...that needs to be told.
An old friend down the road and his buddy called me to help with a big bur oak tree that blew down last Monday in an early spring storm. The 70-year old tree broke off 25' up and left the trunk standing like a proud ____.
So, I sharpened up the 361 and headed over. I used the Echo 3900 to limb out the rest of the branches into 22" lengths and then dropped the big honker 24 inches up from the buttress roots, leaving behind the stump. Well, that 34" dia. stump was solid as a rock, so I said, "Shucks, we can't give that away to the stump grinder. Let's save it and heat with it next year."
They laughed and said, "OK, Doc, let her rip."
I chopped off the buttress roots first and then went all the way around, adding a couple of felling wedges in the kerf to fight the pinch. Then I turned off the saw, kicked out the wedges and said, "OK, men, flip her off and roll her to the splitter. She's all yours."
Two big guys, (total weight = 600 lb) leaned against that stump. No movement. Then they pushed and shoved again. No movement. Finally, one said, "Edwin, you must have left a chunk in the center. We can't budge it."
I replied, "Yep. That's right. Looks like you can't. It's a horse. But, my Stihl says that bur oak stump is free and clear."
So, I went and got a long-handle shovel. They pushed again, and I pryed up at the same time, wedged in a small log, pryed again and guess what? We finally flipped the stump aside so I could count the annular rings. After they got their breath, one of them asked, "Edwin, good grief, how much does that monster weigh?"
I replied, "I'll post it and see what the Chainsaw forum has to say."
You are all on. How much did that beast weigh? Hints: (1) I had to noodle it in half before we could even drag it to the big hydraulic splitter, and (2) the tree was alive before the storm snapped it in half. The oak is green.
Everyone around here wants to know the consensus on this weight.
An old friend down the road and his buddy called me to help with a big bur oak tree that blew down last Monday in an early spring storm. The 70-year old tree broke off 25' up and left the trunk standing like a proud ____.
So, I sharpened up the 361 and headed over. I used the Echo 3900 to limb out the rest of the branches into 22" lengths and then dropped the big honker 24 inches up from the buttress roots, leaving behind the stump. Well, that 34" dia. stump was solid as a rock, so I said, "Shucks, we can't give that away to the stump grinder. Let's save it and heat with it next year."
They laughed and said, "OK, Doc, let her rip."
I chopped off the buttress roots first and then went all the way around, adding a couple of felling wedges in the kerf to fight the pinch. Then I turned off the saw, kicked out the wedges and said, "OK, men, flip her off and roll her to the splitter. She's all yours."
Two big guys, (total weight = 600 lb) leaned against that stump. No movement. Then they pushed and shoved again. No movement. Finally, one said, "Edwin, you must have left a chunk in the center. We can't budge it."
I replied, "Yep. That's right. Looks like you can't. It's a horse. But, my Stihl says that bur oak stump is free and clear."
So, I went and got a long-handle shovel. They pushed again, and I pryed up at the same time, wedged in a small log, pryed again and guess what? We finally flipped the stump aside so I could count the annular rings. After they got their breath, one of them asked, "Edwin, good grief, how much does that monster weigh?"
I replied, "I'll post it and see what the Chainsaw forum has to say."
You are all on. How much did that beast weigh? Hints: (1) I had to noodle it in half before we could even drag it to the big hydraulic splitter, and (2) the tree was alive before the storm snapped it in half. The oak is green.
Everyone around here wants to know the consensus on this weight.
opcorn:
