Felling for Firewood

[Cricket]

I'm with Jere39 on this. I AM cutting for firewood. (me n my back have seen better days). Prefer making the drop cut at or slightly above waist height. Sure beats working all scrunched up, easier to watch the tree top and quicker to leave the area, more likely to be above stump rot wood for the felling cut. Up in straight grain out of the weird stump grain. Less cutting, above the widest area. Easy enough to take a firewood round or two off the stump once the tree is on the ground.
Any downside to making the felling cut that high?

Same here. I had a 1800# horse fall on my a couple of years ago, and getting up and down, or bending holding weight (like a chainsaw) does unpleasant things to me 66 year old, Percheron flattened carcass.

Also some in my sandy/swampy weird property, I want to push over, so a taller stump is useful there.

 

[Jere39]

After that last fall, I sectioned the log into 12' lengths and skidded them to a processing site while there was a nice coating of easi-skid (snow):



This morning I went out to buck and start splitting, and found all manner of issues. A large dead Cherry fell across my drag path and needed to be cleared first, and my shed door lock was frozen (2.41" of rain yesterday, 40 degree drop in temps over night). But, I got to the logs late this afternoon and got them bucked to 18" lengths:

 

[RichinNJ]

that's a serious pile of firewood! I'll trade you red oak for my ash trees, heck, you can have all of them

 

[gggGary]

warning; dummy with saw vs fresh dead ash.

two trunks, first was a heavy leaner.
you can see trunk was split all the way down.
first notch lower right green line
"plunge" cut up about 8" from notch, red arrow points at it.
I had to plunge, but was in the existing split so there was no strap.
that drop was perfect.
second notch used plunge cut as the base, yellow line was the top cut.
Natural fall for the second trunk (also lots of lean) was to the left of the first, made my notch for the natural fall.
Back cut (green also up about 6" from the notch.
Dumb me hadn't sharpened the saw last time I put it away, it wasn't cutting real fast, trunk started to go when hinge was still 4" thick. I left. But it didn't complete the fall, a barber chair split went up a foot and stopped. Had to go back in and deepen the back cut, (dang it) then it dropped without drama.

Sharpened saw, will go back up and finish bucking it up tomorrow. Many more leaning fence line ash to go.

 

[Lee192233]

warning; dummy with saw vs fresh dead ash.
View attachment 963313
two trunks, first was a heavy leaner.
you can see trunk was split all the way down.
first notch lower right green line
plunge cut up about 8" from notch, red arrow points at it
that drop was perfect.
second notch used plunge cut as the base, yellow line was the top cut.
Natural fall for the second trunk (also lots of lean) was to the left of the first, made my notch for the natural fall.
Back cut (green also up about 6" from the notch.
Dumb me hadn't sharpened the saw last time I put it away, it wasn't cutting real fast, trunk started to go when hinge was still 4" thick. I left. But it didn't complete the fall, a barber chair split went up a foot and stopped. Had to go back in and deepen the back cut, (dang it) then it dropped without drama.
View attachment 963316
Sharpened saw, will go back up and finish bucking it up tomorrow. Many more leaning fence line ash to go.

Be careful! I don't want to hear about anything bad happening to you. Best thing I ever did was learn to bore cut. With heavily leaning trees I cut my notch then bore cut it, get my hinge right and then leaving a decent sized trigger on the side opposite the notch I put a wedge on either side of the trigger(in case I miscalculated the weight of the tree so it can't sit back on me) then I cut the trigger and skedaddle.

Glad you're ok!

 

[gggGary]

Be careful! I don't want to hear about anything bad happening to you. Best thing I ever did was learn to bore cut. With heavily leaning trees I cut my notch then bore cut it, get my hinge right and then leaving a decent sized trigger on the side opposite the notch I put a wedge on either side of the trigger(in case I miscalculated the weight of the tree so it can't sit back on me) then I cut the trigger and skedaddle.

Thnx.I did my first bore cut earlier this year (also a heavy leaning multi trunk ash) and it went very well. Didn't really have much room for a bore cut on the second trunk here.

 

[Jere39]

Thanks for sharing. Any cut that ends safely can serve as a learning experience. I know not all my cuts are pro-perfect. I often rethink and come up with a better plan than the one I used. Hope I take that to the next tree.

 

[esshup]

warning; dummy with saw vs fresh dead ash.
View attachment 963313
two trunks, first was a heavy leaner.
you can see trunk was split all the way down.
first notch lower right green line
"plunge" cut up about 8" from notch, red arrow points at it.
I had to plunge, but was in the existing split so there was no strap.
that drop was perfect.
second notch used plunge cut as the base, yellow line was the top cut.
Natural fall for the second trunk (also lots of lean) was to the left of the first, made my notch for the natural fall.
Back cut (green also up about 6" from the notch.
Dumb me hadn't sharpened the saw last time I put it away, it wasn't cutting real fast, trunk started to go when hinge was still 4" thick. I left. But it didn't complete the fall, a barber chair split went up a foot and stopped. Had to go back in and deepen the back cut, (dang it) then it dropped without drama.
View attachment 963316
Sharpened saw, will go back up and finish bucking it up tomorrow. Many more leaning fence line ash to go.

I learned my lesson about 2008-2009. Now I make sure the chains are sharp AND the saws have tanks full of gas and oil. It took one tree where the saw ran out of gas before it dropped when it was windy out to make a believer of me. Talk about pins and needles getting it gassed and oiled up THEN going back to the tree to finish the cut before it let go on it's own.

