# Backyard Logging



## slowp (Sep 13, 2010)

We have maples dying. The local term for the disease is Maple Wilt. Wouldn't you know it, after I have a house put here, a maple dies within house reach. So, a former hooktender's son, now in the excavation business, wanted to take charge. 

He just turned 18, and is a whiz on the equipment and seems to know a bit about trees too. But, as he said, things did not go as planned this afternoon. A 20 minute job turned into a 2 hour job. I took a couple of videos of the big tree going down. It was forked at the bottom. He used his 440 with a 32 inch bar, and an excavator wedge. 

This is fork number 1. It hung up in a fir.
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Here is fork number 2.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WXrqZ2B5J7M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WXrqZ2B5J7M?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

The last one, not videoed, also had to be coaxed down. But, as somebody here says, trees went down, nobody got hurt, and I have some firewood.

One more scary note, when I came in the house after the falling, the power was off. I immediately began to have visions of lots of dollars flowing away to electricians, but it turned out to be an area wide outage, not caused by the tree removal. Whew!


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## BarkBuster20 (Sep 13, 2010)

Would be a little safer not stopping so many times in the back cut...maples can and do chair.. like you said there on the ground and no ones hurt..


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## slowp (Sep 13, 2010)

Some stills.


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## bitzer (Sep 13, 2010)

Good vids and pics. We've had a lot of Maples goin around here the last couple years too. 

I used to do that a lot when I first got started. Pushing trees over while I'm in the back cut or if I was alone setting them up and gettin back in the rig to push em. Its a really easy way to break equipment and can be sketchy as hell with a guy on the controls who is not really sure what hes doing while you're on the ground sawing. I avoid using heavy equipment as much as possible now and find a better way. Good entertainment though anyway!


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## wvlogger (Sep 29, 2010)

now its time to get out the barbie saw. Looks like some good wood.


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## rmihalek (Sep 29, 2010)

What kind of maples grow in Warshington? We have silver, sugar, red and Norway with a smattering of ornamental Japanese maples here in Taxachusetts.


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## Meadow Beaver (Sep 29, 2010)

I think they call 'em big leaf maples.


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## madhatte (Sep 30, 2010)

There are 3 natives: Bigleaf Maple, _Acer macrophyllum_, Vine Maple, _Acer circinatum_, and Douglas Maple, _Acer glabrum_. The first is the largest and most common, and the last is seldom seen in Western Wa (tho I do know where a few live).


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## 056 kid (Sep 30, 2010)

BarkBuster20 said:


> Would be a little safer not stopping so many times in the back cut...maples can and do chair.. like you said there on the ground and no ones hurt..



i dont think a limby mape like that standing straight has much of a chance of chairing. Maple really isent all that bad to begin with at least back east. They will pop fibers before they slab usually...


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## RandyMac (Sep 30, 2010)

The tall skinny understory Maples slab like crazy, worse than Alders, the big ones aren't much better.


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## Gypo Logger (Sep 30, 2010)

056 kid said:


> i dont think a limby mape like that standing straight has much of a chance of chairing. Maple really isent all that bad to begin with at least back east. They will pop fibers before they slab usually...



Here's a Rock Maple I chaired. Lol
I caused it when I changed my mind about the notch (refalling), and was falling in windy conditions
You can see my first undercut to the left and then my second notch to the right. It would have worked, but the wind was making the crown pretty dizzy. Lol
One shouldn't fall in high winds, but sometimes it can work to your advantage, however, it's not a good practice.
John


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## Hddnis (Sep 30, 2010)

Maples are gamble to cut on the best of days. 

I love a track mounted wedge with a diesel engine.




Mr. HE


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## bitzer (Sep 30, 2010)

Theres a big difference between the hard and soft maples. At least around here. Silver, norway, red, boxelder, i'd consider soft. Black and Sugar are rocks. They are the forest trees. I could see the hard maples chair. I've never had one do it, but if theres a good amount of head lean i'd cut it so it wouldn't anyway. 

Are the Big leafs soft or hard?


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## Hddnis (Oct 1, 2010)

Maples around here are soft, unless they are a landscape tree and then you can find almost anything.

We have some oaks that will split out and chair like an alder or maple at the wrong time of year too.



Mr. HE


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## Gologit (Oct 1, 2010)

Hddnis said:


> I love a track mounted wedge with a diesel engine.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yup.


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## slowp (Oct 1, 2010)

The wedge shown in the picture is their one for the small trees. They have one or two big ones, which are a bit harder to "pack" around. Sometimes one of the big ones is handier. Their rockpit is near my house. 

I should have visited a neighbor and had him move his yarder down here. Setup would have been interesting. Nope, you can't put the yarder on the drainfield! Suburban Logging. It could be a new reality show.


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## bitzer (Nov 1, 2010)

ricky.martin454 said:


> We have some oaks that will split out and chair like an alder or maple at the wrong time of year too.



Doesn't matter what time of year it is...


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