I volunteer at the local rails-to-trails, helping to clear out the deadfalls and prune to restore the understory so its not mountains of brambles and pokeweed. We were prepping for a bunch of saplings coming in Nov but I saw one mostly dead lead of a codom black locust start to splay over the course of a week, getting down to nearly 45 degrees over the trail. Spoke to the boss and she really wanted it gone- the nightmare scenario being trees falling onto the trail with people around. So we took it out today. Since I was worried about the roots I put a line over halfway up and gave it a tug with the truck using my crappy rope as a weak link. The lead didn't move and the rope broke so I went in with the saw.
I tested around the lead with an axe to find the green wood- that on the left and some on the right was about it. Fearing the thing would explode and jump while I cut I put a strap around above the cut and a 2nd around a nearby tree to maybe restrain it if things went sideways. I put in a big face cut, it didn't move but it I could feel things breaking underground as I put in the backcut so once it started I got out of there- the hinge wasn't thin enough to bend. I might have bored and cut a backstrap but I really had no idea where the good wood was so opted to bail as soon as it started moving. Anyhow, it went down clean and missed the veteran's cemetary fence next door. The roots broke so comprehensively the remainder of the stump is pretty much loose on the ground.
The young guy there is the son of a friend of mine I drafted in- he's interested in everything and doesn't mind the work so I gave him the little echo to cut the branches.
The middle of the lead was very rotten- see the break there, it broke again 10 ft or so higher also. The middle section should have weighed a bunch but could be tugged around by hand without the peavey.. biscotti. We found these cool fungii growths in that section, shown here upside down. The tops are weathered brown. They are hard and lightweight, sounding hollow when knocked. We figure its a polypore- bracket fungus. The stump is a mess, but quite good firewood between the stump and this rotten section, and above the rotten section also.
I tested around the lead with an axe to find the green wood- that on the left and some on the right was about it. Fearing the thing would explode and jump while I cut I put a strap around above the cut and a 2nd around a nearby tree to maybe restrain it if things went sideways. I put in a big face cut, it didn't move but it I could feel things breaking underground as I put in the backcut so once it started I got out of there- the hinge wasn't thin enough to bend. I might have bored and cut a backstrap but I really had no idea where the good wood was so opted to bail as soon as it started moving. Anyhow, it went down clean and missed the veteran's cemetary fence next door. The roots broke so comprehensively the remainder of the stump is pretty much loose on the ground.
The young guy there is the son of a friend of mine I drafted in- he's interested in everything and doesn't mind the work so I gave him the little echo to cut the branches.
The middle of the lead was very rotten- see the break there, it broke again 10 ft or so higher also. The middle section should have weighed a bunch but could be tugged around by hand without the peavey.. biscotti. We found these cool fungii growths in that section, shown here upside down. The tops are weathered brown. They are hard and lightweight, sounding hollow when knocked. We figure its a polypore- bracket fungus. The stump is a mess, but quite good firewood between the stump and this rotten section, and above the rotten section also.
