Had a good day with Dad

[Kevin in Ohio]

Saved a lot of my vacation time this year and off till the new year. Weather was finally dry enough so we decided to take a some of the wood that has been in the "big barn" storage(outside in the the air). Dad came down and first was this ash along the road. These pics were taken that following Winter. I forgot the camera on this one today.

This has stood like this since the remnants of hurricane Ike past through here. Right at 25 inches at the bottom and the wood was in great shape. Some of the limbs were hanging over the phone lines but we could access it from the road using the lift. I cut all the branches on the top to where it was caught in the trees to get rid of some of the weight.

On this end, I cut lengths off till it was up to the high hinge. I was raining chips with the MS660. Put a chain on it about 4 ft back, then attached a come-a-long to the bottom of a big tree. Cut a notch and I had EVERYTHING cleared out around it so I had good escape routes. Once I had the hinge done I got out of there and Dad pulled it over with the come-a-long. Coukln't have asked it to fall any nicer. We split it with wedges in chunks just so we could lift them. Put them in the boiler house and man is it nice wood.

Next up was to do some trimming on a big ash behind my boiler house. It's right at 4 ft in diameter. Here is a pic of me at the base.

Lightning has struck it 4 times that I know of in my life time. One of the shoots was dead and wanted to piece it out before it fell and maybe hit the boiler house. This is earlier this year.

I started at the bottom trimming the limbs and worked my way up.

Almost to the top here and yes, I wear a full safety harness and cushion lanyard.

This is at full extend(60ft) and it must have been close to 80ft high as you can tell by the limbs.

Couldn't believe it but that limb limb ended up being close to 2 cord as well. It was pithy at the top but once it got to 5 inches it is solid as a rock. Got it all hauled and in the boiler house as well and feeling pretty good about that as they say rain for the next few days.

Always a good day when you can spend it working wood with your Dad.

 

[KiwiBro]

Always a good day when you can spend it working wood with your Dad.

Most certainly.

 

[zogger]

That's nice! That ash is a scosh bigger than the largest one I have found so far here, real good tree! How did you get such a nice lift? Is that you or your dad's equipment, or rent it, or what?

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

That's nice! That ash is a scosh bigger than the largest one I have found so far here, real good tree! How did you get such a nice lift? Is that you or your dad's equipment, or rent it, or what?

We decided it was time to get one as we have several farms and such and we started painting our own buildings. I had been looking for several years but started looking REAL hard this last year. The reason is one of my Dad's classmates was helping his son and he fell off the roof. He ended up passing away from his injuries. Dad is 73 and refuses to stay idle. His balance isn't what it used to be and I asked if he's be willing to go half on one and he said yes. Doing something safely sometimes overrides the cost issue.

This one is a 1998 and it was factory remaned in 2008. They strip it bare and basically just use the steel. Shipped to us from Chicago is was 25K. it has less than 1400hrs on it and by far is the best one I looked at. Got it from a dealer and it was gone over before shipping and has current safety inspection. If anyone is considering one, now is the time before the economy comes back and they are in higher demand. Dealer did us right and if anyone wants the name PM me.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Very nice! I saw your thread awhile back about that Ash.

Nice to see you got around to taking care of it. :msp_smile:

 

[PEKS]

Saved a lot of my vacation time this year and off till the new year. Weather was finally dry enough so we decided to take a some of the wood that has been in the "big barn" storage(outside in the the air). Dad came down and first was this ash along the road. These pics were taken that following Winter. I forgot the camera on this one today.

This has stood like this since the remnants of hurricane Ike past through here. Right at 25 inches at the bottom and the wood was in great shape. Some of the limbs were hanging over the phone lines but we could access it from the road using the lift. I cut all the branches on the top to where it was caught in the trees to get rid of some of the weight.

On this end, I cut lengths off till it was up to the high hinge. I was raining chips with the MS660. Put a chain on it about 4 ft back, then attached a come-a-long to the bottom of a big tree. Cut a notch and I had EVERYTHING cleared out around it so I had good escape routes. Once I had the hinge done I got out of there and Dad pulled it over with the come-a-long. Coukln't have asked it to fall any nicer. We split it with wedges in chunks just so we could lift them. Put them in the boiler house and man is it nice wood.

Next up was to do some trimming on a big ash behind my boiler house. It's right at 4 ft in diameter. Here is a pic of me at the base.

Lightning has struck it 4 times that I know of in my life time. One of the shoots was dead and wanted to piece it out before it fell and maybe hit the boiler house. This is earlier this year.

I started at the bottom trimming the limbs and worked my way up.

Almost to the top here and yes, I wear a full safety harness and cushion lanyard.

This is at full extend(60ft) and it must have been close to 80ft high as you can tell by the limbs.

Couldn't believe it but that limb limb ended up being close to 2 cord as well. It was pithy at the top but once it got to 5 inches it is solid as a rock. Got it all hauled and in the boiler house as well and feeling pretty good about that as they say rain for the next few days.

Always a good day when you can spend it working wood with your Dad.

It will be a proud day when my son makes a post like that..

