no longer a virgin!!!!!

[bruce56bb]

dropped my first 2 trees this evening a 30' blue spruce(15' from the house) and a 20' russian olive. the house was a real concern with the spruce and the cable tv with the the olive. both fell in the intended spots. i was so nervous with the spruce that i was shaking well after it hit the ground.
is a russian olive good wood? it felt a lot heavier the the spruce.
also, the butter tree sap removal tip works awesome. thanks

 

[suematteva]

good job!!

 

[ourhouse]

No damage to the house,cable tv line, or you'r self. Great job!!

 

[PAJerry]

Good job! Now comes the fun part -splittin' and stackin' (blue spruce is a real toughie in my experience).

 

[webbie]

dropped my first 2 trees this evening a 30' blue spruce(15' from the house) and a 20' russian olive. the house was a real concern with the spruce and the cable tv with the the olive. both fell in the intended spots. i was so nervous with the spruce that i was shaking well after it hit the ground.
is a russian olive good wood? it felt a lot heavier the the spruce.
also, the butter tree sap removal tip works awesome. thanks

As the experts here will confirm, the main thing is to never get complacent about felling trees. Just about anything can heppen, although some basic common sense and technique can lower the odds.

I keep thinking about that New England chap who felled the backyard tree on this 2 year old a few years back.

Do we have some links or articles or properly felling small trees?

Anyone want to put one on the wiki?

 

[Corie]

The title of this thread made me nervous to click on it

 

[bruce56bb]

here's a pic of the spruce before it started dying. thanks!

 

[elkimmeg]

here's a pic of the spruce before it started dying. thanks!

Every safe tree felling is a good one Good Job

BTW nice looking lawn and home

 

[njtomatoguy]

Good Job! Everybody is safe, a tree is used

I like to call it "curbside recycling", but trash picking is what it is-- I have never cut a tree -- Scrounge on!!

 

[Mo Heat]

... i was so nervous with the spruce that i was shaking well after it hit the ground.

I can relate to this after felling a big one (80 foot tall red oak) less than 10 yards from my house.

After I started cutting, I almost backed out, but I was afraid I was too deep into it. My first attempt to top it failed. The trunk was too big to get the chain saw around to cut all the way through. That left a half cut-through, 40 foot tall, piece of the big, vertically oriented 'Y' that was the upper half of the tree.

The adrenaline was really pumping when I decided to just cut the base and and let 'er flop over onto my dogwood trees. I made the first of the two wedge cuts. Then, after the second wedge cut, the wedge was looking pretty good, but I had to take a 5 minute break to go over all the details again, take a few deep breaths to get my nerve back up, and allow my hands to stop shaking so much so I could steady the chainsaw. When that big bastard started moving, I felt my life passing before my eyes. When I saw it was heading the right direction, I said a little thank you to the tree gods.

It was such a nerve racking experience that I don't think I'd ever cut one that big and that close to the house again. I realize now that I didn't really know what I was doing. The two guys I had out 100 feet at the end of two ropes would not have been able to alter the path of that monster had it decided to head for the house. That would have been a disaster and could easily have happend if a little puff of wind had graced our presence. It didn't help that it was pouring down rain the whole time. Made the whole experience seem ominous and foreboding.

That was the only time my neice's boyfriend (strong back) was available as they were visiting from out of town. He originally said he had tree cutting experience, but upon questioning he had inflated his credentials. He had even brought a climbing rig, but he admitted he'd barrowed it and had never used it himself. Maybe that's why his topping attempt failed. I decided I'd handle the chain saw myself and just go for it. I think the stress probably took a year off my life, but I got nearly a cord of wood from it. Let's see... I guess that means I valued a year of my life and the safety of my home for a measly $300. Not the best decision I ever made, but certainly not the worst, either.

 

[Eric Johnson]

The cardinal rule among loggers, MO, is "never cut any tree that's closer than two tree lengths to the closest building, road or piece of utility infrastructure." A friend of mine took that literally, and felled a big sugar maple on his brand new pickup truck.

 

[Mo Heat]

... "never cut any tree that's closer than two tree lengths to the closest building, road or piece of utility infrastructure."

Looks like I won't be felling ANY more oaks in my yard. All are within two tree lengths of the house. Suites me fine. That's one more year saved from avoiding that significant stressor. Unfortunately, I'll probably just spend it blubbering about firewood in a nursing home somewhere.

 

[bruce56bb]

80 freaking feet? dang mo,you've got 'nads of stone! before i could start cutting the spruce and had to drink a couple cans of courage!
giddy, you were right about the spruce being nasty to split,some of the branches seemed to run all the way through the trunk and come out the other side.nasty stuff.
elk,thanks for the compliment on the house/yard. it is really a battle to grow grass around here without a sprinkler system. the front of the house is the old stand by,k31 fescue. the back and sides are houndog 5 that i put in in '04. never again will i buy any k31 after my sucess with the houndog. here's a pic of the backyard(a work in process).
and the house has been a constant battle since we bought it. but we are getting there.
bruce

 

[BrotherBart]

The cardinal rule among loggers, MO, is "never cut any tree that's closer than two tree lengths to the closest building, road or piece of utility infrastructure." A friend of mine took that literally, and felled a big sugar maple on his brand new pickup truck.

I understand 78 feet of red oak can make a mess out of a $2,000 garden tractor in the woods too. Not that I have first hand experience with that you understand. Not that it was my new garden tractor or anything.

But you don't even have to cut a tree for that trick. The replacement tractor bought the farm when a wind storm blew the top half of an eighty foot pine tree off right on top of it.

I think garden tractors attract trees like mobile homes attract tornadoes. I now park number three in a shed a hundred feet from the house.

 

[elkimmeg]

Many moons ago I was clearing a road and house lots. My boss just bought a new Homelight pro chain saw.
( at that time Homelight pro was just that pro) no home cheapo to purchase crap in. Part of the clearing process
was burning up the brush. Also aiding the process was Allison Chambers TD6 buldozer with a 4/1 bucket. I mean every tree went where it was pushed. Kinda a hot day and we had been at it a while,. as we took a break. A wind comes up and the brush fire spreads a bit more than expected. I imediately hop on the dozer to clear and contain the fire. Which I did. Problem is, the new homelight chain saw was sitting on the opposite track from where I entered the dozer seat. That night I went out and bought a replacement. Almost had it made, but when I put it back in the boss's truck the next day, he ended up with two plastic carring cases. I still had explaining to do

 

[BrotherBart]

Almost had it made, but when I put it back in the boss's truck the next day, he ended up with two plastic carring cases. I still had explaining to do

That is hilarious.

 

[suematteva]

I used to log in Vermont during summer breaks in both high school and college..Mostly cutting trails for ski areas..One morning were having lunch and another crew was still working and we could see them. This particular crew always was running their gums about how much more work they did. They hooked a John Deere 450 up to this big 30" diameter dead maple to pull away from the lift line using the winch and chains.. I said to the 2 other guys in our crew is that dozer right in the drop zone...No it is the angle we looking at it from We were about 100 yds away...I think it is right in line...Sure enough he dropped it right on the cab. The operator had his back to the tree the whole time. The pieces that hit the cab were about 3 inches in diameter.. Full cage on the dozer so nobody got hurt but the operator probably had to change his drawers...He really came out of his seat..The rest of the summer anytime they would start running their mouths about the work...We would say yeah they carry the logs out on the roof of the cab they don't waste any time with the winch and chokers..