Cut down first large tree today

[retoid]

The other day I posted up a thread asking why my chain kept falling off while trying to cut down a larger cottonwood. Today I sharpened up the chain and gave it another try. This time it cut much better and did not throw.

The tree was nearly cut through when I took the saw out and pounded once on the wedge. I noticed it start to lean and quickly moved away. It took the tree about 1 solid minute to actually fall. It finally cracked and slammed into the ground creating a huge boom and rumble. It was awesome. I am pretty proud that It fell exactly where I wanted it to with it's strange lean.
I must admit my adrenalin was racing!

Before:

The tree on the right of the two in the middle of the picture.

After:

 

[clearance]

Good for you. One of my least favorite trees, to fall and otherwise. Their holding wood sucks, they are prone to chair, hard to kill. Why can't the conifers survive like they do?

 

[retoid]

hehe yeah, this tree and several other cottonwoods are endangering us. Their branches break off onto our driveway all the time. My next project is to cut an even larger one. This will be a job for the 2100 CD

 

[kkottemann]

Nice work, be careful with your dog out there. I had mine running around while I was working on my property the other day, I started to fall a dead pine on a fence line and as I made my back cut, I looked up and he was right in the path. the tree started to go, I ran out and kick him out of the way. close call, he has a broken rib from the kick and I probably have a permant heart palpatation now. I love my dogs more than anything in the world, if I would have killed him I would have been destroyed. Nice dog though, english short hair. that was one of my first choices a few years back, but got a english short hair instead and one britanny spanial with nine lives. the britanny I kicked out the way also got run over when he was 14 weeks old...the little bastard is tough...also got a hound, he is tought as nails. his thing is fighting pigs. he has been stiched up a few times also. don't know why I am rambling on about my dogs.....awsome tree work!

 

[retoid]

After looking at some other cottonwoods online that doesn't look like a cottonwood but thats what people call them around here or I am terrible wrong.
Can anyone verify what tree that is?

 

[retoid]

Nice work, be careful with your dog out there. I had mine running around while I was working on my property the other day, I started to fall a dead pine on a fence line and as I made my back cut, I looked up and he was right in the path. the tree started to go, I ran out and kick him out of the way. close call, he has a broken rib from the kick and I probably have a permant heart palpatation now. I love my dogs more than anything in the world, if I would have killed him I would have been destroyed. Nice dog though, english short hair. that was one of my first choices a few years back, but got a english short hair instead and one britanny spanial with nine lives. the britanny I kicked out the way also got run over when he was 14 weeks old...the little bastard is tough...also got a hound, he is tought as nails. his thing is fighting pigs. he has been stiched up a few times also. don't know why I am rambling on about my dogs.....awsome tree work!

Oh definitely, I actually kept the dog in the house while cutting the tree. let her out after it was cut. She is a germain shorthair pointer.

 

[pdqdl]

After looking at some other cottonwoods online that doesn't look like a cottonwood but thats what people call them around here or I am terrible wrong.
Can anyone verify what tree that is?

Do those leaves & twigs on the stump come with the tree? If so, definitely not the same cottonwood we have in the midwest: Eastern Cottonwood, Populus deltoides

I don't know Washington/west coast trees, so I can't help you there. Wood and bark looks like a big oak of some sort.

Isn't it fun when the big ones come down?

 

[retoid]

Yes those are the leaves from the tree.

Yeah it was fun bringing her down thats for sure.

 

[Philobite]

Your chain is still way too loose

Nice job getting the tree down. I notice in the pic that your chain is still way too loose, and that's dangerous and will dull the chain as well. Almost certainly it is because you're turning the chain tensioner screw without first lifting up on the bar and chain.

Put the saw down on a flat surface on its bottom, not on its side. Disengage the chain brake so the chain can free spool. Loosen the two sprocket cover bar securing nuts about 1 turn. You should be able to grab the bar near the tip and wiggle it up and down a bit now. Pinch the chain about 2/3 of the way to the tip and pull up hard (you may need to push down on the body of the saw to keep it from rising)... the bar should move up. Keep holding it up and while doing so, tighten the chain tensioner screw until you've taken up the slack in the chain. Keep holding it up and tighten first the front nut and then the rear nut. Now release the chain... don't let go of the chain with vertical tension until you have those securing nuts tight.

Now, go knock another tree down. :greenchainsaw:

 

[RPM]

Tree ID

Looks like it could be Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). Its not Red Alder - bark is smoother and the wood has a reddy color to it. Bigleaf would be my guess.

 

[RPM]

Tree ID

Looks like it could be Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). Its not Red Alder - bark is smoother and the wood has a reddy color to it. Bigleaf would be my guess.

Ok....if those are the leaves then thats not a Bigleaf Maple

 

[rbtree]

retoid, that looks like a bigleaf maple.

Your two samples on the stump:

the left one looks like maple flower, but the right is likely from an understory shrub....which I'm not as good at identifying. The tree would probably be straighter if it was black cottonwood, and the wood would have a rather pungent sweetish smell. No way is the tree alder...bark and wood say maple.

 

[tek9tim]

retoid, that looks like a bigleaf maple.

Your two samples on the stump:

the left one looks like maple flower, but the right is likely from an understory shrub....which I'm not as good at identifying. The tree would probably be straighter if it was black cottonwood, and the wood would have a rather pungent sweetish smell. No way is the tree alder...bark and wood say maple.

Fer sure. I was looking at the first picture for a while trying to find a cottonwood. Then I caught on that you were talking about the maple. That stuff mills up really nice. I dropped a couple on a buddy's property a few years back and bucked them up for firewood, then found out that the bottom 10 feet could've gone for $500

 

[slowp]

Fer sure. I was looking at the first picture for a while trying to find a cottonwood. Then I caught on that you were talking about the maple. That stuff mills up really nice. I dropped a couple on a buddy's property a few years back and bucked them up for firewood, then found out that the bottom 10 feet could've gone for $500

Some friends had a little spat. He skidded some of the maples on their property to a separate spot to sell for music wood. She cut them up for firewood. Very expensive firewood. He wisely went into the Oh Well mood so the marriage is OK.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Some friends had a little spat. He skidded some of the maples on their property to a separate spot to sell for music wood. She cut them up for firewood. Very expensive firewood. He wisely went into the Oh Well mood so the marriage is OK.

How do you stay mad at a woman who can cut her own firewood?

 

[ray benson]

Tighten rear first.

 

[retoid]

Thanks for the tightening tips guys. I think one of my main problems was me tightening the rear nut first. I will test it out today and let you know.

Also, you are probably right about me grabbing two different tree leaves.
I will be more observant and make sure I grab the right leaf and show you for exact tree ID.

 

[retoid]

Ok, here is the real foliage from the tree.

Any ideas?

Here is a stump in my yard that looks to have the same bark. I took a couple pics of it and the branches growing from it.

 

[DieselN2Stroke]

From those pictures its a big leaf maple. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=187

 

[retoid]

From those pictures its a big leaf maple. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=187

Yepp definitely, so this wood should be milled instead of turned into firewood shouldn't it?
Although it seems like it would make for some great burning wood.