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Day 2
Didn't have a lot to do as it was raining today but Dad got even with me a little from yesterday. He had about 4 cord ready to be split in the barn and we worked in there.

Caught him in the act when he wasn't looking

There's about 22 cord in this barn right now but were planning on cutting tomorrow so he's going to have to move some of the junk. Got all the saws ready after splitting was done.

One of out main wood storage barns took a beating this year. Had a mini tornado come through and the wood pile is the only thing that kept it from being gone. Pushed it off the foundation 4 ft till it was up against the stack and the barn was clear full again which is 78 cord.

Here you can see the sad shape it is in. snapped beams and posts in several spots. Insurance totaled it out. The roof was off on this end but unbenounced to me, Dad was going over and put it all back on by himself.

This end only moved about 2 ft but it pulled it off the poured concrete foundations that had lags with angle iron into the posts.

Not hard to tell which direction it came from. It took out a line of trees in the same path. One was a over 3 ft cottonwood it uprooted.

pulled this years wood out for my boiler and Dad pulls his out by the truckload for his underground wood shoot into his basement. we'll get 18 cord out of there total. we'll probably true it up enough to keep wood in as it was the nicest to load/unload out of.

We'll cut tomorrow as I said and there seems to be too much to keep up with. A good problem to have as we were on the other end of that when I was a kid.

 

[loadthestove]

Always a good day when you can spend it working wood with your Dad.

:agree2:

 

[bluestem]

Wish my Dad lived closer than 4 hours, it's always fun doing projects when he visits or when i head home, i enjoy every minute.

That's one hell of a barber chair there!!

 

[gulity1]

Its very nice to spend time with your dad doing something as enjoyble as cutting/spitting etc. I know I enjoyed it with my dad I still cut haul and split and take care of my dads dutys for my step mom aorund the house I cut and split about 10-11 cord a year I do it now with my wife or when I can get my son to help its nice, just not very often hes into doing other things just not working his days away like his old man or his papa.

 

[jrider]

Nothing like learning stuff like that from your dad and hoping to pass it on to your son. My dad taught me how to cut wood and I remember trying to drag brush at a very young age...had the will just not the might. As I got older the feeling of doing work like that with him only got stronger. Sad that he's not around anymore to do it with but proud that he taught me well.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Nothing like learning stuff like that from your dad and hoping to pass it on to your son. My dad taught me how to cut wood and I remember trying to drag brush at a very young age...had the will just not the might. As I got older the feeling of doing work like that with him only got stronger. Sad that he's not around anymore to do it with but proud that he taught me well.

I DO realize how fortunate I am. I, like you, was the "grounds crew" and at the age of 5 for my birthday I got a spanking new Estwing hatchet to limb with. I was grinning from ear to ear. That was 40 years ago and still remember it. That high pitch TING every time it was swung let Dad know I wasn't slacking. he started me out with the little Super 2 and XL Homelites which he still runs sometimes today. My Grandfather was the first Homelite Dealer in our county(1949) so Dad was always partial to them as they made good saws then.

Probably what we did wouldn't be allowed today as it would be considered child endangerment to an outsider. No one new the amount of instruction and guidance that was given BEFORE we were allowed to swing that hatchet or run that saw. Different times and values but it's nice to see some on here are passing it on still.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Got rained out yesterday and only got a half day in today but did good for how long we were there. Had to walk in with a cart as the trails were just too muddy and don't like rutting them up. We followed the path that that tornado or what ever it was took. Easy to tell because it laid over a line of trees in it's path.

All of them were healthy trees as it pushed them out by the roots, hinging at the root balls. Naturally mainly the big stuff. hard to capture in pics but I tried. 30 inch sugar maple closest with a 2ft cherry and 30 inch beech back there. Lots of 18 or less.

Another 30 inch sugar maple and 3 ft beech. Those root balls are about 8 ft high to give some scale to it.

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This is the area we started at. there was an old trail to it so we recleared it and started in. Lots of smaller stuff here but it all burns, we just brought in the small saws today to get it opened up. We normally pick a trail and throw the wood there and throw the brush off to the side. Makes hauling day quick that way as your not moving brush when the ground is fit.

This is the same area/view as the pick above about an hour later. Making a dent now!

Dad (73 by the way) doing some non OSHA approved moves here with the mighty super 2 (I told you small saw) He likes those little homeys to trim with and uses XL12's on the bigger stuff. I jumped ship and run a smaller 192C Stihl and a MS660 on the big stuff. We found over the years that running the little guys doesn't wear you out as fast and when you go for 10 hrs, fatigue is what gets you to make mistakes. We first started on this tree and the bark looked odd and couldn't figure out what it was from a distance. Got closer and it shows to be an elm, BIG elm. It's 22 inches at that cut and goes about 35 ft to the root ball. Right at 3 ft there so splitting this will be a treat for sure. Elms don't normally get that big around here as the die off quick.

