Really ugly trees

[heimannm]

Or...how I spent my birthday.

I hope everyone who looks at this thread will try to understand that sometimes things are not the way you would want them to be.

A friend from work (fellow AS member reuscherd) lives on an acreage with a number of nasty old trees including the maples featured in this thread. He wanted to get these down, and the professionals wanted a pretty nice chunk of change just to put them on the ground. Some were pretty close to old building, a couple were in the fence row, and only the first and smallest were even close to being sound.

That being said, with a couple of cables and Doug's D17 AC tractor we went for it.

First up, the smallest tree for the day and the one in the best condition (except for the lean). Younger son Josh wanted to practice his felling technique and this gave us a chance to work it under some fairly challenging circumstances.

Making the notch.

It's down, Jeff getting his Timber Bear started

Jeff and the Timber Bear getting it done

Doug got in the action as well with his 036

That one didn't take long, Josh finishing the stump with his 2095, sweet running saw

One done, a few more to go...

Mark

 

[pioneerguy600]

Looking good Mark; I would not mind working on trees on my birthday either, actually I have done so many times over. Happy birthday by the way!!

Pioneerguy600

 

[NORMZILLA44]

Saweet! Helpin a buddy, and cuttin trees. I love it. Had some side jobs that have been pretty challenging myself!

 

[heimannm]

Next up, one of the big ugly maple trees, close to a shed he'd like to keep. This one was leaning the right way but had a few large branches hanging over the shed that made him nervous.

I gave Josh a few instructions and helped knock a few wedges in as we went. We had a cable high up in this one in case we needed a little help to insure it went in the right direction but it wasn't really needed on this one.

One the ground, Josh went up there to get the cable out

Not a lot of wood in the middle of this one, but as we would learn this was in fact one of the better trees today.

And another one bites the dust, at this point Doug preferred we get a few more on the ground so we moved on and left this one alone the rest of the day.

Mark

 

[Jbevs]

Great thread!!!

 

[Wildman1024]

Happy B-Day Mark. Nothing like running saws and downing some trees to make a great B-Day present. Looking good as always

 

[Deprime]

Great pics and a great thread. :chainsawguy:

 

[heimannm]

Next one up, very bad at the base, and fence wire going through it to boot. As you can see, it had already dropped a big limb on top of this shed, and in fact there were a few more up there you can't see in the photo.

I went up in the bucket of the tractor to make the notch, then let Josh hold the 2095 over his head to make the back cut. Not OSHA approved, please don't try this at home...

Unfortunately, at just the wrong moment the tractor died and the tree toppled 90° from where we wanted it to go.

Fortunately, with the cable on the tractor it just nicked the corner of the building but now we had to lighten the load so we could roll it over with the tractor.

Mark

 

[heimannm]

And now it was on the ground where we wanted it.

The next one up was even worse at the base, so we didn't take any photos, just concentrated on getting it on the ground in managable pieces.

Last one was reasonably straight and leaning where we wanted it to go. While the rest of us were getting the last one cut up, Josh went to work and knocked this one down. As I mentioned, these trees were pretty bad...

Mark

 

[COLD_IRON]

At least you got them down before they fell and killed someone.

When I was a kid we had a good size Cherry tree that had a branch just collapse on a windless day. Fortunately we were not playing near it when it happened. Rot in a tree is just a bad thing and when its bad its gotta be taken care of. Good job!

 

[heimannm]

At this point it's all done but the cutting, splitting, and cleaning up but since the football game is about to start, I must head for home and listen to the radio as Iowa beats Michigan in the Big House.

Our selection for the day, L-R 2153, 2095, 036, 2165, Timber Bear, Eager Beaver, Titan 57. The Jonsereds all belong to Josh, the 036 belongs to Doug, the Timber Bear and Eager Beaver are in Jeff's possesion, and the Titan is my only saw in the wood today.

And the proud crew standing behind our saws; Josh, Doug, Jeff, and me.

Doug's wife Nancy had recently broken her toe and couldn't fit into her work boots so we didn't get to see her in action with her 026, but Doug says she really loves that saw.

That's all folks.

Mark

 

[CM76]

Great pics Mark - I hope you enjoyed your Birthday! Those trees look like they may have come down by themselves pretty soon, so it was a good thing that you got to them when you did. I nice selection of saws used on the day as well.

Regards,

Chris.

 

[rwoods]

Nice post. I can't think of a more fun way to spend a birthday. Ron

 

[SkippyKtm]

Another nice thread by Mark! The trees with the hollow trunks sure are tough to fell in the direction you want. Glad to see it went well.

 

[Junkrunner]

Great job and thread. Looks as if it was a great day.

 

[Brian13]

Looks like a great way to spend your birthday. Glad to see everything went well, and even the one mishap worked out and nobody was hurt. Happy Birthday again!!

 

[MCW]

OMG!!! Is that an angled back cut???

Shame...

Hey thanks for the photos Mark, some ugly ones there

 

[SawTroll]

Another nice thread by Mark! The trees with the hollow trunks sure are tough to fell in the direction you want. Glad to see it went well.

:agree2: I am glad that it usually doesn't happen that way here!

Good job, getting them safely down!

 

[jerryw66]

Happpy b-day, Great pics, looks like you had great weather, can't get enough of it, hope to cut some today also. What camera do you use Mark? I want to get into the photos more, right now I have a terrible time getting em posted, I know it's not the camera's fault, just curious.

 

[rattler362]

Some Dang nice pic's thank's for shareing.

Mike