Back again gents.
Haven't been doing a hell of a lot of chainsaw work lately as I've been flat out so any spare time has been spent around the house.
I had a client of mine ask me yesterday to knock over an "Athol Pine" for him so I decided to do it after work before sunset. I got there just after 6pm. Turns out his "Athol Pine" was actually a Redgum. I asked why he'd said it was a Pine and it was because he thought it would be illegal to fell (he's a bit of a joker this guy). In reality it wasn't as the row of Redgums here was planted by the original land owner after the 1956 flood so not naturally occurring - in our area they are therefore legal to fell.
The worst part was that I expected a crappy small Athol Pine and only brought the little 241C and 7900 with 20" bar. If I'd have sighted the tree prior I'd have brought the 390XP and 32" bar.
He only wanted one half dropped as a winegrape irrigation sensor of his was having trouble sending it's signal back to the base station at his house - it's line of sight was getting blocked by this tree.
It was on a fair slope so I cut down the middle between the two halves then felled it as per normal with a plunging backcut. Somewhere in the middle I hit something nasty and the near new RSC went off the cut immediately with some pretty funky cutter damage. I swapped to some Carlton A1-EP semi chisel and had another go at it with no issues. Once it started to move I was out of there as there was a lot of interlocked branches in the canopy. Those who have worked or spent a lot of time around Redgums will know that these things drop big, heavy branches at the drop of a hat. A houseboat on the river in my region was completely written off a year or two ago with a load of Netballers on it enjoying their end of year trip when a massive branch fell on the front of the boat. Luckily they were out the back! It is well known in our area (and others) that in hot weather you DO NOT camp, park your car, or sit under Redgums. As the sap expands with the hot weather they will just shed big limbs like there is no tomorrow. While out fishing on the Murray River here in my boat I've seen limbs up to 3' in diameter just crash to the ground. Redgums don't often get very tall, maybe 100' at the most, but they do have some super fat trunks and big limbs.
Anyway it went where I wanted (which was pretty easy) and then I got stuck into cutting it up a bit with the little 241C Babytronic. This is an awesome little saw. This grower also has a big loader with a 5 tonne lift capacity so the log that was left will be milled later. The part of the trunk I cut off was probably about 2' in diameter, maybe slightly larger...
And a nice sunset...
Plus the little 241 video...
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This little saw is awesome and has appealed to me instantly, unlike the MS261 I owned which I gave a number of chances but sold it in the end.
The other part of my "Today's Job" (ie: my real job) is looking for and recommending controls for little bastards like these...
Katydid nymphs that damage young citrus fruitlets. These have been going nuts over the last few weeks and causing big issues and lots of damage...
And native Spined Citrus Bug nymphs in Lemons. They stick their proboscis into the fruit to feed on it so it looks fine on the outside but goes brown on the inside. They love Lemons...
Exciting stuff huh?