Palm trees

[Gologit]

Logging slowed down so I have a 40 acre land clearing job falling the stuff too big for the Timbco.

Scattered around the place are half a dozen really big palm trees...maybe 36" dbh.

What are they like to cut? Anything special to watch out for? Can you just drop them like a fir or pine or should I dig out my spurs and see if my creaky old knees are still up to climbing?

Pushing them over with a Cat isn't an option...too many leave trees and no room for the Cat.

So..what's the best way to go? Dynamite? Napalm?

 

[Canyonbc]

Any picture of the palms.

I fell them just like a vertical doug fir or pine...

Be careful putting a rope up there and yanking the .... out of them they bend a ton, way they are built...take all the hurricanes down south.

Very water logged, like you have never seen.

What is the surroundings of the trees?

 

[Gologit]

Any picture of the palms.

I fell them just like a vertical doug fir or pine...

Be careful putting a rope up there and yanking the .... out of them they bend a ton, way they are built...take all the hurricanes down south.

Very water logged, like you have never seen.

What is the surroundings of the trees?

No pictures. I've screwed up too many cameras in the woods. Unless I can get somebody else to be the camera person I don't usually bother.

The surroundings are flat to gently rolling foothills, sandy soil, with a mixture of planted and natural growth. There's never been any thinning that I can see and it's jungly. Lots of fir, oak, pine, madrone, and walnut. It's sheltered pretty well from our prevailing southerly winds but wide open to a blow from the north. I'm not really sure what they're doing with it...some kind of private residence from what I hear. Big bucks, whatever it is. They met my day work price and didn't even blink.

A forester did all the layouts and marked the trees. I walked it with him today. They're very big on not disturbing any more of the ground, other than the actual building site, than necessary.

I'm just the faller...all the other stuff is left up to them.

Mainly I just wanted to know if there were any special hazards to cutting
palm and what to watch out for. I hate surprises.

 

[jomoco]

Logging slowed down so I have a 40 acre land clearing job falling the stuff too big for the Timbco.

Scattered around the place are half a dozen really big palm trees...maybe 36" dbh.

What are they like to cut? Anything special to watch out for? Can you just drop them like a fir or pine or should I dig out my spurs and see if my creaky old knees are still up to climbing?

Pushing them over with a Cat isn't an option...too many leave trees and no room for the Cat.

So..what's the best way to go? Dynamite? Napalm?

Sounds like you're in for an eye opener, particularly if they are canary island date palms, the big kahuna of palm trees!

Date palms, as well as most other palms are nothing but fiber and water, and once you've buried a big bar in one, you can forget about pushing it through off your dawgs. On the bottom fat cuts on just about any palm, it's a stab and wiggle process all the way around, 360 degrrees.

In my opinion, nothing is harder on a chainsaw than a palm tree. The fibers engulf your bar and chain like a straightjacket cinched up tight. The palm acids eat magnesium cases like it's candy. Chains dull very quickly, especially on the base cut, bars get fried, horsepower and sharp chains in abundance are your only friend.

I spent my whole teenage life trimming and removing palms in socal, and they have killed more climbers here in socal than any other tree. In fact palms are not even true trees at all, they are monocots! Basically big friggin blades of grass!

And date palms have wickedly sharp long needles at the branch base, more than long and sharp enough to stab you in the chest and puncture your heart, and that's no lie friend.

Good luck with your palms, and be sure to wear all your PPE, as well as thoroughly cleaning your saws chain drive side all the way behind your clutch and spray with WD40 or equivalent.

jomoco

 

[Gologit]

Sounds like you're in for an eye opener, particularly if they are canary island date palms, the big kahuna of palm trees!

Date palms, as well as most other palms are nothing but fiber and water, and once you've buried a big bar in one, you can forget about pushing it through off your dawgs. On the bottom fat cuts on just about any palm, it's a stab and wiggle process all the way around, 360 degrrees.

In my opinion, nothing is harder on a chainsaw than a palm tree. The fibers engulf your bar and chain like a straightjacket cinched up tight. The palm acids eat magnesium cases like it's candy. Chains dull very quickly, especially on the base cut, bars get fried, horsepower and sharp chains in abundance are your only friend.

I spent my whole teenage life trimming and removing palms in socal, and they have killed more climbers here in socal than any other tree. In fact palms are not even true trees at all, they are monocots! Basically big friggin blades of grass!

And date palms have wickedly sharp long needles at the branch base, more than long and sharp enough to stab you in the chest and puncture your heart, and that's no lie friend.

Good luck with your palms, and be sure to wear all your PPE, as well as thoroughly cleaning your saws chain drive side all the way behind your clutch and spray with WD40 or equivalent.

jomoco

Thanks for the tips...maybe I should have asked for more money. There are only about six of them but I've never even seen one up close (that I paid attention to, anyway) until today.
Would full comp or skip be better? Do wedges work very well in palm? Geeeez...now I really sound like I belong in the Homeowner thread.
I guess gray hair and wrinkles doesn't mean you've seen everything..this will be a real learning experience.

 

[jomoco]

Thanks for the tips...maybe I should have asked for more money. There are only about six of them but I've never even seen one up close (that I paid attention to, anyway) until today.
Would full comp or skip be better? Do wedges work very well in palm? Geeeez...now I really sound like I belong in the Homeowner thread.
I guess gray hair and wrinkles doesn't mean you've seen everything..this will be a real learning experience.

Skip chisel for sure, less teeth to sharpen , less cutters for the fibers to get a hold on, sharpness is the key, horsepower helps alot.

