Safe way to cut large downed oak into usable rounds?

[paredown]

Kind of new to me -- I found this stash of wood on Facebook Marketplace. It is a really big oak that was dropped alongside a house.

I've collected one good load of smaller stuff, but most of what remains is a single large double leader, probably 36" or more at the butt. When it came down, the top trunk ends were driven into the ground, so the main trunk has a bit of an arc--clear space underneath in the middle.

The other problem is the size -- I have a Stihl with a 20" bar, and have almost no experience cutting stuff where the trunk is substantially larger than the length of the bar.

So can anyone point me to a good video showing (either or both) -- tackling a large downed log that is under tension safely and safely cutting large material with a smallish saw?

 

[Montanalocal]

The BC Feller training standard #17, bucking, has a lot of good info, although it is oriented toward cutting saw logs rather than short firewood pieces. All of the series is good.

One thing I do differently that works well for me is on a top bind cut, or a length that is supported at both ends. Rather than finishing the cut from underneath, I cut down from the top part way, then insert a wedge or two in the top of the cut and continue on down the cut and out the bottom. The wedges keep the top of the cut from closing and pinching the saw. Cutting up from the bottom is a bit hard on my arms.

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[Simonkenton]

Good suggestion. Start the cut from the top, get 8 inches deep, and pound some wedges in there, and continue sawing from the top. If you don't have any wedges you can make some from oak limbs.
You can cut a 36 inch oak with a 20 inch bar, I have done it.

 

[Montanalocal]

On thinking over what I have done with big pinned logs, I would do the following. Go all along the top of the log and make your cuts down about 3/4 of the way down. Just be sure to put wedges in the top of each cut as soon as you can, to prevent you going too far down and getting pinched, which is easy to do. To cut the portions larger than your saw, tip your saw forward after you have started your cut so that you are cutting more or less vertically down the back of the log. Then come back and cut down as normal.

Once you have made all your cuts, wrap a chain around the middle of the log, with the chain hooked to itself on the backside of the log. Then hook on to it with a vehicle and give it a good tug. This should unpin the log and roll it over to expose the uncut underside of the log, where you can then finish cutting each round off. It sounds like this would be too big and pined to roll with a peavy. You might want to put smaller rounds in front of the log before you roll it so that it rolls just far enough to expose the underside, but no further.

 

[ericm979]

To cut the portions larger than your saw, tip your saw forward after you have started your cut so that you are cutting more or less vertically down the back of the log. Then come back and cut down as normal.

Or if there is safe access from both sides you can cut from the other side.

When I am finishing a cut from the other side (which may have been the bottom and I rolled the log) I often put the bar in the previous cut and continue it rather than making a new cut and trying to get them to meet. It depends on how the log is laying and what the forces on it are.

Putting down stop logs when turning a large log is a good idea, especially if you're pulling it with a vehicle.

 

[EbS-P]

cottontop3 has some good content. Something that big under lots of tension would make me very nervous.

https://youtube.com/@cotontop3

 

[Simonkenton]

One tool that is indespensible for this big log is the cant hook. This is a pretty good one off of Amazon.

Log Peavy - Cant Hook - Peavey Point - 49" Logging Tool Log Roller Tool hard Wood Handle - Retractable 16 Inch Opening Felling Log Roller Tool (Cant Hook - 48")​

Brand: OAOLOWF
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 134 ratings

$56.99

 

[qwee]

Friends with big saws. You cater this gathering with food and drink.

 

[paredown]

Well, thanks for the advice. It resolved itself--the homeowner contacted the tree service guys that I recommended, so I was there today when he showed up.

We agreed on a plan--he had the big saw and grapple, so he grabbed all the really big stuff, I grabbed another load of small stuff at the same time, and he invited me to swing by their yard, and help myself to whatever I can carry away that's smaller and more manageable.

Apparently they have a glut of trees, and the high cost of fuel makes it uneconomical to grind them into mulch.

All's well that ends well! (I've been meaning to pick up a peavey--I had the use of one from a neighbor when I had a real pile of logs to go through and it was invaluable. Time to get my own, methinks.)

