Finally got to give a few of my saws a workout.

Wanting to spend a little time cutting, and having no place to store more wood for myself, I placed a CL ad offering free help cutting firewood. I got a reply from a guy who cuts wood for his church, which is located on a 50-acre former farm and has an enormous open fireplace in the former farmhouse used for various small events. He said he had a big cherry tree that he'd like to take down but he'd had a couple of trees go the opposite direction from where he intended so he wasn't comfortable doing it himself. So I reviewed my Game of Logging training and this morning I loaded a few saws in the back of the station wagon and headed across town to meet him.

This cherry was about 24" DBH, in the neighborhood of 100' tall, and by far the biggest tree I've ever felled. I thought this might be an opportunity to have some fun with the 79cc Dolkita before selling it, but having bucked this up, I am distinctly less inclined towards that plan.

 

well done, buddy... and good for you for helping that guy out. Which saws did ya use besides the Dolkita?

How good did that cherry smell? lol

 

Thanks! I also took the MS200 and MS360, both of which got used a fair bit, but the Dolkita did most of the work.

 

That's my favorite part of cutting when its hitting the ground.

 

Mine too... as long as it doesn't have other sounds along the way down... like the neighbor's roof, or my 4x4...

 

Nice Jon, the tree was obviously dead. Be careful when dropping those, they shatter when they land just as this one did. Very large pieces of wood can come back at you!!!!

 

Setting up an escape route was a big deal at the GOL workshop. I cleared brush ahead of time, and by the time that tree hit the ground I was 20' back from the stump and off at a (more or less) 45-degree angle from the line of fall.

 

He said he puts up about 6 cords a year, normally by himself with an MS290. That's a lot of volunteer work.

 

Well, you obviously had your Ps & Qs down pat. So you think after dropping that tree, there is a use of an 80cc saw, 1/7 acre or not?

 

At this point I an desperately clinging to my Ps and Qs because I have little else. I'm not ready to try freestyle tree felling.

I couldn't claim with a straight face to need such a big saw, but it is nice to have when something like this comes up.

 

The thing with a big saw is; you don't have to worry about 'did I really go far enough to drop this sucker'! You will know, the challenge then is to get to your safe zone!

 

Even so, it would be fun to try dropping a tree this size with a little 50cc, 16" saw. I'd still want the big guy for bucking, though.

 

I recall dropping many big trees here when I first moved in, several beetle killed pines 24-30" DBH and well over 100' with just my old Poulan farmhand 45 cc's IIRC.
Bucking them with that saw was painful looking back on things

 

I like to noodle with mine You would have to pry mine from my cold dead hands because its not going anywhere

 

Jon, that was a cool video. The camera operator was cool too, he saw the tree falling in his direction and the camera jossled a bit then there's Jon standing on the felled tree.

 

That's just sick MM...

 

He's a really nice guy, and I enjoyed working with him. He said he prefers splitting to chainsaw work, which makes us complementary, so I may end up working with him again again next year. There are worse ways to spend half a day.