It's good to be cuttin' again.

[Fred Wright]

Well it wasn't too cold out today, above freezing. Figured I better get out there with the saw and get some firewood trees felled today. Started the day right by filing the cutters. The Amish neighbor across the road must've had the same idea - he was out there sawing away. I heard a loud crack and looked up to see a humongous tree fall over there.

Got my stuff together, put it in the cart and headed out for some fun in the woods. Had planned the trees I wanted ahead of time, just had to get out there when it wasn't raining or snowing. Boy, there's standing water all over the place... more fun.

First tree was what I called the barbwire maple - it had barbwire embedded in the trunk. I cut between the pieces of wire. Looking at the stump I noticed that carpenter ants had already started working on it. Am glad I got to it before they did.

A couple of big gum trees were fairly close together, one was blocking the fall zone of a maple I wanted. So both came down next.

With the maples and gums done I drove to the back of the lot to attack a nice pin oak that was just waiting to be turned into firewood. The pin oak was a bit dicier... it's back where I hadn't been cutting. I dropped a small gum, about 10" diameter to clear a fall path for the oak.

Those springpoles in the photos...they bent over like bananas. I'm glad the oak didn't get hung up... it sidewsiped some other trees and a few limbs broke on the way down. That's the oak stump with the saw setting on it.

Still had some energy left, started limbing and bucking one of the gums. That was going well but my body was in the opposition. Was getting muscle cramps so I called it a good day's work.

But I know what I'll be doing in the days and weekends ahead. Got wood to cut and load to the yard for splitting and stacking. There's a lot of winter fuel laying out there.

 

[CTYank]

Mind those stumps, Fred. Looks like a good start on some fun sessions in the woods.
That white oak with all the limbs up in the air is the sort of thing that helped nudge me toward buying a pole-saw.
May it all dry out for you, or at least freeze over solid.

 

[Cbird14]

Well it wasn't too cold out today, above freezing. Figured I better get out there with the saw and get some firewood trees felled today. Started the day right by filing the cutters. The Amish neighbor across the road must've had the same idea - he was out there sawing away. I heard a loud crack and looked up to see a humongous tree fall over there.

Got my stuff together, put it in the cart and headed out for some fun in the woods. Had planned the trees I wanted ahead of time, just had to get out there when it wasn't raining or snowing. Boy, there's standing water all over the place... more fun.

First tree was what I called the barbwire maple - it had barbwire embedded in the trunk. I cut between the pieces of wire. Looking at the stump I noticed that carpenter ants had already started working on it. Am glad I got to it before they did.

A couple of big gum trees were fairly close together, one was blocking the fall zone of a maple I wanted. So both came down next.

With the maples and gums done I drove to the back of the lot to attack a nice pin oak that was just waiting to be turned into firewood. The pin oak was a bit dicier... it's back where I hadn't been cutting. I dropped a small gum, about 10" diameter to clear a fall path for the oak.

Those springpoles in the photos...they bent over like bananas. I'm glad the oak didn't get hung up... it sidewsiped some other trees and a few limbs broke on the way down. That's the oak stump with the saw setting on it.

Still had some energy left, started limbing and bucking one of the gums. That was going well but my body was in the opposition. Was getting muscle cramps so I called it a good day's work.

But I know what I'll be doing in the days and weekends ahead. Got wood to cut and load to the yard for splitting and stacking. There's a lot of winter fuel laying out there.
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Very nice!! I cut down a 18" red oak and red elm today along with a few smaller elms and bur oaks. First time I fired up a saw in almost a month. Felt good.

 

[fuzz1500]

Love the pics !! Makes me wanna go out right now and....WAIT.......here in Ohio we have a foot of snow

 

[Cheesecutter]

Hard to beat the feeling of knocking down those bigger trees. Alas, now comes hard part. Something that surprises me- you still have green leaves in those pics. It's been almost 2 months since I've seen green leaves around here.

