Hickory Snag

[Chris-PA]

I went up to the woods to split some 3' oak rounds because I don't get enough exercise this time of year, and combined with the sinus infection I fought for a week and half I really need it. Didn't take long to wear me out, so I took a break and walked around a bit, and found that a pignut hickory snag I've been waiting on had finally come off the stump.

This is one I tried to free over the summer, but I had misjudged the way it wanted to fold (it was very obvious in hindsight). It had originally fallen over on it's own, part of the root ball and all. I had managed to get it separated from the stump but it was stuck, and I figured I'd let it there for now - it was off the ground and I have to process a lot of oak. It's about 18" diameter.

Since the trunk was now jambed into the dirt I figured I would try to walk it down with progressive cuts up the trunk. I use a "face cut" on the outside (top) and the belly cut is equivalent to the back cut. I do this so that it doesn't try to pop out the side toward me. I got two cuts and had to make the "hinge" very narrow and use a wedge from below to get it to fold each time, and it was hairy because there was plenty of dead stuff up top in the hickory, as well as in the sick double trunk ash it's caught in. I could shut the saw off and tap in the wedge so I could hear and see and be ready to run like heck.

It looked like it might slide down and free itself on the last cut, but that's not to be. It's hung up good now, with the two large top branches of the hickory each snagged on one of the double ash tops. Maybe the wind will pull it down some day, but since the butt is on the ground it will probably rot first. Oh well, I got about 16' of it anyway, but the butt end was already punky.

I don't want to give up on that hickory, but it's a mess now and I don't need it enough to take any more risks for it. Oh, and standing dead hickory is hard stuff.

 

[zogger]

Well, cool you got some of it.

I have had ~medium~ luck pulling them out at the bottom with a comealong.

 

[Chris-PA]

Well, cool you got some of it.

I have had ~medium~ luck pulling them out at the bottom with a comealong.

That had been my plan while it was still stuck on the stump - either winch it off or clear a path to get the tractor back there. In that case I would have pulled it back over the stump in hopes of getting it out of the ash. Once it was on the ground I wanted to get to it, as hickory seems to rot real easily.

 

[ash man]

Cutting dead ash out of thick woods over the years I've had a lot snag and employed the same technique as you. The craziest one was a 12" ash landing in the crotch of another smaller tree and perfectly balancing itself @10' up.

 

[Chris-PA]

Cutting dead ash out of thick woods over the years I've had a lot snag and employed the same technique as you. The craziest one was a 12" ash landing in the crotch of another smaller tree and perfectly balancing itself @10' up.

I had a poplar that fell just like that into a large oak that grew in a field of rocks, so no equipment in there. It made a teeter-totter - I'd cut from one side until it tipped the other way, then go to the other side and cut until it tipped back. Eventually it got pretty short and sat horizontal. I just noticed the other week it had rotted and fell out.

 

[ash man]

Call me crazy but at the time I was out of seasoned firewood and wouldn't let it go. I ever so carefully cut the tree that was holding it up. It was thick in there and I had a tree right to my right to step behind, but hind sight being what it was I probably should have went home to fetch a tractor, chains and ladder and yanked it out.

 

[Chris-PA]

Well, it's 9 months later and I'm scrounging standing dead wood to pad my firewood for the winter, and I got to thinking about that snag. Hickory would surely be nice..... Here's where it's been - the butt end of the hickory is touching the ground, but only on an edge. Mostly it's hanging in one trunk of a double ash, which is near dead too.



I just don't have the guts to stand under that thing and drop the ash. Also, I only wanted to drop the one trunk that was holding the hickory, but the split was pretty high.

Some time ago I got one of those junk full-skip lo pro chains they put on new Poulans in with some used saws. It was 16" 56DL, and I decided to grind off all the shark fins and sharpen it one day when I was bored. I figured I might try it on the pole saw someday - and today was the day.

It's a screamin' 32cc Poulan Pro PP338PT with a 16" bar on it. And it worked:

It was exhausting though - I had to hold it as high as I could to get above the crotch, and of course the cuts were not level because of that. And it was pretty darn slow too, no surprise there. The cuts were not particularly accurate either, but good enough. The whole mess did come down pretty fast. And yes, it was chairing:


But I got me some hickory! Damn that stuff is hard!

