Clearing a whole bunch of small trees - saw suggestions

[Phecda]

Clearing a whole bunch of small trees, about two acres worth to stretch an private rifle range out another hundred yards.

Ground is too soft for our heavy little dozer and renting is too expensive for this project.

I am thinking some Stihl Ms241's with 63PS3 chains, 16" bars.

Slung around 361's and 461's yesterday and my 30 year old bones feel 50 right now.

 

[mohick]

If you don't take those darn stumps down, you will hate yourself forever!!!!

 

[JTM]

The smallest saw that will work. Also, if you don't flush cut and treat the hardwood stumps you will hate not doing so in a couple of years.

 

[Taylor K]

I'd start in the back and lay everything so if the ground dose dry you can skid it out and make clean up easier. And keep stumps low the cutting will not be the hard part it's going to be the clean up we're you will bust your back


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[lone wolf]

Clearing a whole bunch of small trees, about two acres worth to stretch an private rifle range out another hundred yards.

Ground is too soft for our heavy little dozer and renting is too expensive for this project.

I am thinking some Stihl Ms241's with 63PS3 chains, 16" bars.

Slung around 361's and 461's yesterday and my 30 year old bones feel 50 right now.

The 241 C and you wont regret it. And at your age you shouldn't be feeling it.Get a helper.

 

[JTM]

One person on a saw will stay ahead of two helpers feeding a fire. Do it and be done with it.

 

[lone wolf]

Just get the 241 C, I run two of them and they can do just about anything. Less fatigue, better handling, better fuel, economy, super easy chain to sharpen, best air filter setup ever, you can't go wrong.

 

[JTM]

I really wish I had not looked up that saw because now I believe I am experiencing symptoms of a strange illness.

 

[lone wolf]

I really wish I had not looked up that saw because now I believe I am experiencing symptoms of a strange illness.

Save your money till you need another saw then.

 

[JTM]

Save your money till you need another saw then.

I believe I will. I can certainly see a couple of projects down the road I can use it for, similar to the OP.

 

[Johnnybar]

Clearing a whole bunch of small trees, about two acres worth to stretch an private rifle range out another hundred yards.

Ground is too soft for our heavy little dozer and renting is too expensive for this project.

I am thinking some Stihl Ms241's with 63PS3 chains, 16" bars.

Slung around 361's and 461's yesterday and my 30 year old bones feel 50 right now.

If it has huntable deer, then the best saw is the guys saws that are willing to do the job for a year or two hunting rights.

 

[BC WetCoast]

You don't want a saw that is too heavy, because you dont' have anything terribly big. However, you do want a bit longer bar so you don't have to bend so much.
When I was doing juvenile spacing, we would do 1+ acres/day on a lot tougher terrain. This is a 2-3 day project.

 

[KiwiBro]

brushcutter with appropriate blade for much of it.
241 for the rest

 

[Brushwacker]

For flush cutting the stumps, I'd use a 12 to 16" bar, semi chisel or possibly a carbide chain. Shorter chains are cheaper, easier to keep out of the dirt and maintain sharpening. Lot of saws will work nicely for that work, it would be up to your comfort preference, budget, and service needs. If I had the spare $'s and long term need I'd likely go for a 241, but with my budget and needs I'd use some of what I have , looks like an 025 with a 16" bar and an ms 180 14" bar would be most used. If I was standing, bucking some of it in firewood I'd be doing most it with my 034 super and a 20" bar probably.

 

[Phecda]

For flush cutting the stumps, I'd use a 12 to 16" bar, semi chisel or possibly a carbide chain. Shorter chains are cheaper, easier to keep out of the dirt and maintain sharpening. Lot of saws will work nicely for that work, it would be up to your comfort preference, budget, and service needs. If I had the spare $'s and long term need I'd likely go for a 241, but with my budget and needs I'd use some of what I have , looks like an 025 with a 16" bar and an ms 180 14" bar would be most used. If I was standing, bucking some of it in firewood I'd be doing most it with my 034 super and a 20" bar probably.

Found the solution


It's very soft but workable. Can only do a bit at a time then back out and let it dry and harden back up.

 

[Marshy]

Cute little dozer, I'm jealous. I see you are in TX so no ground freezing. I have a hand full of acres with the same type/size of growth that needs to be cleared. I have been using my Jonsered 2159 with a 18" bar. I do have some trees that warrants that size bar but if I had a 16" sized saw it would work fine. I'm using a compact 4x4 tractor to skid the logs out. I drag the tree to the front of the lot and top it there so the branches are all in once spot then use the front end loader to bunch them into a pile. I just keep pushing them into the brush pile and will burn it later. We had a few weeks of cold weather so the ground was mostly frozen but had some soft areas. I plan to rent a mini excavator later to take the stumps out. Some are just large enough where a good sized dozer will not push them out. I probably have 5 cords of firewood pulled out and into a pile and have only worked the equivalent of 2 weekends by my self. I have to believe a compact 4x4 tractor would be faster at getting the trees out of the woods and be less impact on the ground. Are you using that dozer to get the trees out of the woods?

 

[Phecda]

That's not even our smallest one, we have an international c500e which is 50hp and about 10k lbs but only has like 16" shoes and not much ground clearance. I'm afraid it would stick too fast if we tried to do any serious pushing with it. I'd love to have a big dozer.
I'm hauling everything out with my JD 5075 MFWD. Once it's clear and smoothed out everything goes right back in to the back where we are going to pile it up then add soil to make a nice berm for the range.

 

[Marshy]

So do you need to pull the stumps or can you just flush cut them and burry them with soil later? IDK id they will pop back up through the soil with growth but a brush hog would quickly take care of any new growth later on. Because I plan to use this land as pasture all my stumps need to come out. Im cutting them about 10" high so I can still clear them with my tractor but are still tall enough to push the small ones out with a dozer. The larger trees bigger than 12" diameter will need to be dug out with the excavator. Any tree that is approximately 4" in diameter I do not skid out with the tractor. The get cut down and limbed on spot and then I just make a nearby pile of small poll wood that I pick up later with the tractor. Not waiting my time putting chain around a 4" poll when I could be pulling a 10" or larger tree. I'll do the same with branches if I don't leave them on the log.