Dead Red Oak Aftermath

[BlackenedTimber]

I had to take this tree down a couple days ago. Customer said it had been hit by lightning twice. About 40" DBH, 60+ ft height, over a 100-yr old house, drop wires, the neighbor's driveway, and a barb wire fence. The base was hollow, spar filled with metal and rotten half-way up, and the top 25 ft was hollow as well. Infested with huge water roaches, and had pockets of stagnant, standing water inside some of the larger limbs. What a pain.

I didnt have anyone available to take any money shots while I was airborne, so all I got was the aftermath.

I climbed it, and had a neighbor work the bull rope for me. There was very little solid wood to rig to... headaches.

Customer wanted it dropped and bucked, and they would handle the clean-up, which was fine with me since most of my gear (and all of my labor) is in NY, not OK where this tree was at.

Dropped that :censored: quick and dirty, not enough money in the job, but staying busy beats sitting at the house doing nothing in my book.

I trashed a 32" Full Chisel chain too.

T

 

[BlackenedTimber]

 

[Rftreeman]

looks like fun....hope you made enough to cove the ruined chain...

btw, I think that's a white oak not red oak....

 

[BlackenedTimber]

RF,

you may be correct on the species - there was zero foliage, and the customer told me it was a red oak, so that's what I went with... the heartwood definately looks more like a red oak than a white oak when split, and the bark had areas that could have led me to believe it was either species. If it is a white oak, my mistake... Generally when I am dealing with oaks, I am in the middle of the woods by myself, and they are still living, so you may be right about the species.

All in all, it's on the ground, the house is still standing. I did make enought to cover the chain, but not much more... Its OK though, didnt take more than a couple of hours.

T