And yes, wedges work well on relatively vertical palms.

I'm interested in what species of palm you're dealing with.

jomoco

 

[Gologit]

Skip chisel for sure, less teeth to sharpen , less cutters for the fibers to get a hold on, sharpness is the key, horsepower helps alot.

And yes, wedges work well on relatively vertical palms.

I'm interested in what species of palm you're dealing with.

jomoco

Thanks again...advice noted. I'm going up there Saturday to get started...if anyone is around I'll ask about the species. It was an old hacienda years ago and they planted all kinds of stuff. It's all run to wild now but there are still traces of orchards and ornamentals that I really don't know anything about. As near as I can tell it was last tended over fifty years ago and it's a real jungle.

The forester should be there Saturday. Actually, he has to be on site any time tree work is going on...they're that fussy. I'll sure be glad to get back to the woods.

I'm taking a friend up there with me...maybe we can get some pictures.

 

[Toddppm]

I've only done a couple at my dad's place in Fla., they grab the chain like it's not sharpened right and stick in the kerf. When they start to go they drop Faaaasssst and heavy, get out of the way!

 

[jomoco]

Kinda sorta off topic, but I would love to know which genus of tree/monocot has the highest hingewood strength/pliability?

Though I'm sure the conifers may have the highest inline strength, the palms would win hands down on pliability/survival, that's why they are usually the only thing left standing after a severe hurricane.

Just an opinion ofcourse.

Interesting from a scientific view point nonetheless on moisture content versus structural strength and pliability.

My latest arborist invention is a passive speedline retrieval leash clipped on your saddle to haul back your speedline on off center speedline picks.

jomoco

 

[Bermie]

It would be interesting to know the species...

If they are ANY kind of Phoenix palm, especially canary island date...LOOK OUT FOR THE SPINES!!!
They are viscious, I swear every time I work on one I end up in the hospital getting a spine cut out, or in pain for a few days from all the spike holes that swell up and hurt like a bugger for three days...!
If you get a spine stuck in you, get it out asap, they can go septic quick.

I even got whacked on my index finger knuckle with a Livistonia (chinese fan palm) spine, it swelled up and wouldn't go down for two weeks, had to take some steroid pills to knock it back!

Palms are repositories for rats, roaches, spiders, lizards and whatever other creepy crawlies you have out there too.

Have fun...

 

[Burvol]

So I guess that means make sure your gulletts are extra clean Bob

 

[Gologit]

It would be interesting to know the species...

If they are ANY kind of Phoenix palm, especially canary island date...LOOK OUT FOR THE SPINES!!!
They are viscious, I swear every time I work on one I end up in the hospital getting a spine cut out, or in pain for a few days from all the spike holes that swell up and hurt like a bugger for three days...!
If you get a spine stuck in you, get it out asap, they can go septic quick.

I even got whacked on my index finger knuckle with a Livistonia (chinese fan palm) spine, it swelled up and wouldn't go down for two weeks, had to take some steroid pills to knock it back!

Palms are repositories for rats, roaches, spiders, lizards and whatever other creepy crawlies you have out there too.

Have fun...

LOL...Thanks Bermie, I'm feeling better about this all the time. Not. Chain grabbing fibre, super heavy wood, corrosive sap, killer spines, and now rodents and bugs. Instead of PPE maybe I'll just borrow a suit of armor from the local museum. If everything goes the way I want it to I can fall the palms first. I figured a lay for them that will let the skidder take them out with a minimum of soil disturbance...that's also part of the deal. Then I can get back to normal trees and normal falling...and take the suit of armor off, too.

 

[Metals406]

LOL...Thanks Bermie, I'm feeling better about this all the time. Not. Chain grabbing fibre, super heavy wood, corrosive sap, killer spines, and now rodents and bugs. Instead of PPE maybe I'll just borrow a suit of armor from the local museum. If everything goes the way I want it to I can fall the palms first. I figured a lay for them that will let the skidder take them out with a minimum of soil disturbance...that's also part of the deal. Then I can get back to normal trees and normal falling...and take the suit of armor off, too.

Maybe you should sharpen up the Ol' double-bit'd axe? LOL

 

[Bermie]

Just bustin' you a bit Gologit...we tropical people like to get a bit superior when it comes to palms...makes up for the lack of big trees...but they are a pain in the neck!!! (and other places sometimes)
Good luck happy palm killing

 

[oldirty]

bob, bermie isnt lying about them rats in them palm trees. i was trimming one up down in florida out of the bucket one day and ended up in a chainsaw duel with a rat. little bastard was pissed.

definitely expect your bar to get pinched when cutting on it.

think of the wood as thousands of straws held side by each in a tube. thats what it looks like to me at least. as soon as you get your bar in and cutting the kerf closes behind the bar. lotsa pushing and pulling on the saw to keep the chain moving.

good luck on that job man.

 

[pinemartin]

EKKA has some good palm cutting how too videos you should check them out

 

[ozarktreeman]

WOW! palm trees sound nasty,bout the worst and hardest tree around here is blackjack,
pretty hard wood.can smoke some chains pretty fast.

 

[TheKid]

ask ekka

where is the bitter, old palm slayer? he'll surely know.

 

[Bermie]

where is the bitter, old palm slayer? he'll surely know.

He's busy slaying the doorknocker hacks...he's on a mission...check out Juliamafina Bloom, he's sorry the Ekka ever got on his case!

 

[dafunk]

Maybe you should sharpen up the Ol' double-bit'd axe? LOL

i know you said it as a joke but how well would this work on a palm?