Big White Oak. A piece of history down.

[Jags]

Howdy all, I thought I would throw a couple of pics on screen of the big white oak that was last weekends fun. This tree has two hundred + rings. The history behind it was that many moons ago, the area was a park. Years ago I spoke to my grandmother about this area (she was born in 1904) and she stated that these trees were huge when she was a little girl.

But as all living things know - its only time. This tree has been in decline for a few years and my buddy (the owner) decided that it was becoming dangerous. So down it comes. Its a big boy, but I have yet to tape it out, rough estimate is about 40" dbh.

It was felled by a hired pro because of surrounding power lines, and to my surprise he decided to exercise on old dog. Out comes a 125 cc Pro Mac to do the job. I had to help by leaning on the handle while he started it. What an old beast of a saw. Ya gotta love those old low RPM thumpers. All the rest of the cuts was done by me and the trusty 361 and 25" bar.

The subject:

 

[Jags]

The drop:
(sorry about the pic quality - it is from my crappy crack berry.)

And after a tank full on the 361

 

[quads]

Nice pictures and story! It's a shame to see big old trees like that die.

 

[Jags]

Nice pictures and story! It's a shame to see big old trees like that die.

Agreed. One thing that my friend started several years back was to allow some select seedlings take hold. The idea is to allow the next generation to get going before all of the old growth is gone.

 

[70marlin]

The drop:
(sorry about the pic quality - it is from my crappy crack berry.)

And after a tank full on the 361

I bet the hardest part of the day was getting the rounds in the truck?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jags, it is a shame that the old trees die off but that is part of Nature at work. On the other hand, those are fun trees to cut up and split. You don't have to cut too many of these to get your wood supply on hand.

 

[Jags]

The drop:
(sorry about the pic quality - it is from my crappy crack berry.)

And after a tank full on the 361

I bet the hardest part of the day was getting the rounds in the truck?

I have yet to move a round to the truck. I think I will haul the splitter to the tree instead. As a matter of fact (as you can see in one pic), I think this will be the first time I am actually going to noodle the rounds into smaller chunks. I know the log lift will handle the lifting part, but this tree was still partially alive, and being spring, this sucker is water logged (= really frigin heavy). The shear weight of one of the butt rounds makes me sweat and with some of the eye opener experiences that some of our members here have had recently, I am rethinking age - weight - safety, etc.

So I can either noodle them and split on site, or if noodled - they will be much easier to get to truck/trailer.

My buddy (who thinks his little 16" husky is a mean son of a gun) looked at me like I was crazy when I started to consider noodling. "it will take forever" he says. My response - "naaaa...watch this sh@&." He changed his mind.

Man - I have to admit, I think I just NOW got the 361 properly broke in. She was SCREAMING with the 25" on it (freshly sharpened).

 

[Wood Duck]

It looks solid the whole way through. A shame it had to go, but at least it will not end up rotting.

 

[Jags]

Jags, it is a shame that the old trees die off but that is part of Nature at work. On the other hand, those are fun trees to cut up and split. You don't have to cut too many of these to get your wood supply on hand.

Yeah Dennis - the trunk of this sucker is gonna yield a bunch of splits - thats for sure.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jags, if you'd just split those things the way logs were meant to be split (vertically) you'd have had no problem.

 

[Jags]

Jags, if you'd just split those things the way logs were meant to be split (vertically) you'd have had no problem.

He,he, he - I knew that was coming. :cheese:

The fact is that a JD 930 couldn't move these suckers (you can kinda see it in one of the pics), so just getting one of these beasts into place is a job, then you sure as heck ain't gonna rotate it very easy. I am afraid that there really is no easy way and I will noodle them before I go to sledge and wedge. All my steel wedges got tossed about 5 years ago and I swore them s.o.b's off. >:-(

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, I couldn't let you off the hook without a friendly reminder.

I still have the old wedges. Thought I lost one this winter but found it so I have 3. I use them sparingly.

 

[smokinj]

How big does it measure across?

 

[Jags]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

 

[smokinj]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

Oh and them pro mac's are still the @hit! the one I done I noddle about 1/3 down and sledge and wedge pop them pretty easy...

 

[Jags]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

Oh and them pro mac's are still the @hit! the one I done I noddle about 1/3 down and sledge and wedge pop them pretty easy...

Noodling doesn't take long. I think that is the treatment its gonna get. :coolgrin:

 

[smokinj]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

Oh and them pro mac's are still the @hit! the one I done I noddle about 1/3 down and sledge and wedge pop them pretty easy...

Noodling doesn't take long. I think that is the treatment its gonna get. :coolgrin:

my 460 just didnt like it after about a 1/3 of the way down...if the chain was cut to 10 degrees it would be better.

 

[Jags]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

Oh and them pro mac's are still the @hit! the one I done I noddle about 1/3 down and sledge and wedge pop them pretty easy...

Noodling doesn't take long. I think that is the treatment its gonna get. :coolgrin:

my 460 just didnt like it after about a 1/3 of the way down...if the chain was cut to 10 degrees it would be better.

I already did one just to see how it was gonna fair out. Worked pretty well. On the 25" bar I don't take the rakers down quite as far as I do on an 18" bar, so it pulls into the cut at pretty much full rpm. Makes pretty short work of it actually.

 

[smokinj]

How big does it measure across?

Have not put a tape to it yet. I would estimate about 40" dbh.

Oh and them pro mac's are still the @hit! the one I done I noddle about 1/3 down and sledge and wedge pop them pretty easy...

Noodling doesn't take long. I think that is the treatment its gonna get. :coolgrin:

my 460 just didnt like it after about a 1/3 of the way down...if the chain was cut to 10 degrees it would be better.

I already did one just to see how it was gonna fair out. Worked pretty well. On the 25" bar I don't take the rakers down quite as far as I do on an 18" bar, so it pulls into the cut at pretty much full rpm. Makes pretty short work of it actually.

mine just starts bucking like a old pissed off mule around 1/3 but thats was the same full comp with slightly lower rakers I use for cross cutting...just pick up a 32in. bar just for milling if I run in to another one that should do much better.

 

[Troutchaser]

Gotta ask. What exactly is noodling? Splitting with the chainsaw?

 

[Jags]

Gotta ask. What exactly is noodling? Splitting with the chainsaw?

Yeah - basically you stand the round up (like balancing a nickle) and then cut from bark on through. You should keep the power head pulled away from the round because the "noodles" that come off will quickly plug up the saw if you don't.

Edit: in my 4th pic - you can see one that has been cut in half and the pile of "noodles" behind it.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

yowza! I could have hollowed it out and lived in it.

 

[Jags]

yowza! I could have hollowed it out and lived in it.

This sucker is big, but ain't even close to the biggest on his property.

 

[Flatbedford]

If only you had a Fiskars....

 

[Jags]

If only you had a Fiskars....

I had a thought of taking a swing at one of these, just for giggles. Then I thought again.

I know it can be done - hell I did it for years, but I got older and hopefully wiser. I think a half gallon of Dino wine and a screaming chain with teeth on it will make short work of these big rounds.