The other trunk is not long for this world either:


And this is Japanese Stilt Grass for those who have not had the pleasure yet - the stuff makes working in the woods a real PITA. There is all sorts of rocks and logs and branches under there, you just cannot see them. It makes walking in the woods a bit like feeling your way along the bottom of a lake:

 

[zogger]

You ALWAYS work for hickory, but man, good stuff...

Cool pole saw mod. Port it to run that big bar!

 

[Chris-PA]

You ALWAYS work for hickory, but man, good stuff...

Cool pole saw mod. Port it to run that big bar!

I still gotta split it.....

 

[CTYank]

That had been my plan while it was still stuck on the stump - either winch it off or clear a path to get the tractor back there. In that case I would have pulled it back over the stump in hopes of getting it out of the ash. Once it was on the ground I wanted to get to it, as hickory seems to rot real easily.

Very few fuelwoods are comparable to shagbark. In any respect. But you knew that.

Wanna guess why I've become so fond of my screaming 25 cc polesaw? Land Trust guys I volunteer with now know to put in an explicit request for it and/or another micro-screamer: 22 cc Echo brushcutter from late '70s. Conventional chainsaws can only do so much.

With a hungry 8" Morbark chipper, the little Tanaka polesaw managed to keep it well fed on a couple projects, including massive pruning of lower foliage of white pines.

 

[Chris-PA]

Very few fuelwoods are comparable to shagbark. In any respect. But you knew that.

Wanna guess why I've become so fond of my screaming 25 cc polesaw? Land Trust guys I volunteer with now know to put in an explicit request for it and/or another micro-screamer: 22 cc Echo brushcutter from late '70s. Conventional chainsaws can only do so much.

With a hungry 8" Morbark chipper, the little Tanaka polesaw managed to keep it well fed on a couple projects, including massive pruning of lower foliage of white pines.

Yes, it has been really useful. It's also great for dealing with vines and for taking apart big briars without getting beat up.

 

[Chris-PA]

 

[Chris-PA]

I wasn't going to post this one, because the saw seems so slow (and because I had a hard time editing the video), but it's a good illustration of how hard this stuff is. This is not a slow saw even though it's a lowly Poulan clamshell - it's ported and runs real well. But here it's slow as molasses, although the saw doesn't sound excessively loaded. It just can't get a good bite. The chain is Oregon 20BPX, which has always been one of my favorites.

 

[stihly dan]

The rpms are up, I think the chain was duller on the green thing than on the chicom saw.

 

[Chris-PA]

The rpms are up, I think the chain was duller on the green thing than on the chicom saw.

Well, I don' t think it was dull as I had just dressed it, but I will double check later. That saw is quite light, and when I put on some pressure with the dogs it did move faster. I'm wondering how full chisel would have worked - whether it would have cut faster or if the points would have just dulled quick.

 

[cantoo]

File your rakers. I finally listened to Zogger and man it makes a difference.

 

[Chris-PA]

File your rakers. I finally listened to Zogger and man it makes a difference.

Beyond 0.025"? I set them every few sharpenings, or if I have to take a lot off to repair a cutter or something. I dunno - the chain pulls fine in less hard stuff, and I'm worried it would be too much load then (it's only 46cc).

 

[cantoo]

Until zogger told me to file rakers I had never ever done it and never knew I had a problem. After a few conversations on here I finally hand filed the rakers on a half worn out chain on my 660. Then I went to the wood pile and made some chips well actually chunks. I just file enough that it tries to rip the saw out of my hands. I'm lazy, I never measure I just rub them down abit with a flat file and cut wood.

 

[Chris-PA]

Spent most of the day splitting hickory rounds, after clearing some better access to where they are. I did try running a loop of modified Oregon 33SL full chisel (the shark fins are all removed and it's sharpened to 30deg, depth gauges are 0.025"):

It may have been a bit faster, but the log was smaller too. It sure didn't feel any faster:



I did need to noodle a few, and for that the 20BPX was faster so I switched. Tomorrow I hope to finish splitting and stacking it.

 

[zogger]

Spent most of the day splitting hickory rounds, after clearing some better access to where they are. I did try running a loop of modified Oregon 33SL full chisel (the shark fins are all removed and it's sharpened to 30deg, depth gauges are 0.025"):

It may have been a bit faster, but the log was smaller too. It sure didn't feel any faster:



I did need to noodle a few, and for that the 20BPX was faster so I switched. Tomorrow I hope to finish splitting and stacking it.

Looked and sounded good. Couldn't see chip size clearly, might have been an eeny small. Chain speed was good, and it's hickory, it is hard dense wood.