First time out this year.

[Kenster]

It's mid to upper 90s here in Texas and I usually don't like to work on my firewood this time of year. However, while out mowing the meadow recently I noticed a nice size Water Oak looking pretty dead. (Dropping limbs from the top but still had some green in the lower limbs and coming out of the trunk. Water Oak is my favorite tree as it splits so well with its (mostly) straight grain.

Anyway, whenever I get the Stihl MS390 out each year I wonder if it's going to give me any problems. I put fresh gas in it and checked the chain oil. Hand sharpened the chain. Pulled twice and got the burp. Pulled again and it fired right up after sitting for at least six months. The trunk was about 20 -22 inches diameter. I made the best notch and back cuts ever. The tree just sat there. I was about to go get the wedges but decided to give the tree a little push. Truly, with the merest touch, that tree fell right over.

Now I'm kinda chomping at the bit to get it split. The trunk was still very wet and green so it's probably three years away from finding itself in the old Vigilant but I want to get it split and stacked soon. If it wasn't so danged hot, I'd be tempted to get the maul and/or Fiskars out and do it by hand. However, that's what I bought that 35 ton splitter for!

 

[xman23]

Nice read. I've made those perfect cuts, and then have the tree balance there. A few times they have leaned back and pinch the saw. Hard to read the weight at the top of the tree.

Now, I am in the habit of putting a come along on the tree with a little pull in the direction I want it to go.

 

[Kenster]

A couple of years ago I made what I thought was the perfect cut and the tree fell exactly 180 degrees from where I was planning. That's the only time that's ever happened to me. Scared the heck out of me. Glad I stuck to my 'always do' plan of preparing right angle escape paths.

 

[Jon1270]

A couple of years ago I made what I thought was the perfect cut and the tree fell exactly 180 degrees from where I was planning.

I took a Game of Logging workshop this past spring and when the instructor was talking me through a plan for the tree I was about to cut, he asked me, "Will you need a wedge?" I answered that I didn't think so, and he replied, "If you're not sure, then you need a wedge."

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I took a Game of Logging workshop this past spring and when the instructor was talking me through a plan for the tree I was about to cut, he asked me, "Will you need a wedge?" I answered that I didn't think so, and he replied, "If you're not sure, then you need a wedge."

Thanks for passing along the info.....

 

[skfire]

perfect notch, back cut and half way through it KABOOM...the ever tempermental and unpredictable EXPLODING ASH DOING A LINDA BLAIR 180 ON ME....6'-3" 240 never moved so fast.....saw flying right and yours truly dive rolling left....ROPES, WEDGES, TRACTORS PUSHING, CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY WTF EQUALIZERS....Now if only I would take the time and always heed that advice....rushed once, didn't check all the ifs and paid the price...dont do it....
Scott

 

[xman23]

I took a Game of Logging workshop this past spring and when the instructor was talking me through a plan for the tree I was about to cut, he asked me, "Will you need a wedge?" I answered that I didn't think so, and he replied, "If you're not sure, then you need a wedge."

Jon, I'm curious, about the class you took. Can you tell us more about it. Where and who put teat on?

 

[Jon1270]

Jon, I'm curious, about the class you took. Can you tell us more about it. Where and who put teat on?

Game of Logging is a national organization, but it's more active in PA than in most places. They work with the Pennsylvania Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and offer several levels of training, in various locations around the state. I took the Level 1 training in Franklin, PA.

(broken link removed to http://sfiofpa.org/course-registration.php)

 

[xman23]

Game of Logging is a national organization, but it's more active in PA than in most places. They work with the Pennsylvania Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and offer several levels of training, in various locations around the state. I took the Level 1 training in Franklin, PA.

(broken link removed to http://sfiofpa.org/course-registration.php)

Thanks, It looks very interesting. I'm in NE PA. I assume most of us are self taught. A level 1 course will help get rid of bad habits we may have developed and learn new concepts.

 

[Jon1270]

Thanks, It looks very interesting. I'm in NE PA. I assume most of us are self taught. A level 1 course will help get rid of bad habits we may have developed and learn new concepts.

It was a lot of fun. Almost all of the other participants were professional loggers, who apparently are required to retrain annually to keep their insurance rates down. If you're not familiar with it, Game of Logging scores everything you do during the workshop, and gives out prizes at the end of the day to the highest scorers. Successfully completing various tasks adds points, and safety violations take them away. In one of the exercises, each participant would pick a tree to fell and place a flagged stake about 40' away, to aim for. After the tree was down they'd measure the distance from the tree to the stake and deduct one point per inch from a base score of 100. One hotshot young logger put his flag about 90 degrees off from the lean of his tree, and still managed to hit the stake with the tree. I missed my stake by about four feet, and was humbled.

One older logger almost managed a perfect score for the day. If he'd done it, he would've walked away with the instructor's Dolmar 7900.