KMB
Addicted to ArboristSite
This past Saturday turned out to be a nice day, so as an after thought, I went out late in the afternoon to finish up a downed ‘recently’ dead Oak that I hadn’t had been able to get back to. I thought a few ‘fairly quick’ cuts and I’d be done…no such luck. To make the story shorter, the first thing I learned was that in a 30” to 38” Oak (dead), my 044 with the 28” bar NEEDS to have the skip chain SHARP to be able to cut PROPERLY. And the second thing I learned that I NEED a cant hook or peavey for a 30” to 38” Oak lying practically flat on the ground.
With a sharp chain, the 044 was not fast with the b&c mentioned in the bigger wood, but I was satisfied…for now until I somehow get into at least a 80+cc saw. I had thought that the tree was far enough off the ground to at least get through the bottom of each cut just enough that the bar wouldn’t get into the pasture ground. The first 4 cuts were ok, but the last 3 were the trouble ones. I used two 8” plastic wedges to try to open the cut and to provide a little ‘lift’, but not enough. There must have been some small rocks in the ground to knock the point/edge off of some of the teeth on the chain. Loosing day light, I tried to file the chain to finish the last 2 cuts, but it just wouldn’t cut properly. Switched to the spare/new chain and it was all good for 1 cut…until I pulled a bone head and cut into one of the plastic wedges on the last cut. It was enough to do the same thing to the chain as the first one (chain). I knew that a saw would not cut properly (and it is hard on the saw) with a dull chain, but it gets amplified when the b&c is close to the max for the saw and the wood (hardwood) is bigger than the bar length.
All this wouldn’t have happened if I had a cant hook or peavey to roll the log over. With smaller logs, I can man-handle the logs over to finish a cut without hitting the ground…but not with this one. I’m sure with a 60” handled cant hook or peavey I would have been able to roll the log over enough. So I’ll be starting to save for a Logrite, and doing some ‘searching and reading’ on what I think will work for me between a cant hook and peavey.
I was not about to leave the cut pieces, so in the dark I loaded 5 of the 6 ‘useable’ pieces on the trailer. The last piece (at the stump) was just to big for me too roll. Since I’m only a few miles from where I was cutting, I’ll come back and noodle it to load. I’ll have to noodle the other pieces to get on the splitter. I might have noodled them all on site, but it was dark and I was frustrated and not about to go home ‘empty handed’.
After 3 cuttings/trips this is what I had left this past Saturday:
This is what I loaded and came home with. The biggest piece as 38" across. I have 2 more trees to cut on that will be close to this size...I need a bigger saw...and a tractor with a loader wouldn't hurt:
Kevin
With a sharp chain, the 044 was not fast with the b&c mentioned in the bigger wood, but I was satisfied…for now until I somehow get into at least a 80+cc saw. I had thought that the tree was far enough off the ground to at least get through the bottom of each cut just enough that the bar wouldn’t get into the pasture ground. The first 4 cuts were ok, but the last 3 were the trouble ones. I used two 8” plastic wedges to try to open the cut and to provide a little ‘lift’, but not enough. There must have been some small rocks in the ground to knock the point/edge off of some of the teeth on the chain. Loosing day light, I tried to file the chain to finish the last 2 cuts, but it just wouldn’t cut properly. Switched to the spare/new chain and it was all good for 1 cut…until I pulled a bone head and cut into one of the plastic wedges on the last cut. It was enough to do the same thing to the chain as the first one (chain). I knew that a saw would not cut properly (and it is hard on the saw) with a dull chain, but it gets amplified when the b&c is close to the max for the saw and the wood (hardwood) is bigger than the bar length.
All this wouldn’t have happened if I had a cant hook or peavey to roll the log over. With smaller logs, I can man-handle the logs over to finish a cut without hitting the ground…but not with this one. I’m sure with a 60” handled cant hook or peavey I would have been able to roll the log over enough. So I’ll be starting to save for a Logrite, and doing some ‘searching and reading’ on what I think will work for me between a cant hook and peavey.
I was not about to leave the cut pieces, so in the dark I loaded 5 of the 6 ‘useable’ pieces on the trailer. The last piece (at the stump) was just to big for me too roll. Since I’m only a few miles from where I was cutting, I’ll come back and noodle it to load. I’ll have to noodle the other pieces to get on the splitter. I might have noodled them all on site, but it was dark and I was frustrated and not about to go home ‘empty handed’.
After 3 cuttings/trips this is what I had left this past Saturday:
This is what I loaded and came home with. The biggest piece as 38" across. I have 2 more trees to cut on that will be close to this size...I need a bigger saw...and a tractor with a loader wouldn't hurt:
Kevin