 

[Eman85]

Glad it worked out. One thing is when cutting a tree like that you need 2 saws. Wasn't long ago someone posted where they pinched their saw and couldn't get it out.

 

[ericm979]

A second bar and chain that fits the saw would do.

Better still is thinking ahead and watching the kerf so you don't pinch the saw in the first place. Yea I know it still happens but less often.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

Downed log suspended in the middle has jammed me up a couple times now. Both times I started from the top and then came from the bottom and both times I got caught in a pinch when cutting upwards because I didn't anticipate where in the log the compression was occurring.

 

[Ashful]

Meh. I've cut many, many dozens of oaks 30" up to 60". Never needed a second saw. How many even own two saws large enough to sling a 28" or 36" bar thru 50"+ of oak? Not me! Plan accordingly.

The only time I ever manage to pinch a bar is ironically on small stuff, where I'm moving quick, without taking the time to think about a cut. When you get to 20,000 lb. logs yielding 1000 lb. rounds, you start to think and plan each cut more carefully.

The most exciting tree I ever dropped was a standing dead oak, probably only 30" to 36" diameter, but more than 80 feet of standing dead trunk with nary a branch on it. When that stick hit the ground, the property owner's wife said she felt or heard it. She was in the basement laundry room of their house, about 1/4 mile from where I dropped the tree! I remember the owner and I looking at each other when it came down, I felt like my feet bounced off the ground.

 

[stoveliker]

So, I thought you were exaggerating with the 1000 lbs rounds.

Googling I find a number of 45 lbs per cubic foot for wet red oak. Taking a 16" split length, you'd need only a 4.75 ft diameter round for it to be 1000 lbs. Damn oak is heavy...

 

[Ashful]

So, I thought you were exaggerating with the 1000 lbs rounds.

Googling I find a number of 45 lbs per cubic foot for wet red oak. Taking a 16" split length, you'd need only a 4.75 ft diameter round for it to be 1000 lbs. Damn oak is heavy...

Yeah, no kidding! I've brought home single rounds that weigh 1400 - 1500 lb, back when I was cutting rounds to 20" or 22" lengths for the big Jotuls. There's a photo somewhere on this forum of three of them sitting in my driveway, in a thread showing off the new 36" Rollomatic bar I bought for my 064, after bucking one of these monsters. But I think your number for 45 lb./ft3 is low, I've always read and used 63 lb. for fresh-cut oak.

I've had a few cases where I've had to cut single logs shorter than my usual 15' hauling length, because just one of them exceeds the 5000 lb. payload of my trailer. That happen right around 31 inches on freshly-cut oak. Let me tell you, there's nothing fun about driving 7000 lb. of trailer behind 5000 lb. of truck down a windy mountain road with a 5000 lb. stub of oak log rolling around in the trailer. Nor is there any easy way to strap something like that in the center of a trailer bed, to prevent it from moving around. I always worry that the log rolling around back there could cause the trailer to fishtail in snow, and pull my truck right off the road.

One of the fellow congregants of my former church had an excavator and a dump truck. It worked out well, as the place had a lot of land with a lot of very large trees. I'd drop 'em and cut them, and he'd load rounds into his dump truck. That's how I got the biggest ones home, stuff way too big for my tandem-axle trailer.

 

[paredown]

So, I thought you were exaggerating with the 1000 lbs rounds.

Googling I find a number of 45 lbs per cubic foot for wet red oak. Taking a 16" split length, you'd need only a 4.75 ft diameter round for it to be 1000 lbs. Damn oak is heavy...

My back agrees. I only took two large rounds last trip (30+ inches and about 15" or so). That's about my limit for muscling around. I use a Harbor Freight ramp to roll them up into the truck, and that is about the most I can handle by myself...

Got my load split yesterday--one more bay of the woodsheds to go, but I think today is a light work day...

 

[Highbeam]

I’ve taken lots of 40+“ rounds home in my pickup. I don’t just lift them anymore, way too risky for a lifelong injury. You’ve got a saw, just noodle them up into 1/4s or smaller for easier lifting and often a more stable load. It’s even pretty fun and makes splitting easier too.