AS at the Cemetery

[CaseyForrest]

Just giving you a hard time buddy. Really, anytime you can get a removal of that size down safely and efficiently, you're doing well.

Good for you! Thanks for sharing.

I'd rep you for this thread, but well....

I gotem for you.

 

[SawTroll]

..I have to get a couple pics of a truly big willow in a park in Ann Arbor. It is a multi-trunk tree on a floodplain, that split apart yet continues to live, sort of. People have stacked logs to make stairs so you can walk into the center of the trunk where the tree split apart, and someone hid a geocache up in there. It must have been 8'+DBH, and probably 12'+ at the point where the multiple stems diverged from the main trunk. The branches themselves, which are now horizontal but continue to grow new vertical shoots, are 3'+ in diameter. It is one prehistoric-looking, scary tree. ......

That sort of "behaviour" is typical for older willows here, and we usually don't use those ones for firewood - healty single-stem ones is another story....

...and ours are a lot smaller of course.....:bang: :bang:

 

[Ekka]

going back to school (yet again, this time for an MBA)

A brain that smart is worthy of a helmet. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[SawTroll]

A brain that smart is worthy of a helmet. :hmm3grin2orange:

LOL - a really nice way to say it...... :biggrinbounce2:

 

[turnkey4099]

OKay. Now you have given me the itch. I am off to my 'patch this morning. Bit frosty out, no breeze and gonna be sunny (at least for awhile). That tree looks a lot like the ones I have been working up for the past 4 or 5 years. A fire went through the grove killing all of them. Usual stems ranged from about 26" on up. Biggest one I cut last year was 39" DBH. Fortunately my willows do not have that swell at the base, they go up around 40-50' before the first major branch. I have very poor looking stump cuts as my biggest saw is only an 041/24" and I have to "whittle" at em. Last year I even had a retired logger lay down two problem ones for me due to bar size (he has a 32"). Wish I had been carrying a tape with me all those years, just started doing that last year.

I have one that will have to come out this year that looks to be over 48" DBH adn I wouldn't fool with it except it is in the way for 4 or 5 leaners.

Harry K

 

[DGG]

Great pictures and comments! That's a job!

 

[Sprig]

Great pics computer, I also love seeing pics of saws throwin' chips, whether it's felling or bucking, I love it as all of us do. I was going to say something about the backcut, but glad you cleared it up.

x2, great seeing pics of a job from start to finish! The 7900 is a fine lookin' saw, nice ta see one in action!

 

[wdchuck]

Commendable work there CU, willow cleanup is like plate of wet noodles, ugh.


Considering the girth of that tree, I'm surprised you didn't pull out the 075/076 with those long bars you have.

 

[Jack_Shaft]

What size bar and chain pitch are you using on the 6401? It looks like a good length for me too, I'm trying to figure out what to buy for mine, currently it sports a 20" that is a bit too long.

 

[stihl 440]

18"

What size bar and chain pitch are you using on the 6401? It looks like a good length for me too, I'm trying to figure out what to buy for mine, currently it sports a 20" that is a bit too long.

I think CU has a 18" on that saw w/ 3/8" chain. Because it looks to be about 2in longer than the 16" on the 026. The bar brand is GB high tech titanium. :rockn:

 

[computeruser]

It's actually a 20". I think there's a bit of an inadvertent camera trick going on there.

The saws in the picture were 6401/20", 066/28", 7900/28" (looks longer, though), and 026Pro/16".

 

[vapnut257]

Nice post computeruser, this is the kind of post a lot of folks can glean useful information on. I am wondering about that back cut? Are folks jabbing you about it because it is at a slight angle downward? Please explain whats wrong with it and what are the repercussions of making it that way. I've see large trees cut down like that with a definitive downward back and wondered why they would do that. Thanks again for the post!

 

[jhellwig]

I'm glad I cleared it up, too. :biggrinbounce2:

By the way, as of this evening some of those ???????ed ants are still running around in my Jeep and on top of that I keep imagining that I can feel them walking on me. Not cool. Note to self: gotta put a few cans of insect killer spray in my saw box.

WD40 or any other sprat rust remover works good on insects. Blast a wasps nest with WD40 and they wont bother you.

 

[stihl 440]

45 degree

Nice post computeruser, this is the kind of post a lot of folks can glean useful information on. I am wondering about that back cut? Are folks jabbing you about it because it is at a slight angle downward? Please explain whats wrong with it and what are the repercussions of making it that way. I've see large trees cut down like that with a definitive downward back and wondered why they would do that. Thanks again for the post!

Computer user said he trimmed the backcut to solid wood, that is why it is like that. And as far as the slant cut AKA(45 degree) backcut. Which isn't really a backcut at all, it's just like sawing another notch in the tree. The slant backcut is the reason why people get killed felling trees. When you see stumps with a slant cut on them that means an idiot cut the tree down. They did not know what they where doing. If you do a slant cut, you mid as well do a 360 around the tree without sawing a notch in it= same effect. And the only place you use it is if you want to get killed. The only people who use slant cuts either don't know any better, or are just plain stupid.

 

[computeruser]

Well, with Memorial Day around the corner, it was time to get back out and do some more work. Two weekends ago we had almost twenty volunteers come out and spend four hours on a Saturday afternoon collecting ALL the sticks larger than .75" from the entire 10 acre property and placing them in piles to be chipped. Today was chipping day.

We also took down a few more of those damned ailanthus trees, too. We had hoped to take down a couple dead black cherry trees, but alas there was no room in the trailer to bring them back home for milling. So they will have to stay standing until some other time.

Other volunteers worked on repainting the iron fence along the front of the property, picking up trash, locating/excavating lost headstones, and spreading the mountains of woodchips left from the last time we had the chipper out. The chipper is a Bandit 65AW with the 37hp Wisconsin gas engine. Oh, and some of the older folks were kind enough to bring quite a spread for lunch, too!

Saws for the day: Dolmar 7900, Makita 6401, Stihl 026Pro, and Echo CS3000. Stihl BR400 and BG85 blowers, along with an Echo SRM260 and a JD trimmer, rounded out the power toys for the day.

Flexing (well, kinda):

The ex-Home Depot Rental 6401 doing its thing:

Mike must have learned a thing or two since the last time he dropped trees:

Heck, it happened again!

Chipping lots of ailanthus:

OK, that's enough chipping:

Lunch:

 

[CaseyForrest]

Sorry I missed it Brandon. I didnt even score anything at my clean-up.

 

[stihl 440]

nice

nice pics, CU!:hmm3grin2orange: :biggrinbounce2:

 

[keith c raymond]

Nice pics!I soon will be doing similar work for a day or two for a historical home site near me to extend a parking area.Glad the concept is still alive for public service.

 

[Woodie]

...how 'bout a PM next time you guys are up to something at that cemetary?

I'm not that far down the road, and I'd love to come help out. (Have 2171, will travel...)

BTW, ailanthus, Tree of HELL, is the worst dang thing we have here in SE Michigan, and that includes the Lions. My neighbor has a 50 ft tall "specimen," and as a result, everyone within two blocks has eight billion of the things in their yards. It would be my pleasure to sink a saw into one.

 

[Just Mow]

...how 'bout a PM next time you guys are up to something at that cemetary?

I'm not that far down the road, and I'd love to come help out. (Have 2171, will travel...)

BTW, ailanthus, Tree of HELL, is the worst dang thing we have here in SE Michigan, and that includes the Lions. My neighbor has a 50 ft tall "specimen," and as a result, everyone within two blocks has eight billion of the things in their yards. It would be my pleasure to sink a saw into one.

You are so nice to help out that I will even let you borrow a real saw