My neighbor 3 doors down ( about a quarter mile) has a lot of 12-16 dbh dead ash trees that I was going to take down for him this fall. Lots of branches since the guy "planted a woods" about 30years ago. I was going to do all the falling and bucking. He was going to help transport since I have two trucks. His wife came over yesterday begging me to help him because he bought (unknown kind) chainsaw and just started cutting into the trees with no face cuts or anything, letting them fall where they may. He's managed to get 3 down without dying according to her but keeps getting the saw pinched and stuck...sigh. So now I have to help when its 95 degrees out instead a of brisk fall day. He is the kind of guy that will keep going and won't stop so I have to help or he's gonna get seriously hurt. I don't really mind ... except the heat lol. There's enough there, I'll show him face cuts and proper hinges (something I don't normally do) because if I don't he'll keep doing what he is doing to other trees after I get the ash down whenever he gets a wild hair up his azz.
Good luck with your “tutoring”. He’ll be a lot better after your advice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You still getting the wood? If he just wants to play with a chainsaw, here’s what you do. Go over there and cut them all down in a day or two. Show him how you want it bucked and let him go to town. Then come back later and collect.
Boy that sounds kinda scary...a bunch of dead Ash trees are not good trees for a newb to "practice" on! Dangerous...
At least they aren't big trees so hopefully things will go well. I've helped several people that have never fell a tree nor did they know much about it. It is great that you will be able to teach him a few things but we do feel for you having to do it in this heat. Good luck.
Phew lucky for me broke his saw yesterday. I can slow the pace a bit. He is super lucky. He had one hung up, first priority today go it down. First thing he said today was he could not control where they went . He was running without bar oil yesterday . I took pics of his stumps. He had to run away from one that came back at him. I wish he would have listened and waited for me to keep going.
My 461 is on one of the larger ones after I cut it. You can see burns after he ran out of bar oil on another
Ah yes, the “natural notch”... A favorite of my neighbor down the road as well. He dropped a 2’ diameter Norway maple right next to his house with one of those!! “More luck than brains” I guess.
I hate to hear that he buggered his saw, but it does seem it was in the best interests of all involved that he buggered it up. I'm a novice at felling tree's, however, I have learned to get a bit of 'basic knowledge' before I attempt things for the first time. It's not like it's 1980 and there's no internet to at least garner a bit of knowledge. But then again, in 1980, I was 12 yrs old, and would have known people to ask for advice. They still exist around here, and they also exist 'HERE'. I have been so glad I found this site.
I see folks commenting that a dead ash is a poor tree to learn on. I have somewhere between 500 and 1000 that I will need to drop in the next few years because it was a serious percentage of my tree planting 30 years ago. A walking survey will tell me how many really. I have felled a few trees but I am far from expert at it. I need to ask what makes these trees so hard for a beginner like me?
I'd assume it's stuff like branches falling out and what not. The roots pull water still to knee)thigh height so you might not get good holding wood(rot). I learned on them. Biggest things I noticed was falling branches and the hinge doesn't hold until the tree hits the ground. About half way through the fall it snaps.
As long as they aren't too far gone there is no problem and you'll do just fine. It is when they get to the point of the roots rotting and they tip over. Also at that point the upper branches can easily break off and come down on you. But it will take many years before they get to that point. For example, we started cutting dead ash in 2002 and we're still cutting! There are a few that we won't get but they are small and of no concern. We did not begin to notice the wood decaying until about 5 or 6 years ago but even then it was not much. The wood we're getting now is definitely not as hard but still great firewood. All in all, when we are finished there will be very little waste in the wood. I love ash!
I've had trees that were just a few years past having leaves on the lower parts of the tree that were already getting punky. As already has been mentioned, they are dangerous due to dropping branches unpredictably, IIRC RCBS had one clock him. Also you never know how good the trunk is, so that can make for an unreliable hinge...
I had one that I dropped recently. Top snapped out in an ice storm, and it was completely solid and moist. Dropped the trunk and found that everything above 24" from the ground was completely hollow until the top where it snapped.
