I still exist! Haven't been able to check in for a while. Got my first injury on the job. Pinched a nerve in my back and that put me out for a month. Transitioning from cutting strictly for firewood and that side of the business to doing paid tree jobs as well.. Dropping anything that's a safe distance from power lines, and being paid to do so is a new experience on my part. Everything from rotten Redcedars to a storm damaged American Elm (one of only a few mature trees I've seen) and even a Blue Spruce (first for me). Hope everyone else is doing well and staying injury free!
Hope you heal up fine. Always nice to get paid doing something you like. Had a feller reach out to me about dropping 6 oaks about 24". He told me a tree service quoted 1500 just to put them on the ground, so I said I'll do it for 500. He said that's to much, Told him well call the tree company! BTW all these were outin the open with no chance to hit anything.
Good to see you back HPH! Some decent stuff there. Rare to see rot on a cedar like that. Only have encountered it once myself. Injuries are unexpected and can be set backs in life. Had my share of them. Hoard on and cut safe Here's to healthy future for all
Thanks for all the kind words, I appreciate it. I like HPH too. Might have to hang onto that one. High Plains Hoarder takes a while to type out more than once. Oh and buZZsaw BRAD you'd be proud. My old F-150 tailgate continues to degrade. Lost the plastic cover on the top of the tailgate and there's only a 50% chance I can get it to stay closed at this point. Probably going to start carrying ratchet straps in the truck or take a visit to the scrapyard to find a replacement. Redcedars are such an annoying tree around here in my opinion. They're planted for windbreaks and they do that job OK, but this kind of rot is par for the course. Which I've always thought was weird given how dry our climate is most of the time. Which brings up their second problem. They tend to spread fast without a good effort to control them and keep them in their shelterbelts. Then when we have grass fires (not uncommon in the spring) these things turn into fecking gas cans. They burn hot and throw embers like a shot putter on steroids. A grass fire that could be a quick and low heat affair turns into a disaster when these guys get into the mix. My neighbor is a volunteer firefighter and his hatred for these plants is on another level. Yeah, I have no love for this species as a whole. Sure looks pretty and smells nice, so I guess I like the wood? I just hate the tree.
It would definitely be cool to get paid to fell and buck trees. That's the fun part! Hopefully your back issue isn't reoccurring.
Seems to be the thought process today. " Hey I need you to bring your expensive saws and use your time to cut some trees for me, I need to figure out how much I'm gonna charge you"
Well mine has just gotten worse too. The latch wont work anymore. Hafta pull from the inside threaded rod connecting it.. I backed into a concrete wall in the pouring rain yesterday. Pushed the bumper up a bit and it bent the edge of the tailboard. It bent 180* when I forced it to open. Mebbe we could have a "Tailboard survivor" thread!
Same around here. Kind of standing joke around here during a grass fire “ and don’t put out any cedar trees!!”
I've cut some for paying jobs or occasionally to help people out. I keep some, it's great for getting a fire started. I don't go out of my way to deal with it. I've heard of small businesses that make their money clearing them out of pastures. As I've seen it they use something that looks like a skid steer with a cutter on the end. Then just chip the whole thing in a big trailer chipper.
