A little Oak we took down this weekend

[Butch(OH)]

Standing out in the middle of a field stood this big old Oak. It was in the farmers way every year and he was tired a farming around it. Gave us the tree for cutting it down. Thats my 660 with 32" bar sitting on the stump.
<IMG SRC=http://i21.tinypic.com/f09d13.jpg>

 

[HEAVY FUEL]

Looks good! But I don't think I'd want to tackle those size trees all week long!

 

[Butch(OH)]

We hauled away 5 loads of large branches like this one. 4 more loads of real big chunks from the base of the trunk, sorry no pics of those loads, also 4 pick up loads of 3" to 6" branches and one pick up load of misc chunks.

<IMG SRC=http://i20.tinypic.com/207p43m.jpg>

 

[Butch(OH)]

Here is the main part of the trunk. The 660 got a work out cutting it up small enough to load with the skid steer.

<IMG SRC=http://i20.tinypic.com/25rnwno.jpg>

 

[Mr. Firewood]

looks pretty soft inside

 

[windthrown]

Now, that's what a 660 was made for. Nice lay down there.

 

[belgian]

Standing out in the middle of a field stood this big old Oak. It was in the farmers way every year and he was tired a farming around it.

wow, that's a big tree. If you would intend to cut such an old tree over here (in the middle of the field), you would end up in jail before you finish your back cut

 

[goblin]

So what's that make, about 10 cords of wood from that 1 tree?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

You need to put a sign on the truck "will work for firewood"

I cannot imagine doing that work without at least a few hundred dollars.

 

[STLfirewood]

One question why did you load the limbs uncut? Where you tying to save time? It just seems like it would have been easier to cut them there.

Big tree though nice work.

Scott

 

[Log Splitter]

Nice job taking down that that oak! I'd like to know how much firewood you get out of it.

I remember my grandfather kept a few scattered trees in his fields as well. He'd put the water buckets under them when we started work in the morning, and we'd take our water breaks under them in the shade. Now with farming being so mechanized there is no need to keep a shade tree around for that purpose. Of course, his old farm, now mine, is planted in pine. A few of those trees still remain scattered around the plantations.

 

[Butch(OH)]

One question why did you load the limbs uncut? Where you tying to save time? It just seems like it would have been easier to cut them there.

Big tree though nice work.

Scott

Time and the location is why we cut it like that. The site is about 3 miles from my home and would have taken several weekends to buck and split. Skid steer is rented, my splitter runs from the tractor and hauling all that stuff back and forth, etc. Now the logs are piled where I can buck them and split at my leisure. How many cords? I guessing 10+ Yes it was soft at the bottom but hat disappeared about 6 foot up and there was lots of tough cutting for the 660 in that trunk which was more or less solid knots. Been a while since I dropped a tree that big, it was a bit daunting.

 

[Al Smith]

At one time it has been said that a squirrel could have transversed the tree tops from lake Erie to the Ohio river and never touch the ground.Over the years as the land was cleared these big old oaks were left in the fields as a place to rest the horses in the shade.Actually the farmer didn't mind getting out of the hot sun for a while himself.

Over the last century many have been taken down but many are still standing as lone senturies to a bygone era.It does look odd though one lone tree in the middle of an 80 acre field.Some of those fat old oaks are in the neighborhood of 250 to 300 years old.

It's not a big deal to slice and dice one,the stump is another matter.That old veteran has bucked the wind for hundreds of years and really laid down roots that go half way to China.Either a big track excavator or dynamite because they will stall a D8 Cat dead in it's tracks.It will rot in time,maybe another hundred years.

 

[goblin]

Can you still buy dynamite for stump blasting? I didn't think you could.

 

[Al Smith]

Can you still buy dynamite for stump blasting? I didn't think you could.

That was just a bizzare answer on my part :jester: .I doubt it unless to had blasting permits and an explosives license . Back in the 60's you could buy it at many country grain elevators.Times have changed. I know enough about explosives to know I don't enough to blast stumps. That stuff scares me and I'm fearless.

 

[Al Smith]

Oh ,an old comical story about an oak stump.Maybe twenty years ago these two boozos decided to pop a large oak stump using dynamite.Well these two wizards bored the holes,placed about 3 or 4 sticks of 20 percent nitro ,lit the fuse and took cover.Never budged it,back to the drawing board .

One Einstien type got the brilliant idea to mix some ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel together.So Tweedle Dee and Dum stirred up two hundred pounds of the stuff,umm dandy.They drilled many more holes,poured in several wheel barrows of the powder,plus two sticks of twenty percent,lite the fuse,ran for the hills.

A huge explosion,dust,fire,broke windows,mercy me the world is comming to an end.It lauched that stump like a rocket heading for the moon.On it's fall from the ionosphere it got slightly off course.Down through the top of a huge old dairy barn,through the hay mow and directly on top of a new at the time John Deere 4020.Would you believe it broke the tractor in half.

That stump removal could only be termed as a partial success,all things considered.

 

[KMB]

Oh ,an old comical story about an oak stump.Maybe twenty years ago these two boozos decided to pop a large oak stump using dynamite.Well these two wizards bored the holes,placed about 3 or 4 sticks of 20 percent nitro ,lit the fuse and took cover.Never budged it,back to the drawing board .

One Einstien type got the brilliant idea to mix some ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel together.So Tweedle Dee and Dum stirred up two hundred pounds of the stuff,umm dandy.They drilled many more holes,poured in several wheel barrows of the powder,plus two sticks of twenty percent,lite the fuse,ran for the hills.

A huge explosion,dust,fire,broke windows,mercy me the world is comming to an end.It lauched that stump like a rocket heading for the moon.On it's fall from the ionosphere it got slightly off course.Down through the top of a huge old dairy barn,through the hay mow and directly on top of a new at the time John Deere 4020.Would you believe it broke the tractor in half.

That stump removal could only be termed as a partial success,all things considered.

Funny story and well told...

Kevin

 

[Camp nut]

Nice tree! I took a dead old oak like that last winter my 361 with a 25" bar just got through is from each side. I burned all winter with my OWB from that one tree and still have some trunk left. The nice part is I noticed this summer that the one next to it is dead too and just as big. I like getting that much wood from one tree.

I forgot to mention that I have a lot of large equipment to move these trees around with. i would hate to work on a tree this size with the some large front end loaders around.

 

[sawinredneck]

You need to put a sign on the truck "will work for firewood"

I cannot imagine doing that work without at least a few hundred dollars.

Thats arond the same size as the one I took down a couple years ago. Three miles from home, two weekends of VERY hard work it produced 23 face cord. Figure $85 a face cord, not bad money!!

 

[STLfirewood]

Thats arond the same size as the one I took down a couple years ago. Three miles from home, two weekends of VERY hard work it produced 23 face cord. Figure $85 a face cord, not bad money!!

My friend who is a logger gets pissed at me when I tell him that logs are worth more as firewood abd that he should buy a processor.

Scott