Here's where we finished up as Dad wanted this area cleaned up. You can see the numerous piles in the background over the walnut log. Walnut, Beech, sugar maple and some junk Sumac and box elder that was in the way. Decent day for 2 guys having fun. Back at it in the AM for a full day.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Beautiful day out there and we took advantage of it. Carted the stuff in on the morning and finished up most of the small stuff in this section. Noticed the ground was dry enough so after lunch we drove in with the big saws. I was worried about the root balls wanting to fall back over and it was a good thing I was. i was making cuts on the elm and was about 6 inches into a cut with about 20 feet of the log left( it was 3ft in diameter at the bottom) I saw it move and pulled out. Stood back and watched it slowly go to about 60 degrees pulling the 2 ft sugar maple with it. Went back to the sugar maple and cut it at the base and the ball/stump went back as well. THAT is why you always have to think of every possible hazard and have all the junk out of the way so you can get outta dodge. After the maple was cut up I cut the elm at the base.

Sure is nice wood but as I said, splitting might be interesting on that elm. May try some noodling

Here is where the 2 biggest trees were on top of each other. I walked back and took a couple of pics of "wood" drive!

This section is done now so Monday we'll move to another downed mess.

Here is my 2 saw plan. 192C with 14 inch bar and MS660 with 3ft bar. Kinda papa bear and baby bear When I was cutting the elm that the saws are sitting on I motioned for Dad to come over. I told him, "Run it." He went through a couple rounds and handed it back with a smile said, "That thing is kinda hungry!" Yea, it is!

 

[Nuzzy]

Love it! I wish my Dad lived closer so we could do things together.

 

[Beefie]

Boy looks like you two can make some wood in a short amount of time. How do you load up all thos rounds, my back is hurting just looking at some of those bad boys. Keep the pics coming we like pics .


Beefie

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Boy looks like you two can make some wood in a short amount of time. How do you load up all thos rounds, my back is hurting just looking at some of those bad boys. Keep the pics coming we like pics .


Beefie

We split where it lays. Normally with a single big tree it's no big deal, back the truck up and load all the small stuff. After that's out of the way, back the splitter down the log length. We have a 3 point that we lay on the ground and roll the rounds up. When it's chunked to handling size raise it up. Our other splitter is a fixed horizontal. I'm getting ready to build another that will end the lifting and rolling. It should be pretty sweet and finalizing the pieces next week. Been collecting pieces for it for 2 years now. We did split a 6ft beech a couple years ago but the backhoe lifted that in!

Hurricane Ike's wind took out the top. It was a 30 ft totem pole. One branch was 3 ft and the other shoot was 4 ft, 30 FOOT UP! Never would have cut it up otherwise, such a shame. Here is that one:

Here is the norm for us from the same tree as above. Once it's all split, back the truck in and load from both sides. It goes pretty quick and we wait till ground is fit or froze.

This works best for us with the littlest damage to the woods

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Got another good day in today but that's probably it for a few days. Forecasting steady rain for 3 days, Ground was just getting nice too!

Started in another area of downs and uproots. These were nice and solid too. Only about 2 ft at the bottom but they were telephone poles: nice, straight and tall.

Snuck up on Dad bucking up near the root ball. Pretty wood!

Another row of straight ones. One had a bad section in it but it was only 3 cut lengths.

Just like a bunch of oversize dominos when they fall on each other.

Above is the next section we started on after lunch. Decent size Beech but pretty hairy with brush, Below is the same view with it cut up.

Below is the opposite view and the base of the beech. Top had some rot but got solid on the bottom trunk. Dad cut it at the stump and solid there as well. It's a 29 ft piece and he wants to take it to the sawmill to cut up some replacement beams for the wood shed that the tornado hit.

We got a fair amount cut now and if by chance, the rains holds off we'll start hauling tomorrow. Not holding my breathe there but we have had perfect cutting weather. Having wood down everywhere gets a little overwhelming sometimes, but I just remember when I was a kid scrounging and am thankful in a way.

 

[woodguy105]

Wow...great pics and lots of hard work in those photos! Looking at all that wood on the ground...overwhelming is a good word.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

After getting all the wood cut before and during the Holidays the weather went South here. Set in and rained a bunch and had to wait to start hauling it all out. Been working for several days and "should" finish tomorrow. Looks like it will be just over 20 cord.

Here is a before pic of "Wood" drive as I called it earlier

And the after



We had such a stall between being able to get the wood out that we chunked up the big stuff just so we could handle it. We'll split it the rest of the way in the barn.

This is an average load as we don't have far to go to the barn, maybe 1/4 mile on our property from the woods.

Makes it squat a little.

To be split pile is over 8 ft high here. Had to do some creative stacking to get it in the dry. Calling for a bunch of rain and can do it in the dry at anytime then.

Best surprise was the 3ft tree I thought was elm wasn't. It was white ash and BEAUTIFUL to split. split it right down the center with a couple of whacks of the maul. You can see some of it in the above pic'

Worked from 8:30 AM - 5:00PM with an hour lunch Saturday and got out 8 loads. I work nights so normally it's just a morning thing. In a full day you can get something done! Yes, we were pretty tired and got a bunch to split up now.

Stacked the limb wood in the back and waiting for the split stuff to rick the corners up. Not ideal setup here but the weather makes you change your style sometimes