I had the same issue with my house and 3 giant 170 year old maples which all died at once, one winter. The Arborist and Crane company wanted something in the order of 3000.00 per tree. And then no clean up except for the logs. Ha. Maple at $7.00 lineal foot (BEFORE COVID) he'd be taking almost another 9 grand of lumber.
So, I drove down a couple miles to a forested area where I saw some men cutting trees for some farmer who was clear cutting a section of trees. I walked up to this little asain guy, and asked about felling trees. He said he was available for moonlighting if I'd be interested in giving him some extra work. " Interested"! I'd beentalking for a year with arborists who had 4 month waiting lists etc, and led me to believe that there were no people available for this type of work for months on end because of the intense demand. And maybe that was true, among arborists. But I was now talking to a lumberjack. I arranged for him to come and see the job. He came after work.
It's like 5:00 oclock. He pulls up, walks up to me. Probably a funny sight to see. He was maybe 5'4, and I'm 6'11.
But his hands are bigger than mine, and hard like shaking hands with a statue. I said, these are the trees. He says "I know". HAHAHA. I said, how do you know? He says, "they are the dead ones.". and he points to a fourth tree, and says, "and this one has to go too. It's dead, but not yet, it will die rest of the way this winter. She's done."
He never looks at me once while talking. He's eyeballing those trees from every possible angle. I ask do you use a crane or what? He say's "no crane" "I limb, drop it, you pay, I go. I no clean up. Cheaper for you." I say, what about the power lines? That one is leaning right over them. "No worry" not a problem. I say " Not a problem for you! but if you drop a power line or block the street, you get in to your truck and go. I have to answer to the cops and Hydro." He says. "Mister" I do this 40 years. My father do this 60 years. and his father and his father. You don't worry ok. I do for you." With that, this 5'6" guy right before my eyes jumps and like an ape, grabs one of the lower limbs with his giant mitts, and flings himself around the branches and and works his way 20 feet or so up the tree to closer examine a hollow. Whips a Long knife out of his belt or pants that was never visible to me on the ground, and drives it in there. I think checking the rot depth? I really don't know, then just as easily, monkeys his way back to the ground. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The guy talks to me, and he's out of breath. By the way, he told me his name about 8 times, and I still have no idea what the hell he said, or how to ever say it myself, so he's "this guy"). I had for whatever reason, utter confidence in him at this point. His character and his ability somehow shone through, unlike the usual bull shitters you get. He says " My work pay me 20.00 an hour. for this job I need more." I say "How much more" but I'm thinking, 20.00 an hour? Is this guy touched in the head? He say's he need 25.00 because at work, the gas and oil are free. Here, I have to use my own. How long will it take you and when can you start. he says" I do right now". My mind is blown? Racing with thoughts. Is he crazy? Is he going to crush the towns power line and take down the poles, then bolt? Is going to run with the money? No, he can't, I haven't paid him anything yet. Why would he risk his life for 25.00 bucks an hour?, oh because he does that every day for 20.00 an hour. You know, he did say he'd come look at the job after work, and he was here at 5:00. He clearly knows these trees. And he called them small compare to he used to cut down in the Phillipines. These were 150 foot Maples with 60 inch diameter trunks. He broke my trance with "OK?" I looked at him, looked once again to make sure these trees couldn't touch my house or truck, they couldn't. I shook his outstreched hand and said ok. but how many hours will this take? He says " I finish before sun go". I think, what have I done? This guy is nuts. It's like 5:15 and the sun goes down just after 10:00 he's got maybe 5 - 51/2 hours at most till then. He won't have half of one tree done. I say to him " if you don't hit any power lines or do any major damage to my driveway , I'll pay you 50.00 an hour! He shakes his head, looks up and says "ok joe." I think, My names not Joe. I ask him if he wants to move his truck closer to mine just in case. He cracks his first smile, and says "You no trust!, ok. you watch. He goes to his truck which is right under one of the trees, straps some spikes to his boots or maybe they were different boots, I couldn't really see., puts on a tool belt, pulls 2 chainsaws and a helmet out of the box, a can of fuel and a jug of oil. I'm thinking it's happening. Today!, right now. So I go back towards the house to be safe and take a seat on the porch when my wife walks out. I hadn't even had time to tell her this was happening. The rest was the most entertaining spectacle I've ever seen, and we've been to Cirque de Soleil in Vegas. He cuts a limb and turns his shoulder and the massive limb clears his should by what seems like an inch from where I'm sitting.He's cutting so fast, and turning his shoulders dodging the falling parts. The whole thing has some kind of strategy, because periodically, he stops, hangs his saw from a rope, monkeys his way from one strong limb of one tree, on to the next tree, whips out a saw off his belt and with 10-15 pulls cuts though part of a branch, which drops, and this somehow, makes his next cut on the first tree possible. He flings himself back, fires up his saw and he's back in business. Cut, roll the shoulder, shimmy up, cut, roll, shimmy up. Look back occasionally to see how the branches are stacking. He walks a very heavy branch maybe 15 inches in diameter, and standing on it, a dirty old rope tied to the trunk and thru a loop on his harness, cuts with a flip of the chainsaw, and that branch falls, but turns and lands across the pile, which I much later realize, is him separating the useable timber from the ****, so that the loggers can easily pull the good stuff out from the firewood, and stack it seperately. I was so impressed. Anyway, to shorten this novel I didn't mean to write. 5 minutes before 10, Monkey man has his truck loaded and I meet him midway and shake his hand in Awe of what I just witnessed, and what 2 of my neighbors who stood on their porches with their jaws dropped also witnessed. I could not give him 250.00 dollars for what he just did. I gave him 1,000.00. And I had a hell of a time getting this man to take it!!! I insisted and when I showed him the arborists quote, he finally accepted. I told him I didn't give you 1,000.00 (whatever your name is), you saved me 8,000.00! Then I had a sudden thought, I said wait here. I had bought a used Echo pole saw which I used on these trees we just took down which I no longer needed. I gave it to him, thinking he might use it. Well, you'd think I gave him the Hope diamond. He had tears in his hard weathered eyes. He said he's always wanted one of these and this specific model. He spewed off some reasons, but I didn't understand a word. He left, and every time he drives by my farm, he honks his horn and waves out the window. Rain Shine Snow, doesn't matter. Thats like 5 or 6 years now. Oh, and I eventually milled the maple logs, and got 6 grand worth of sellable 3" planks from the ones he identified as good with his markers, another 1,000 -1200 board feet for myself of lower grade stuff, about 4 cords of maple firewood, and a ton of brush for composting. Where are the old tradesmen like this one. The men who were born for a job, and do it from their first day of work till their last. Those were the good old days. I pulled off the fluke of the century meeting this person of indistinguishable age. he could be 25 or 60, I haven't a clue. His face had a lifetime of experience and weathering, but his hands, well, I will never forget those things.