Then a few years after that I had one go on me WAY too early. Luckily I plan things ahead but it barely went where it was supposed to go. The back to the center was rotten and it only had about 2" of good wood there, but on the face side the wood was good for at least 1/3 the depth of the diameter of the tree. I was relying on the back cut to hold on one side to twist the tree and make it fall in a certain spot. It didn't but nobody got hurt, only needed new underwear when it went.

 

[cantoo]

cantoo, looks like an unintended Dutchman caused the fall to stall though I wouldn't put anything past an ash.

Here's my 6' barber chair from yesterday's cutting where one side of a 24" ash let go prematurely. I couldn't tell it from the outside, but the wood on the left had lost its fibrous structure.
View attachment 956923

View attachment 956922

Ron

Hi Ron, and it was a Dutchman that had originally cut it. First day with a brand new saw too. I think likely the first tree he had ever cut that size too. A buddy and I dropped most of the rest of the trees after we got there. Tree cutting is one of those jobs that looks easy until it is your doing the work. A lot of good saw logs were ruined that day. A beautiful cherry that was butchered was hard for me to see. Big, beautiful and straight Ash trees cut terribly. We were only there for the firewood but was still a shame to see those logs ruined.

 

[Jere39]

I went out to take down another dead Red Oak, and somehow I had my PS 510 with an 18" bar instead of my PS 6100 with the 20" bar. This particular Oak was a little chunky for the 510, but I was too lazy to walk back to my garage to get the right saw. So, we both labored a little more than necessary including a little reach-around, but it ended on the ground with no particular trauma: (2:45 video)



Then, I sectioned it to 12' sections and started skidding them from the top down to my processing site. The snow always makes the drag easier as long as I can keep traction. No problem today:

 

[Brufab]

Great work!

 

[Jere39]

Back today to pull the rest (bottom two logs - about 16'x20") off that dead Red Oak I cut down yesterday. This snow makes the skidding easy as long as I get enough traction with the 4wd Deere GT:

1:20 video pieced together from three GoPro mounts along my path:

 

[Brufab]

Back today to pull the rest (bottom two logs - about 16'x20") off that dead Red Oak I cut down yesterday. This snow makes the skidding easy as long as I get enough traction with the 4wd Deere GT:

1:20 video pieced together from three GoPro mounts along my path:

Wow sweet video and log caddy.

 

[Lee192233]

Dropped a decent sized beech today that had the 50 % of it's top broken off last summer. It was competing with a couple sugar maples so bye bye beech. I also dropped an ash and got a sketchy windblown red oak safely to the ground. Hopefully I'll get some pics tomorrow.
Stay safe guys.

 

[Lee192233]

The top pic is the beech and the bottom is the three 10' red oak logs.

 

[Jere39]

I've finished up splitting all the dead oak I cut and drug to processing location. I still have about 2 cord of the green Oak that came down across my driveway and severed my power lines - but it will likely take two years to season right, so, I decided to tackle this leaner dead Oak that snapped off about 6' up and leaned over to a nearby tree:



It's well hung, so I pulled out a cart load of my equipment for getting a line, then static line, then cable on it up there at the snag:



I used a line slingshot and got a perfect launch first time - I'd probably still be out there if I was trying to throw the line up there. Then I backed off to a safe distance, more or less dictated by the length of the cable and the come-along spool, and strapped up to a stump from a prior felling. I engaged one of my regular partners in taking some video with the GoPro:



And, if I were any good at video editing this would be about a 20 second video. But, I'm not, so this is about 1 minute 20 seconds of an old guy cranking on a come-along handle followed by about 3 seconds of crashing leaner with cable rattling down a nearby tree. Feel free to FF unless you really want to see if I make it all the way through a minute of clackity-clacking the come-along:



Anyway, I'll section it this morning, and skid it to my processing area next time my grandson comes to visit

 

[mountainguyed67]

What brand and model of come along is that?

 

[Marine5068]

There are mills in the area. Last year I took about 4 or 5 Chestnut Oak logs and an equal number of Red Oak logs to a local mill. But trees came down in heavy winds, so they were green trees. This one:
View attachment 954901

I have two problems. I don't own a trailer big enough to move logs, and I don't own enough indoor space to store it while it dries. I have a friend who kindly exchanged loading. hauling and storing services for half the wood:
View attachment 954905

And now we wait:

View attachment 954906



I have been really impressed with my 4wd Deere x728 in ability to pull with my log arch. But yesterday with the snow, and the lay of the land, I just couldn't get a pull started. But, it is a great machine for snaking among the trees and not making a rutted road:

View attachment 954907

This Deere GT weighs more than my ATV plus the rear tires are loaded, applies power to the wheels smoother by virtue of the hydro vs CVT transmission, and with grapple or blade on the tractor can move things out of the way better.
Thanks for watching and commenting.

Just wondering if there's such thing as a rear log arch too?
One that could attach on the log's back end and do away with dragging the back end of the log along the ground.

 

[Jere39]

Just wondering if there's such thing as a rear log arch too?
One that could attach on the log's back end and do away with dragging the back end of the log along the ground.

There are little trailers that attach to the log at the rear to keep the whole log off the ground. I've seen video of them in action. There are also longer tongue front arches that allow for a more central lift point. Then you can lift a 12' log completely off the ground for transport. Most of them have a stabilizer rig for the front of the log to keep it from swinging wildly.

 

[sundance]

There are little trailers that attach to the log at the rear to keep the whole log off the ground. I've seen video of them in action. There are also longer tongue front arches that allow for a more central lift point. Then you can lift a 12' log completely off the ground for transport. Most of them have a stabilizer rig for the front of the log to keep it from swinging wildly.

One thing to think about. If the log is off the ground any braking is only the towing machine. Dragging the back end helps with stopping.