First Sucessful Scronge

[hoyajohn]

I stopped by my town hall today to see who owned property where there are a couple of nice maple trees down close to the road and not touching the ground. A gentlemen told me who owned the property and after I told him why I was asking he told me about a giant oak that went down behind his house during the Oct snow storm. He told me I could have at it I immediately went home, got the saw and put in a couple of hours in today. Going back tomorrow and hoepfully finish the cutting although I have never cut through a 4 ft dia trunk that this tree has at the base. I only have an 18" bar on my Farmboss so I'll have to figure it out. Anyone got some pointers? Here some pictures, note my saw and shadow to try to give you some scale.

 

[Duetech]

I have used a farmboss (029) for over 20 years. Wood that large means two saws or extra bar/s and chain/s incase you get a wedgey. On suspended trees put a round under the trunk in several places (if you can manage before you really cut the big stuff) for supporting the big log to help prevent getting the blade pinched or running the tip into the dirt. Bar length is really helpful but a shorter bar can do a pretty good job if you are patient. cut lengthwise (sides and top) with the trunk/grain and cut blocks out of the trunk until you can actually cut all the way through the trunk. An 18" bar can cut a 36" tree down but will cut up a bigger tree by taking out chunks. If you can have two or three extra chains handy you can work faster. Sharpen the chains at home and only in the field when you have no choice.

 

[CTYank]

Cut off the leaders from the top down. Great stress reducer for lower wood. Use some pieces to prop lower trunk out of dirt later.

Keep a few plastic felling wedges handy, so you can prevent kerf from closing on you and pinching b&c. Notch pieces a/r.

Granberg file guide excellent for touching up cutters every other tankful. Regular breaks from cutting are great for safety.

Don't see any water bottles there. What gives with that?

 

[stejus]

That's great. I did something similar a month ago. I saw a large white oak down near the road. I looked up the parcel online and then tried to locate the owner. To make a long story short, the land owner is a bankrupt realtor who owes 3 years back taxes on this 50 acre lot. Once I heard that, I said it's mine!

 

[Flatbedford]

Nice score. good luck with that monster. Your farmboss is a good strong saw. I ram a 20" bar on mine with Full Chisel chain ans it pulled just fine through Oak as long as I didn't force it to cut faster than it wanted to. Work slowly, carefully, and methodically with a sharp chain and you can do the job as described above by Cave2k.

 

[Gark]

Had a fatter white oak than that last spring. No way was I gonna dink around with the 18" farm boss. Rented a 28" Husky 372XP to tackle the 52" trunk. Now I'm in love with a 372XP (sorry, wife). Warning - don't go there - your life will never be the same. LOL.

 

[firefighterjake]

On a tree like that I would start from the top and work my way down . . . having a Peavey or something similar might also help since you will eventually reach the point where you will need to cut one side of the tree and then roll the tree to cut the other side . . .

Welcome to the forum by the way . . . and where in Maine are you . . . it's a pretty big place . . . and don't worry . . . I won't come visit you.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum K. Ryan. Good for you for finding and then scoring big. Good luck with that big tree. Is it possible for you to rent a large saw for a day to cut that up?

 

[Gary_602z]

That's great. I did something similar a month ago. I saw a large white oak down near the road. I looked up the parcel online and then tried to locate the owner. To make a long story short, the land owner is a bankrupt realtor who owes 3 years back taxes on this 50 acre lot. Once I heard that, I said it's mine!

and that is legal there?

Gary

 

[wishlist]

Welcome k Ryan. Great advice already given. I would stress use your wedges. I also have a 029 with a 20" bar that will do a fine job. We like pics here , so post some up as you make progress.

 

[thewoodlands]

I stopped by my town hall today to see who owned property where there are a couple of nice maple trees down close to the road and not touching the ground. A gentlemen told me who owned the property and after I told him why I was asking he told me about a giant oak that went down behind his house during the Oct snow storm. He told me I could have at it I immediately went home, got the saw and put in a couple of hours in today. Going back tomorrow and hoepfully finish the cutting although I have never cut through a 4 ft dia trunk that this tree has at the base. I only have an 18" bar on my Farmboss so I'll have to figure it out. Anyone got some pointers? Here some pictures, note my saw and shadow to try to give you some scale.

