Three Hours Work Results

[ChrisN]

This tree in my back yard got some sort of disease and died. The last two years there was no foliage at all. This weekend I finally got off my butt and dropped, bucked and split it. Took about 3 hours total. Not that much wood, maybe 1/2 cord, but it's Ash and was a pleasure to work with. Now I'm eyeing a few other trees, but they are a bit bigger and closer to the house. I might have to call in the pros to take them down for me.

 

[ourhouse]

Nice work! The ones closer to the house, you could have a tree company put them ground for you. Then you can buck them up.

 

[ChrisN]

I had the local tree company out to give me an estimate this summer to drop 4 large oaks ( about 100' each) I only asked them to drop them, and I would take care of everything else. I was pleasantly surprised when he quoted me $450.00 to do the job. He said he would put me on his list to do when his summer work tapered off. I haven't heard back from him and am getting ready to call him again. those 4 trees will go a long way to filling my firewood supply for the 07/08 heating season.

 

[BrotherBart]

I had the local tree company out to give me an estimate this summer to drop 4 large oaks ( about 100' each) I only asked them to drop them, and I would take care of everything else. I was pleasantly surprised when he quoted me $450.00 to do the job. He said he would put me on his list to do when his summer work tapered off. I haven't heard back from him and am getting ready to call him again. those 4 trees will go a long way to filling my firewood supply for the 07/08 heating season.

If they are dead and near power lines call the electric company. Our electric company zips right out and drops them for free.

 

[wahoowad]

Chris,

I love your avatar - I live for snowy days at home!

I too dropped a dead tree this weekend - oak. I am always surprised at the smallish pile of splits I get from processing a single tree (compared to what I expect). This was maybe a 16" oak and I'm sure thicker trees increase the pile considerably. Mine didn't drop like I wanted so I'll be starting a new thread to figure out how I should have handled it.

 

[ChrisN]

Wahoo, It always surprises me too how small a pile the end result is! My tree dropped right where I wanted it, but probably because it had a good lean in that direction already. I used the wedge one side and hinge the backside method and had no problem. I never really feel comfortable dropping trees, and much prefer to process them already on the ground. Thanks for the avatar comment, that pic is from the winter of 04/05, when we had a few pretty good storms in CT.

Chris