 

[Dirtboy]

A very good day indeed. Wont be getting out to the woods anytime soon, got over 3 feet of snow.

 

[Fred Wright]

Hard to beat the feeling of knocking down those bigger trees. Alas, now comes hard part. Something that surprises me- you still have green leaves in those pics. It's been almost 2 months since I've seen green leaves around here.

Holly trees... the woods is rife with 'em.

Yup, now comes the hard part... limbing, bucking and hauling. Am hoping the ground dries out some before I gotta do the hauling. It's pigged up out there as it is.

 

[Cheesecutter]

Guess it makes sense since they are associated with Christmas. Out of curiosity, how long do holly trees keep their leaves? The first hard frost (mid-20s) usually wipes the leaves off everything around here.

 

[brenndatomu]

What is that "banana" tree anyway? I have a bit of wood in the stacks that looks just like that, bout that size too. Kinda heavy, burns HOT!

 

[Cbird14]

Love the pics !! Makes me wanna go out right now and....WAIT.......here in Ohio we have a foot of snow

We got a foot of snow on the ground too. Not em ought to stop me. It's the below 0° temps, today is warm but wind is howling 20-30mph outta the nw. No thanks

 

[Fred Wright]

Hollies keep their leaves year round here. American holly is the DE state tree.

The saplings that are bent over springpole-fashion are sweetgums. Honestly, those things are tough. I've dropped trees on them before and they wouldn't break. They just bend.

Today saw the remainder of the gum and one red maple bucked. It's times like these I wish I had a bigger saw. The lower trunks are larger in diameter than my bar length. This makes trimming the stumps especially difficult. But bucking the logs ain't too bad. I still have one maple and the pin oak to go.

 

[fuzz1500]

A tree like that wears a fella out I tell Ya !!! Nice job...alot of branches you had to trim off !

 

[ash man]

Looks like a nice days work. I'm on vacation and have been cutting almost everyday the last week, and i'm sore as heck. Not getting any younger.

 

[PEKS]

Awesome job Fred..
Buried in snow here, going out on the weekend now that hunting season is done..

 

[GeeVee]

Spring poles- ouchies waiting to happen.

 

[ash man]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but thought I'd share some pics on 2 mulberry trees I cut yesterday. If its not raining to hard tomorrow I'm heading back out for a nice wild cherry and hickory.

 

[Fred Wright]

The cutting is finally finished, got it wrapped up Friday afternoon. My old saw chain was just about worn down and wouldn't cut very well anymore. I replaced it yesterday with a new one about 1/4 the way through that big old pin oak. Man, the difference was amazing. I'd forgotten how fast a new saw chain will cut. Pin oak stinks like pee when it's cut.

It's all in rounds now. The main red oak trunk rounds are too heavy to lift so I'll probably rip or noodle the bigger and odd-shaped ones first. I took the maul out there yesterday and busted a few slabs off one round, just to see how it would do. Red oak splits easily by hand, I won't be splitting it all by hand, just enough to make the big logs smaller so they can be lifted into the cart.

Trimmed a couple of maple stumps before I called it a day's work. You can see where the carpenter ants had been at work on the one tree. Glad I got the tree before they ate it all up. Carpenter ants will hollow out the entire inside of the base and just leave a shell. I've got some old stumps out there that were hollowed out. Dropping a tree like that can get dicey.

Next comes the fun part - loading all that wood out to the yard and stacking it for splitting. The gum isn't too heavy after it's left to set a month or so. The maple ain't all that bad either. But the red oak, man that's heavy stuff. It's all gonna wait 'til after the new year when I can get out there and work it on Saturdays. There's still a lot of standing water and mud out there. It's already gotten pigged up in places, just by driving the tractor and cart through. And that's not even with a load in the cart yet.

 

[CTYank]

Fred, stumps are looking much better! Merry Christmas, Happy & safe New Year.
(That white oak makes it worth the trip.)