Nice scrounge, looks like some fun.

zap

 

[hoyajohn]

Thanks guys (I'm assuming everyone is a guy) I really appreciate the advice/feedback. I didn't get back to work until about 10:30 this morning. It actually snowed last night and I had to take care of my 200 ft drive way, after-all it is Dec in Maine but we're getting so use to this mild weather. I also had to leave to go to my daughters Christmas concert at 2:00 so I didn't get in as many hours as planned today. Here are some pics of the progress I did make. This is by far the biggest tree I've cut up. The extra chain came in handy today (I think I will get a third) I'm also not use to filling up so many times but talk about a kid in a candy store. Most of this advise looks real helpful so thanks again. I'm going back on Tues. Thankfully I have all of next week off and the weather is looking like it will coperate. Enjoy the pics.

 

[bogydave]

Supreme score!!
To big of a log to cut into rounds
Try this:

 

[Iembalm4aLiving]

Wow, what an awesome score! That will keep you busy splitting and stacking for a while!

 

[wishlist]

Looks real good Ryan, keep at it.

 

[Flatbedford]

That looks like Christmas to me!

I can smell the Red Oak stink from here

 

[Woody Stover]

That looks like Christmas to me!

I can smell the Red Oak stink from here

I think that's a Black but the smell is no different. :sick:

 

[hoyajohn]

Back to work today after a long Christmas weekend with the kids and wife. I moved all the stuff I have cut up so far to the homestead (6 mile round trip). Took me 5 trips, didn't stack in the truck. As you can see I didn't split everything yet but here is my pile/stack. Didn't get to fancy as I plan to re-stack and split the remainder come spring. I have a lot of odd pieces I need to cut as you would expect from the branches (which some where huge on this tree). My hope is to get at the remaining part of the tree with the chainsaw later in the week.

 

[bogydave]

Good job!
Very nice truck load, good looking wood
Hurry it's going to snow soon, not that means you have to stop

 

[JustWood]

That looks like Christmas to me!

I can smell the Red Oak stink from here

I think that's a Black but the smell is no different. :sick:

I think you might be right. I'll take black over red any day.That is a nice score!

 

[fossil]

Thanks guys (I'm assuming everyone is a guy)...

Perhaps in this particular thread so far...but not something you should assume on these Hearth.com forums. We have plenty of active "non-guy" members here. Rick

 

[bogydave]

Thanks guys (I'm assuming everyone is a guy)...

Perhaps in this particular thread so far...but not something you should assume on these Hearth.com forums. We have plenty of active "non-guy" members here. Rick

The "Wood shed" topic is the "Manly" section
I might pay for this LOL

 

[CTYank]

K.J.
For the future, you might want to note that you'll cut the max, with the least work out of the engine, with the sharpest chain you can maintain on the saw. Over years, I've found that Granberg's clamp-on file guide gets that done best for me. Couple of strokes per cutter, and it's ready to slice wood.

Super-sharp chain makes longer bars feasible. As does skip-tooth chain. You didn't mention what sort of chain you're using- mostlikely full-chisel. When full-chisel chain goes dull, the chips turn to dust almost instantly. No in-between. Semi-chisel is much more tolerant of some dirt in the wood and goes dull more casually.

Boiled down: for cutting, with your saw, large wood that might have some dirt (think wind-blown) ideal chain might be skip-tooth semi-chisel wrapped around a 24" bar. Using the 18" or smaller bars whenever possible. For substantial improvement in fuel economy, go for stratified scavenging.

First and foremost, though, razor-sharp. When in doubt, stop & sharpen it.

Good luck on landing your next score, and Happy New Year.

 

[hoyajohn]

On a tree like that I would start from the top and work my way down . . . having a Peavey or something similar might also help since you will eventually reach the point where you will need to cut one side of the tree and then roll the tree to cut the other side . . .

Welcome to the forum by the way . . . and where in Maine are you . . . it's a pretty big place . . . and don't worry . . . I won't come visit you.

Alfred (near Sanford) which some say is part of Mass.

 

[hoyajohn]

Good comment on the Guy thing. I'll be more careful in the future. Just last night I was taking with a friend who was telling me about his girlfriend's ability to help him with all aspects of acquiring wood (fell, cut, slit and stack) so I won't make that assumption agian.

Thanks for all the feedback, especially on the importance of chain sharpening and the feedback on that subject.

Also, I have a couple of mauls I split with and broke a handle on one and the head flew off on the other while I was splitting the other day. I'm in the process of fixing both but was wondering what hand splitting devises are recommended by ya'll. I was at Lowes today buying another wood handle and looked at a True Temper 4 Lb. Super Wood Splitter with 36" Fiberglass Handle which I almost got but have heard that the fiberglass handles can get brittle and break easily in the cold?