First Fell
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You got it JFK - great stuff! Cheers!JFK said:Nice job on the fell, good feeling I am sure
Are you 100% sure it is a maple, looks like an ash, but the pic is hard to tell I guess
NH_Wood & JFK - Thanks for the comments. My wife and I are still working on tree ID. What do you see that tells you it's ash? Always learning.
.....and while its still standing, it has the shape of an ash( certainly NOT the shape of a maple.) Congrats-you traded up a whole lotta BTU's! :cheese:
Stonefly said:
There is lots of ash in this region. Ash typically stands pretty straight. The bark gives it away. The color of the wood gives it away. Ash is usually either really white or a light tan inside. They are fast growing so the growth rings are very far apart. Pretty easy stuff to split.
Stonefly said:
Just noticed in your sig line that you have the PE T5 on order. You are going to love that stove!
Thanks all for the info. We've been trying to pay attention while we're out in the woods and then looks things up on the net. We really need to get a field guide. elijah - we can't wait to get this installed. We're currently in the middle of a remodel (2+ years) and the room we are currently working on is where the stove is going to go. Waiting for the chimney liner guys to come so we can finish (drywall, paint, floor, etc...). We looked at alot of stoves and after some suggests from this site decided on the T5.
elijah - I see you're in Wash. PA. I went to college at Cal U. Spent some weekends outside of Uniontown. Are you near the natural gas activity? It's pretty crazy up here.
dloveroflife - took us under an hour. Cleaned all the smaller branches off and dragged them to her branch pile she has on the property. Wife helps out alot. I'm realy impressed how excited she is about the hole thing.
Stonefly said:
Not elijah. I actually used to live in Uniontown..born and raised. Im very near the nat gas activity, we leased out so they can drill under us. Hope they do it so I can grab some of the royalties. It is VERY crazy here right now with marcellus. It has brought a ton of jobs to the area which is great! Im excited to see where it takes the area.
Stonefly, congratulations on your first felling of a tree. You are very wise to start with the small ones. I must also warn you about trees that are beginning to rot. Those are the most dangerous trees to fell because they will have weak spots. This can cause some very unwanted situations. If the tree is small it is usually not a problem but believe me, when a logger cuts into a tree and sees that it is rotten in the center, all warning systems go wild in his head. It can be very dangerous. Nuff said.
Dennis - Thats for the advise/warning...I'm listening & watching. I'm making sure I don't get in over my head. I know my limits and don't mind saying no. There is one tree on the property that I will probably pass on because I don't feel comfortable with the situation. I'll let some one with more experence tackle that one.
I wouldn't be so quick to judge that as Ash. Tulip Poplar has bark very similar to ash, and it has the dark heartwood like the pics show.
Questions for the OP, does the dark heartwood have an almost purple like color to it? If so, it's Tulip/Yellow Poplar, and you traded down in BTUs, but it's still a good firewood (seasons extremely fast and lights easily), good for the shoulder season especially.
Also, leaf/twig arrangement alternate or opposite? Opposite would be ash, alternate would be poplar.
Questions for the OP, does the dark heartwood have an almost purple like color to it? If so, it's Tulip/Yellow Poplar, and you traded down in BTUs, but it's still a good firewood (seasons extremely fast and lights easily), good for the shoulder season especially.
Also, leaf/twig arrangement alternate or opposite? Opposite would be ash, alternate would be poplar.
mrfjsf said:
I also recently leased my gas rights.. PA is the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas, lets hope it creates alot of good jobs and that there are not alot of issues. They have been drilling gas wells for over a 100 years here although now they are going down a mile deep for the mother load. Pretty interesting stuff.
How come everybody that posts pictures of tree felling has trees that are out in the open. I burn with envy everytime I see these trees with all the room in the world to drop them.
It seems like my "fells" would never make me look so good. I always have 'em hanging up in the branches of the next tree
It seems like my "fells" would never make me look so good. I always have 'em hanging up in the branches of the next tree
Stonefly said:
If you really want to learn off your first drop take a pic of the stump....It will tell alot on how well you done!
smokinjay said:
OP - agree with Jay - take a picture of the stump. Looks like in one of the pictures, you had a pretty severe down angle on the backcut. Definitely a no-no. I did that too starting out, learned a lot from Hearth and other sites. I try to be a lot safer now!
I don't think it's a down angle on the backcut, I think it's just a crooked backcut.indiana4spartans said:
If I'm right, then MY advice on that is to cut about waist high, it's easier to keep the saw level (for me) when i do that. Mark the lowest cut you want to make when it's all said and done, then come up from that one or two stove lengths and fell the tree at that point. Then when the tree is down just cut straight through the stump to make a couple more rounds.
You really want to get good at having a level back-cut, because if you don't then you run the risk of the tree twisting as it falls and with a big tree that can be bad news. One of the best things you can do is just practice it! any time a tree is down and you are standing it is a good fell in my book!
I'm not sure when I'll get back out to that property, hopefully this weekend. I'll take a picture of the stump and you can let me know. Good advise so far. Definatley staying with the smaller stuff for now. We have a lot of stuff already down on our property from the power company cleaning their right of way.
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