I had looked at this northern red oak that was growing under a larger red oak a dozen times over the last year.
The larger northern red oak is probably 8 feet in diameter at the base and 90-100 feet high. The one I wanted to cut down was about 24 inches in diameter and about 30 feet high. It had grown up under the larger oak and did not look like it had any branches tangled up with the larger oak.
My chainsaw bar is 18 inches so I knew it would be a job cutting the tree. I made my cuts and the tree started to go down. And then stopped.
In the process of going over one of the top branches hooked on a branch belonging to the larger oak. It was leaning at about 15 degrees and sitting on the stump.
I don't have a tractor and I do not have a ladder long enough to reach the larger oak tree's branch. I said, "oh crap".
I looked at the situation for a while and came up with a plan.
I would cut the hinge on one side and then use a big wedge on that side to push the trunk and make it twist so the branch would unhook as it came down. So I cut the hinge on one side and the tree sat down on my chainsaw bar. I said , "oh crap" again.
Well I made a big wooden wedge out of some old heart pine I had, inserted it in the cut, and knocked on it with my 10 lb sledge. Every time the tree would creak I scooted out of there so it took about an hour. And it worked! The tree came down about 5 feet from where I wanted it. The chainsaw bar and chain were bent so I had to replace them.
Now the hard part. The dang tree was full of knots- probably over the years it had lost a lot of branches due to the larger oak losing limbs. They are sitting out in the middle of my 9 acre pasture on top of a hill and are exposed to a lot of thunderstorms and north winds.
Any way, I got it cut up while sharpening my blade 6 times in the process- I believe someone used it as a fence post back in the day cause I saw sparks 4 times.
Then I split the main trunk but every other section just laughed at the maul because of the knots. The ones that did split only took two swings of the maul at the most and split right down the middle.
Well now I have a nice stack of oak, a pile of sections waiting on the hydraulic splitter, and two piles of small branches.
Nervous exhausting days. I'm so tired.
But it is beer time now after a good shower.
And the wood will warm me up when I load it on the trailer, when I unload it and stack it, when I bring it to the porch, when I bring it inside,and when I get to burn it.
The larger northern red oak is probably 8 feet in diameter at the base and 90-100 feet high. The one I wanted to cut down was about 24 inches in diameter and about 30 feet high. It had grown up under the larger oak and did not look like it had any branches tangled up with the larger oak.
My chainsaw bar is 18 inches so I knew it would be a job cutting the tree. I made my cuts and the tree started to go down. And then stopped.
In the process of going over one of the top branches hooked on a branch belonging to the larger oak. It was leaning at about 15 degrees and sitting on the stump.
I don't have a tractor and I do not have a ladder long enough to reach the larger oak tree's branch. I said, "oh crap".
I looked at the situation for a while and came up with a plan.
I would cut the hinge on one side and then use a big wedge on that side to push the trunk and make it twist so the branch would unhook as it came down. So I cut the hinge on one side and the tree sat down on my chainsaw bar. I said , "oh crap" again.
Well I made a big wooden wedge out of some old heart pine I had, inserted it in the cut, and knocked on it with my 10 lb sledge. Every time the tree would creak I scooted out of there so it took about an hour. And it worked! The tree came down about 5 feet from where I wanted it. The chainsaw bar and chain were bent so I had to replace them.
Now the hard part. The dang tree was full of knots- probably over the years it had lost a lot of branches due to the larger oak losing limbs. They are sitting out in the middle of my 9 acre pasture on top of a hill and are exposed to a lot of thunderstorms and north winds.
Any way, I got it cut up while sharpening my blade 6 times in the process- I believe someone used it as a fence post back in the day cause I saw sparks 4 times.
Then I split the main trunk but every other section just laughed at the maul because of the knots. The ones that did split only took two swings of the maul at the most and split right down the middle.
Well now I have a nice stack of oak, a pile of sections waiting on the hydraulic splitter, and two piles of small branches.
Nervous exhausting days. I'm so tired.
But it is beer time now after a good shower.
And the wood will warm me up when I load it on the trailer, when I unload it and stack it, when I bring it to the porch, when I bring it inside,and when I get to burn it.
