I cut my front yard trees down

[Highbeam]

The previous owners built my house in 1963 and densely planted leyland cypress on the frontage and then fir trees on the side in rows. The cypress grows fast and tall but then the bottoms get all sparse and ugly since they shade each other out. The firs were about 24" dbh and had been topped at one point. We get strong winds up here near the cascades so I decided to have all 28 stems taken down. What a mess! Will be cleaning up and cutting wood for awhile.

Stihl with 20" bar is doing great. The rounds are all cypress which smells nice. The limbs are being chipped by my 30HP tractor spinning a woodmaxx 8" pto chipper with hydraulic feed. The only trouble with these trees is access, I can't get the truck close so each round must be carried by wheelbarrel to the pikcup about 50 feet away.

I had a logger friend climb the trees and attach a line which was used to pull the trees in the right direction and away from my home, the powerlines, and the street.

 

[Jags]

That is gonna make a big ol pile of firewood. What do you plan on doing with the nekkid front yard now?

 

[Highbeam]

We joked about this. Probably plant more trees! I need something out front since the street can be noisy. For sure will extend the three board fence into the area. We've wanted those trees gone for a long time to allow the sun to land on the roof and warm the home plus keep the gunk from growing on my roof.

Pictured are just the cypress rounds. The big dogs are the fir trees. Thatg's going to be back breaking. Temps have been in the 80s while cutting and bar oil is getting thin.

 

[TimJ]

Hope that wood is put to good use for you as mentioned it is a bunch

 

[Flatbedford]

That is quite a pile of wood. Could you skid logs up the hill with the tractor rather and then cut them instead of hauling rounds in the wheel barrow?

 

[bogydave]

I think you plan is a "sound" one
When the trees get full size mother nature starts to thin them out to make room for new ones.
Better you cut & use them than have a windstorm create havoc.
Lots of wind damage from large tree back east this year,
I think your plan will save future problems & give you lots of BTUs
Nice pictures

 

[Highbeam]

That is quite a pile of wood. Could you skid logs up the hill with the tractor rather and then cut them instead of hauling rounds in the wheel barrow?

The thing is, the trees were fallen uphill so the limbs and butt end are at the bottom. I've always skidded logs from the butt end because pulling from the little end would be against the branches. I can drive the pickup to the neighbor's yard, uphill in the photo, so the bulk of the big stuff will be easy to load out.

I plan to leave town this weekend and I'm a little worried that some yahoo will stop by and help himself. So I'm not going to cut anymore than I can haul out. If they're going to steal, they'll have to run their saws.

 

[Flatbedford]

I plan to leave town this weekend and I'm a little worried that some yahoo will stop by and help himself. So I'm not going to cut anymore than I can haul out. If they're going to steal, they'll have to run their saws.

Good plan. Lots of dirtbag scroungers out there.

 

[ScotO]

Nice! That's a pile of firewood right there!

 

[Highbeam]

That pile ended up being a healthy three cords of rounds. All moved yesterday to the splitting area in record high temperatures for the area. Now I have room to pull down the tops of those cypress trees and get more rounds before chipping the rest of the tops. Mid 90s for us WA folks is hot. The good thing about cypress is that it has thin bark, no slivers, straight grain, and no sap oozing out.

Bucking into rounds has so far been the easiest part.

 

[rdust]

That's a big ole pile of wood!

 

[f3cbboy]

nice pile of rounds! just did the same thing with a maple in my front yard except cost me $595 to have someone drop it for me. i got about 1.5 (maybe a bit more) cords out of a big silver maple. lotsa splitting coming nice work.

 

[Realstone]

That'll keep the house warm for a spell. Is cypress good burning?

 

[Highbeam]

That'll keep the house warm for a spell. Is cypress good burning?

I expect it will burn like western red cedar which is almost equivalent to douglas fir per the btu charts and is the standard stuff around here. It sure smells nice. I've burned lots of cedar and enjoy it.

Oh, I didn't fall these trees myself. I hired a logger and paid for his time. He was good and everything went as planned.

 

[basod]

I've burned a bunch off leyland cypress form the 5 that I thinned out of a wind block in front yard. They were killing half of the magnolia and eventually started overcrowding and killing each other.
I'd say its just about like cedar/juniper burns fast but great for restarts and mixing in with other shoulder woods.
Did the same thing and chipped the limbs with a my smaller troybuilt - stuff smelled wondeful around the yard that spring

 

[Bigg_Redd]

The thing is, the trees were fallen uphill so the limbs and butt end are at the bottom. I've always skidded logs from the butt end because pulling from the little end would be against the branches. I can drive the pickup to the neighbor's yard, uphill in the photo, so the bulk of the big stuff will be easy to load out.

I plan to leave town this weekend and I'm a little worried that some yahoo will stop by and help himself. So I'm not going to cut anymore than I can haul out. If Bigg_Redd is going to steal, he'll have to run his saw.

That's not a problem - my saw runs great. Now I just need an address. . .

 

[Highbeam]

That's not a problem - my saw runs great. Now I just need an address. . .

Phew! I made it home and redd had not stolen my logs.