Got into the big stuff today.

[Dalmatian90]

And I'm not talking about the wood!

Today's mission:
Cut down the bottom of the tree whose top snapped in Irene.

20" bar...think I'll need to break out my 25"
Final measurement was 28" diameter where you see the saw -- which is actually 6' above the ground from where the roots are.

Cut off the small leader (if you could call it that), maybe 6"?
But we have a problem -- it was so rotted, it didn't follow the notch as the wood just gave way as I made the back cut.

Pondered my options of how to ensure I didn't get crushed, and while the idea of buying a bull rope crossed my mind, so did "Gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold, know when to walk away, know when to run..."

So this stubborn Finn went up the hill, "Hey Henry..."

One John Deere 410 to the rescue.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Ended up being pretty solid. Backhoe alone couldn't do the deal, so Henry made some cuts (after we evaluated some more, I later got to play too and expanded them.)

Wedging before we expanded the cuts to see what the tree was doing.

And we have the money shot!

 

[Dalmatian90]

Didn't I just get finished cleaning up the lawn here?
I clambered down below and we chained up and lifted the log up to the lawn.

Then up to the woodlot. Had four trees to service -- two were snags I created dropping trees, two were broken tops courtesy of Irene.

Where we were working before..way down there dead center:

And the other pair. Coincidentally both broken tops were immediately adjacent to snags from 2009. Between my skills getting a bit more polished and the woodlot starting to open up, I had no snags last year

Fini!

 

[Gologit]

Good judgement, good choices.

 

[time warp]

i love hydralics. I have a bobcat 743-b that saves me alot from bad situations.

 

[showrguy]

that 410 looks in real good shape for it's year........what year is it..??
i have an 82 JD 410. but yours has more clean paint than mine..
what's the story with the rear window ?? it does'nt look like a swinging door with glass in it like original ??

 

[Dalmatian90]

Don't know the story on it, Henry's had it as long as I can recall -- think he had back in '91 (and I didn't buy this place till '99). And he only uses it for light-duty work like you saw.

He has a 1960s era dump truck he bought when he was a young buck, but that's no longer on the road due to the taxes/insurance to keep it registered.