Taking down a large lawn Oak

[blumtn969]

Heck, I used to drive that 50 Chevy sedan delivery back in the late 70s. I added a nice 4 inch thick foam cushion to the back end and tossed my kids back there for long trips. The little 235 6 cylinder engine was a dream to work on and I completely rebuilt mine shortly after I bought the truck. The guy that bought it new sold it to me because he was retiring as a house painter. Have you ever seen a 1/4 inch thick layer of paint on the web between the truck body and the bumper?

Hey jere 39 this is a great thread very interesting. I wish we had oak where I live it is awesome firewood, also great to see that this did not turn into a debate on you needing a ported 660 with a 36 inch bar to cut that tree. This thread is what arboristsite is all about. And in closing how many cords did you get out of this fine oak.

 

[Jere39]

Hey jere 39 this is a great thread very interesting. I wish we had oak where I live it is awesome firewood, also great to see that this did not turn into a debate on you needing a ported 660 with a 36 inch bar to cut that tree. This thread is what arboristsite is all about. And in closing how many cords did you get out of this fine oak.

Thanks, It's been fun working this big oak up, and fun snapping a couple pictures and sharing them here. I'm not finished with the processing yet, but I measured my stack of the processed limbs at just over 2 cord. The stack will settle, and shrink as it seasons, but I think it will stay about 2 cord. There is at least a cord of the big rounds still laying on my lawn, so this is likely going to end up being a 3 cord tree, with very little waste.

 

[jerrycmorrow]

good on ya for posting yer adventure/ordeal. only observations i'll make is I didn't see your buddy watching the top of the tree during takedown (especially cause it was a standing dead tree). also, looked like he was standing right behind the tree when it fell rather than moving off to the side and away so as to avoid any kickback. glad bad things didn't happen.
when you finish your tree you can come to Arkansas and help me with some of mine. carry on.

 

[hardpan]

One picture for three threads:

1. This is the stack of the firewood processed from the limbs of my lawn oak
2. This is my GT serving duty in hauling the rounds to a suitable splitting and stacking place
3. This is my Firewood Buddy - who is in charge of perimeter security for all timber operations

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That is a great looking stack of firewood but I know your real treasure is that dog, undoubtedly the most photographed dog on AS, and a beauty. I told my wife that without my dog this place is just a bunch of damn work. LOL

 

[Section VIII]

Great post! Brings back memories of the standing dead I processed back in 2013. Took me 8 months of weekends to finish.

 

[Jere39]

Hoping to get most of this tree finished this week. Looks like the weather had other ideas:

 

[blumtn969]

Hoping to get most of this tree finished this week. Looks like the weather had other ideas:

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Wow you folks back east been getting ripped with winter. I bet your tired of it Oregon has been a banana belt since Dec 1 we had a couple blizzards in Nov. Gona be another bad fire season this summer

 

[cre10]

Good work.

 

[hardpan]

Aren't you lucky. You needed a break, the wood trash on the work site was looking bad, so mother nature brought you this beautiful scenery. We got 7" on Wednesday and honestly I'm ready for spring. Next week the sloppy thaw begins.

 

[Jere39]

Ok, enough fun clearing snow from driveway and firewood paths, it's time to get back at the wood hauling, splitting, and stacking (Not necessarily in that order). But, first: I've got to find it and brush some of the snow off:

Firewood prospecting tool: barn broom

Looks like I found a whole field (lawn) of some nice big stuff:

 

[Jere39]

Finally had a warm day, and unfortunately, I really wasn't ready for it. The snow deteriorated rapidly, got slushy, and made for bad traction. But, I got a couple of the big rounds pulled off the lawn before it got too bad.

I got a timber tongs for Christmas that I hadn't used yet, so I hitched to one of the rounds:

I was using a lifting sling rather than a chain, and just looped it over the ball and through the two hooks on my ATV Hitchin Post:

Then I flipped the round down on it's side, and once I got it started, I just kept it moving till I had it off the lawn:

Sorry, no video, just iPhone pictures. Anyway, the snow got bad fast, so I spent some time quartering another round, and picking up a couple of the smaller crotch pieces that I had left till later, and hauled them in my cart to a Fiskars processing area for finishing the splitting and replenishing my stacks that are nearing empty for this year.

As usual, my buddy is alway with me, helping me keep the splitting area clean by mulching the off-fall:

 

[Jere39]

Snow keeps getting slushier and stickier, so I improvised a sledge with some plywood and pulled a bunch of the big rounds that I can't lift off the lawn this morning.

 

[Oldman47]

It sure beats processing them in place. Sometimes an improv is just what is needed.

 

[zogger]

Snow keeps getting slushier and stickier, so I improvised a sledge with some plywood and pulled a bunch of the big rounds that I can't lift off the lawn this morning.

Gettin it done!

 

[Jon E]

Throw bag + lacrosse stick (stolen from some kid) = success! Just sayin'....

 

[Jere39]

Throw bag + lacrosse stick (stolen from some kid) = success! Just sayin'....

Good idea, and I have an attack stick and a d stick in the garage, left there by my son when he moved out. Hmmm.

 

[Jere39]

The snow stiffened up over night, and I let the ATV take a day off. Had the JD x728 out to push the edges of the driveway back again before the next precipitation, so ...

Used the Cant Hook to grunt this big rounds out of the frozen snow, and roll them onto the plywood sledge, flop them down:

and apply the nice smooth hydro irresistable force to slide them off the lawn and line them up alongside my firewood cart path.

The snow gradually softened up, and the last 3 rounds were frozen so tight and so big, I couldn't budge them with the Cant Hook, so I still have some work to do. Maybe one of those local CrossFit gyms would consider a field trip training exercise to help me get them.

 

[zogger]

Well, you're getting them moved, I wouldn't worry about. I certainly remember taking an axe to piles of frozen wood just to get some splits out.

 

[Jere39]

Well, snow is now gone, though the temperatures are still dropping into the low 20's at night.
I had already finished up a nice pile from the branches and big limbs:



Time to start processing the big rounds. I still use a Fiskars x27, and some of these were just a little bit of an over match.

Once all the nice straight rounds were split, I had a bunch of "not-so" round twisted, knotted, and double/triple cored. I shined up my wedges with a couple loads yesterday:

So, after fighting with a couple loads of these, I gave up and noodled the last couple:

Now, I have a nice second stack of the big stuff. My partner and I can sit back and wait for mother nature to season these:

Thanks for tracking my progress. There is a nice, and more reasonable sized White Oak I took down before the snow got deep enough for this Lawn Oak that I need to get back to now.

 

[farmer steve]

lookin good there Jere. can't beat that PA hardwood. ya gonna come to the PA GTG?