PaulDaisy
ArboristSite Operative
I was going to get out to a friend's property last year to help her cut down some beetle killed pines but that did not work out. Finally, on Saturday my friend and I got there and and had a go at it. I have never fallen a tree before, only cut fallen trees for firewood, so I was anxious to try. I checked out several videos on Youtube hoping to learn tips and tricks.
She owns about 0.5 acre in Winter Park, and there are probably some 25 trees there that are dead. I decided to start with the smallest ones that were not going to reach the house even if I couldn't fall them where I aimed, and those 10" ones went down just as planned! I was quite happy, so we moved on to the bigger one (18") that was leaning slightly towards the road and power line. I was a bit nervous and decided to try the plunge cut (never done that either), putting a wedge well into the plunge cut, to drive the tree where I wanted to put it. (To be on the safe side, we also tied a rope to the tree some 15 feet up, and had three people pull on it).
The plunge cut and the wedge worked excellently, and the tree went down maybe just 3 feet to the side from where I planned, safely away from the power line and the house.
After a break we had a go at another tall 18" tree that had potential to hit the house if things went wrong. I decided to go with quarter cut, wedging it away from the house first. In being over cautious, I pushed it over too much and it fell further away from the house than I planned, hanging on a 80 foot tall spruce! Bummer. After cutting twice from the bottom the tree still hung, and finally I was able to push it off with a long pole. It came down safely, the only disappointment was it snapped the top off a nice blue spruce I really wanted to save.
In the 3 hours we had there we cut down 7 trees. My friend was very happy with the help.
Several lessons learned:
1) My Stihl 026 does not work well at 9,000 feet. It did not hold power and kept on stalling. I went at it with a screwdriver and first made it to where it wouldn't even start at all, then finally where it ran but would die if put on the side, then finally where it sort of ran Ok. My friend's 031AV did little better, it would only start at full throttle, and die frequently. My little Partner started fine (new carb kit last year) but did not produce any power at full RPM. Moral of story, I need a series of adjustments to my saws! I will search this site for high altitude adjustments, but at this time I tweaked the screws so much out of whack, I am scared to run the saw.
2) Wedges work wonders!
3) Chaps can be hot. Helmet with the face shield IS hot! Hearing protection is pretty much necessary, or one will go deaf.
4) My 15 year old can't seem to chop enough wood. I brought him a bunch of 20" straight-grained chunks and could not keep the ax away from him! This was very pleasant to see in this age of computer game crazy kids. Next thing, I will have to teach him to run the saw (which I am no expert in myself).
Anyway, it was a great experience for an office-bound dude Looking forward to more!
She owns about 0.5 acre in Winter Park, and there are probably some 25 trees there that are dead. I decided to start with the smallest ones that were not going to reach the house even if I couldn't fall them where I aimed, and those 10" ones went down just as planned! I was quite happy, so we moved on to the bigger one (18") that was leaning slightly towards the road and power line. I was a bit nervous and decided to try the plunge cut (never done that either), putting a wedge well into the plunge cut, to drive the tree where I wanted to put it. (To be on the safe side, we also tied a rope to the tree some 15 feet up, and had three people pull on it).
The plunge cut and the wedge worked excellently, and the tree went down maybe just 3 feet to the side from where I planned, safely away from the power line and the house.
After a break we had a go at another tall 18" tree that had potential to hit the house if things went wrong. I decided to go with quarter cut, wedging it away from the house first. In being over cautious, I pushed it over too much and it fell further away from the house than I planned, hanging on a 80 foot tall spruce! Bummer. After cutting twice from the bottom the tree still hung, and finally I was able to push it off with a long pole. It came down safely, the only disappointment was it snapped the top off a nice blue spruce I really wanted to save.
In the 3 hours we had there we cut down 7 trees. My friend was very happy with the help.
Several lessons learned:
1) My Stihl 026 does not work well at 9,000 feet. It did not hold power and kept on stalling. I went at it with a screwdriver and first made it to where it wouldn't even start at all, then finally where it ran but would die if put on the side, then finally where it sort of ran Ok. My friend's 031AV did little better, it would only start at full throttle, and die frequently. My little Partner started fine (new carb kit last year) but did not produce any power at full RPM. Moral of story, I need a series of adjustments to my saws! I will search this site for high altitude adjustments, but at this time I tweaked the screws so much out of whack, I am scared to run the saw.
2) Wedges work wonders!
3) Chaps can be hot. Helmet with the face shield IS hot! Hearing protection is pretty much necessary, or one will go deaf.
4) My 15 year old can't seem to chop enough wood. I brought him a bunch of 20" straight-grained chunks and could not keep the ax away from him! This was very pleasant to see in this age of computer game crazy kids. Next thing, I will have to teach him to run the saw (which I am no expert in myself).
Anyway, it was a great experience for an office-bound dude Looking forward to more!