Snagged Neighbor Lady's oak: Part II. Success!

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Kenster

Minister of Fire
Jan 10, 2010
1,705
Texas- West of Houston
I decided to post the follow up in a new thread.

So I went down this morning and noticed that the trunk as settled a little lower overnight. Where the snagged branch connects to the main trunk was now about chest high, rather than over my head as it was yesterday. Still too dangerous to sever at that point so I stuck with my plan to start at the butt end that I had cut loose yesterday from the fractured stump. The bottom seven or so feet of the trunk was hollow. The walls of the hollow part of the trunk were about five inches thick with only a thin layer of rot from ants/termites. Once I got past the hollow part I began to "score" the entire trunk, pre-cutting 20 inch lengths about 2/3 way through the trunk. It was easier to do most of the cutting while the trunk was in the air. When I got ready to begin to cut all the way through I drove in a couple of wedges to avoid pinching my bar. I removed a couple of 20 inch bucks and let the snagged trunk settle down some. Then I dropped a three buck section at one time. This left the rest of the trunk suspended in the air. At this point it was easy to cut through each, pre-cut buck as it would fall free since it was not touching the ground on one end. Soon, the only piece left was a 20 inch section suspended in the air by the snagged branch. I stood on one of the bucks I had just cut and made the severing cut. I was able to get one more 20 inch buck out of the snagged branch and could not reach any higher.
I split up all the hollowed out pieces, then took my chain saw (Stihl MS390 with muffler mod) and noodled in some cross grooves on each of the big bucks I had just cut. I had not tried this before and was amazed at how easy these big, green bucks split. I literally just tapped one wedge into one of the grove about three times and it split right in half. No need to give it a mighty whack. Now I just have to go back and haul all of that wood out of that draw and back up to my truck. Too bad this tree couldn't have fallen on the high ground!

Below: The tree intact as it sat yesterday before I began working on it.

d1.jpg


Below: started off today bucking out the hollow butt end.

dd3.jpg


Below: I start working up the trunk.

dd1.jpg


Below: You can see how I 'scored' the trunk with pre-cut slices.

dd4.jpg


Below: I took two 20 inch bucks off the top, leaving about 40 inches still hanging on.

dd2.jpg


Below: Last piece. I dropped one buck from the left side of the branch then made a horizontal cut and
severed the last piece from the branch. Then took one more 20 inch buck from that branch. Done! and
in as safe a manner as I possibly could.

dd5.jpg
 
Looks good Kenster. Looks like some easy cutting. Have fun!
 
So the rest of the branch is still hung up there? No way you could get a rope around it and pull it out with your truck?
 
Looking Good, That will be a nice pile of oak when you get finished for sure.
 
Mesuno said:
So the rest of the branch is still hung up there? No way you could get a rope around it and pull it out with your truck?

This is what I would do and have done several times when I can get access. You're lucky to have such great access and fairly ez cutting for such good wood!
 
I hope you are not allergic to poison ivy, I for one would not be cutting through that vine. I started itching just looking at that fuzzy rope.



KC
 
iskiatomic said:
I hope you are not allergic to poison ivy, I for one would not be cutting through that vine. I started itching just looking at that fuzzy rope.
KC

KC, it's not Poison Ivy. The vine is actually very slick, not fuzzy at all. I checked out the entire area very carefully before I began work. I'm very allergic to PI.

We have several types of climbing vines around here but the huge old Post oak in our front yard has a PI rope bigger than my fist climbing up it. It's such a huge vine that its roots extend far beyond the drip line of the tree as I, to my chagrin, found out one time when I had my arm down a gopher hole setting a trap. Got a bad case of PI on that arm up to my elbow and there has never been a sign of PI in that area the entire time we've lived here. Had to be roots.
 
Kenster said:
We have several types of climbing vines around here but the huge old Post oak in our front yard has a PI rope bigger than my fist climbing up it. It's such a huge vine that its roots extend far beyond the drip line of the tree as I, to my chagrin, found out one time when I had my arm down a gopher hole setting a trap. Got a bad case of PI on that arm up to my elbow and there has never been a sign of PI in that area the entire time we've lived here. Had to be roots.

Sheesh! I'm glad we don't have PI over here in the UK. If it is in your yard as you say can you find some way to kill it off? Paint round-up on its leaves or something. I wouldn't want to leave it free to strike again.
 
Did you leave the rest hanging?
 
Flatbedford said:
Did you leave the rest hanging?


So far. I've also still got three big rounds down there that I need to split and bring home. That hanging limb has got a lot of good wood in it but I'm about to go out of town so it will all have to sit for a couple of weeks.
 
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