Oakzilla!!!!

[davec]

OK, Yes I know there are far bigger oaks out there, but this red oak is by far the biggest tree on the land I have. We finally dropped it this afternoon, and it was a beast. Was a bit touchy for a bit as it didn't want to go over until a few wedges were in and the holding wood was down to almost nothing (see pics). Man did it hit hard. Stump was about 30" dia. That's a 32" bar on the 660 that was used to drop it.

Between felling and blocking it up, we took ~2 hrs and burned 4+ full tanks of gas, with 2 of us working at it, from opposite ends to get it blocked up and the bigger pieces noodled.

This was our "final" day dropping and blocking out there. We've got enough cleared that it is time to pull out all the wood on the ground (once the snow melts so we can actually get it out...). Then I need to do a little preliminary survey work to stake out the house site a bit better. After that we can see what else need to be dropped. Probably next fall for that. Gawd there's gotta be 40-50 cord on the ground already...

 

[Jon E]

Then I need to do a little preliminary survey work to stake out the house site a bit better. After that we can see what else need to be dropped. Probably next fall for that. Gawd there's gotta be 40-50 cord on the ground already...

Don't do what I did and let it all go to waste. Get it blocked, split and stacked, off the ground, and it will be good for at least 3-4 years, if not more. If you can't use it, sell it. I had a lot of firewood go to waste when I built my house, and I've learned my lesson. I always clean it up as soon as I can after I drop it, otherwise it's gonna site there until it turns into dirt.

That's a really nice tree. Too bad you couldn't have milled it up into boards for something in your house.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

You aren't leaving the lot totally barren of mature trees are you? Mature trees add to house value and give dimension to what would be a frying pan of a lot.

Ian

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Nice!


Why the tiny hinge? Just saving wood?

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Last year, instead of wedges, I used a bottle jack to push a big oak over. Worked like a champ.

Ian

 

[highpointtree]

They will go over a lot easier if you take the time to meet your top and bottom cut evenly and go a tad bit deeper on the bigger one's, will also let you leave a bit more hinge wood.. anyway, good job.

 

[mtngun]

I'd love to mill that tree into lumber.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[JJuday]

Nice drop. I see you have the same problem with the plastic wedges that I do. I made some out of Sugar Maple because I got so disgusted with shattering the plastic ones. I've had the plastic ones jump out of the cut and hit me or bystanders! Nice thing about wood wedges is that when they break you can just throw them in the stove. JJ

 

[brogan007]

Why?

Ok, I have to ask....why would you cut down the biggest, living tree on your property...for no reason? Would it not create more value, pleasure & be an asset if it was still alive?
Move the house site a few yds......
We have 20 acres, covered with hardwoods & some pines........& there's no way on earth we'd cut a large living oak down without a really REALLY good reason.
In the future, it'll be really hard to find property that still has mature hardwoods left. Much higher resale & even appraised value for refinance prospects.
Just my 25c.

 

[BryanSchamber]

Ok, I have to ask....why would you cut down the biggest, living tree on your property...for no reason? Would it not create more value, pleasure & be an asset if it was still alive?
Move the house site a few yds......
We have 20 acres, covered with hardwoods & some pines........& there's no way on earth we'd cut a large living oak down without a really REALLY good reason.
In the future, it'll be really hard to find property that still has mature hardwoods left. Much higher resale & even appraised value for refinance prospects.
Just my 25c.

I have to agree with you. I'm sure he'll here a lot more before this one is over.

 

[clearance]

Nice!


Why the tiny hinge? Just saving wood?

The size of the undercut is just fine, the dutchman though......

 

[flushcut]

The size of the undercut is just fine, the dutchman though......

That is what held her up the evil dutchman from what the pics are telling. Was the tree in poor health or was your saw hungry and saying feed me.

 

[Log Splitter]

LOL! Now I remember why I never have posted a picture of one of my stumps....

