Another Dead Red Oak

[Jere39]

Lost count, but here is another dead Red Oak:
The stars all aligned today: The weather was brisk and cold, fresh snow, though not much, and frozen ground. My son stopped by for some quality time with his Dad, and probably most importantly a nagging pulled muscle in my back was feeling better. I had marked this standing dead Red Oak last year. And this one was about 20" DBH. I decided that was a sweet spot for some time with the Dolmar 510 with 18" bar.

I grabbed what I thought I would need and headed into the woods. Once I had Scout tied to a tree at a safe distance, I discovered my GoPro battery was stone dead. So, I handed my son my iPhone, a kind of GoAm alternative, and started the saw. This one took a little over 3 minutes from saw start to loud thump, so, no edits, just a little boring saw time:



I was reaching for the wedge in my back pocket when it was obvious the tree had started to fall, so I just stepped back a little and let it fall.

Because I finally had some good snow cover, and this Oak had not been dead long, and it was the perfect size for my log arch, and my helper likes to run the ATV, we sawed it into 12-16' lengths and hooked them up and drug them to one of my stacking areas. This is a quick video of my son pulling the second section:



Of course Scout is keep a watchful eye on our work. I finally got to pull the last section of the day, and my son followed me to get the un-hitch on video too:



As I've mentioned before, it is a real shame to be losing these oaks, but they sure are nice for firewood.

 

[mr.finn]

Great pictures and videos. Looks like you have a nice piece of forest to be working in. What a shame to see all those big mature oaks dying off, at least you are making good use out of them!! Love the helper.

 

[Jere39]

Back in the woods Monday before the big snow to finish up the tops of this old oak, and to take one more round off the stump:



Spent yesterday pushing snow and sleet in the wind and cold. Rather be splitting, probably even rather be stacking.

 

[Jere39]

Anyone not yet totally bored with my posts - well; here's another update:

Had a little bit of a snow event last week that kept me busy, and out of the woods. But today was perfect, 19°, frozen ground, and time to get the logs we pulled last week, off the ground and up on the crib I laid out for that purpose.

Since my grapple is not rated for these logs (according to WoodWeb log weight calculator) the largest two are 2000 lbs each. And I don't have access to a bigger tractor. The Cant Hook is fine for rolling them on frozen ground. But, outweighed 10 to 1, I was not able to roll them up the ramped ends I cut on my three crib cross members. So, I employed some of the mechanical advantages outlined by my good friend Archimedes in his various principles. I snubbed my come-along up at about 6' in a handy birch tree. Then used the log tongs to get a good grab on each log, and jacked them up the ramped ends with one arm tied behind my back.



Scout served as safety officer, and chief inspector of our good work.



Not sure when I'll get around to these, I have another half dozen of these medium sized, recently dead Oaks to cut. I have even considered looking into getting them to a saw mill.

 

[Jere39]

How convenient, Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, Scout and I find a nice big Red Oak that toppled for unknown reasons over night last night. The roots don't look deep or strong at all, but they were providing plenty of nourishment for a full canopy of early Summer leaves.

Anyway, the convenient-ist part was that my Son was visiting for some grilling, and I had my small fleet of saws that needed to be run dry before seasonal clean-up. So, I started at the top with the Dolmar 421 and it was a pleasure to limb out the top:

and work my way back down the large branches toward the trunk:
This is a much too long video of a guy in a red shirt chunking 18" blocks off a long straight top of Red Oak. Watch it for as long as you can bear.



Properly ran the 421 out, then picked up the PS-510 with 18" bar and finished up the top branches down to near the start of the crown:

Then on to the PS-6100 for finishing up the last couple cuts of the crown and then work down the trunk:

And of course, my signature picture of my assistant, snugged to a tree safely out of reach of chainsaw:

It was too hot by 25° and too humid by about 30% for this kind of work. Our big plan was some motorcycle riding, so sometime around mid-afternoon we quit sawing, changed tee-shirts for some dry ones and took a nice, too short, ride around the area.

 

[Duane(Pa)]

How convenient, Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, Scout and I find a nice big Red Oak that toppled for unknown reasons over night last night. The roots don't look deep or strong at all, but they were providing plenty of nourishment for a full canopy of early Summer leaves.

Anyway, the convenient-ist part was that my Son was visiting for some grilling, and I had my small fleet of saws that needed to be run dry before seasonal clean-up. So, I started at the top with the Dolmar 421 and it was a pleasure to limb out the top:

and work my way back down the large branches toward the trunk:
This is a much too long video of a guy in a red shirt chunking 18" blocks off a long straight top of Red Oak. Watch it for as long as you can bear.



Properly ran the 421 out, then picked up the PS-510 with 18" bar and finished up the top branches down to near the start of the crown:

Then on to the PS-6100 for finishing up the last couple cuts of the crown and then work down the trunk:

And of course, my signature picture of my assistant, snugged to a tree safely out of reach of chainsaw:

It was too hot by 25° and too humid by about 30% for this kind of work. Our big plan was some motorcycle riding, so sometime around mid-afternoon we quit sawing, changed tee-shirts for some dry ones and took a nice, too short, ride around the area.

Can't get enough! I watched it all. Those dollies are serving you well, and should last until you don't feel like cuttin' anymore...

 

[Jere39]

If history repeats, they will need to last quite a while yet:


This is what my Dad is doing with the Black Locust on his little farmstead

 

[unclemoustache]

Nice work! Looks like a lot of fun.

Better get that chain sharpened, though.