in the top. Most of the bark was off the tree so it would not have survived much longer and it had a lot of good firewood in it. As for the sweetgum, I really screwed up on cutting it down. The notch was good but I really screwed up the back cut. I am surprised that it didn't do something "funny" when it started to drop. I started to take a photo but I am too ashamed to show that cut. The biggest problem is that I am tilting the bar for some reason. At any rate, the Beast really gave me a workout today. Between dropping and bucking the trees and getting the brush out of the garden, my arms are hurting as well as my lower back. The saw runs great by the way, thanks again MasterMech for your work on the saw.
Don't be embarrassed, just be thankful it turned out ok & w/ zero injuries, property damage. Feedback will only help you learn.
Interesting thing about this sweetgum was that years ago a storm took the top out of the tree; which fell on the fence of course instead of the opposite driection. Due to the storm damage it had some weird forks at the top of the tree.
I did not even noticed I was cutting at an angle until after the tree dropped. I guess I need to pay more attention but I am nervous about dropping trees; especially here alone. I did clear all the trip hazards and had a clear escape path.
No; but they are stacked up out of the garden and the brush cleared; a little left but it started raining and I decided that was the sign to quit for the day. There is a tulip poplar I want to drop but it worries me. I can show that tomorrow.
Nice work Kimberly. Don't worry about a slight mistake, as long as you are safe. I have dropped many a tree. I have and still make mistakes dropping trees. Luckily I don't do many near structures. (If I do I rope and pull them where I want them to go.) One of my problems is I never took the time to learn the proper techniques. I still need to watch more YouTube videos and someday make it to a get together and get a few lessons.