 

[IPLUMB]

I have to agree with you. I'm sure he'll here a lot more before this one is over.

what I was thinking

 

[scotvl]

I hope she was sitting where you kitchen is going, otherwise such a waste of 50+ years.

 

[unclemoustache]

LOL! Now I remember why I never have posted a picture of one of my stumps....

Just what I was thinking. It looked pretty good to me, but then I've not felled many trees. I think I'll take a page from your book and be careful not to show my stumps either. These guys are pretty brutal. :deadhorse:
All in fun, of course, but for those of us of tender heart, I don't know that I could take it and would have to go cry in a corner for a few hours.

Good Job DaveC!!

 

[davec]

My oh my! Lots of angst on the boards today? But to most of you: thanks for the kind words.

You aren't leaving the lot totally barren of mature trees are you? Ian

Heh heh. Hardly! The lot is 10 acres of solid hardwoods. Plenty of good sized trees out there that will have many years to grow. I should have been more clear - it is the biggest tree in the area of clearing. There are a couple bigger ones way out of the way.

Nice!


Why the tiny hinge? Just saving wood?

The hinge was steadily nipped away alternatig with pounding the wedges to get them to work and the tree to finally go over. I assure you, the cutting would have stopped sooner had it been willing to go over...

They will go over a lot easier if you take the time to meet your top and bottom cut evenly and go a tad bit deeper on the bigger one's, will also let you leave a bit more hinge wood.. anyway, good job.

Maybe you can't tell from the pic, but they met quite nicely. I think you are seeing the optical illusion from the wiggle in the grain in the wedge area. Plus the wedge depth is a good ~40% of the diameter. I can't see going much farther than that...can you? The wedge was pretty clean in reality...

Ok, I have to ask....why would you cut down the biggest, living tree on your property...for no reason? Would it not create more value, pleasure & be an asset if it was still alive?
Move the house site a few yds......
We have 20 acres, covered with hardwoods & some pines........& there's no way on earth we'd cut a large living oak down without a really REALLY good reason.
In the future, it'll be really hard to find property that still has mature hardwoods left. Much higher resale & even appraised value for refinance prospects.
Just my 25c.

Well as already stated, it is really only the biggest one in the clearing area. The lot is quite hilly and there is only one decent area to put a house - the plateau where we are clearing. The county restricts building on slopes quite severely, so the options are limited. Plus this will be our final house, so I am not exactly worried about the impact of that tree on resale value in 30-50 yrs. Sorry - that argument won't get you far. But thanks for jumping to conclusions!

And there's another wrinkle: The property had been logged off for lumber probably 12-15 yrs ago - well before we bought it. For some reason they left this tree and we were puzzling over why as it was accessible and big enough for lumber. After we started blocking it up we found out why: The forresters are very good at spotting problems and skipping those trees. This tree had rot down the middle due to damage up high. So while it looks great at the stump, a few feet up the rot starts and gets progressively worse. So unfortunately it wouldn't even produce the quality lumber you might think.

I've spent more than a couple years planning and designing the layout and positioning of the house, including working with an architect for a good part of that. It's pretty well figured out by now, especially given the site limitations. Plus I've seen what happens when people try to foolishly save a tree that is close to the house. The stress from construction traffic in the dripline and the change in water table from digging/foundations/hardscaping often kill the tree in a few short years. Now you have a giant dead tree hanging over your new house... Seen it too many times.

:deadhorse:

Sheesh. Sounds like a couple of you folks forget where your firewood and furniture come from... Hint: it isn't from the 4-6" dia twigs. So flame on!

-Dave

 

[clearance]

OK, Yes I know there are far bigger oaks out there, but this red oak is by far the biggest tree on the land I have. We finally dropped it this afternoon, and it was a beast. Was a bit touchy for a bit as it didn't want to go over until a few wedges were in and the holding wood was down to almost nothing (see pics). Man did it hit hard. Stump was about 30" dia. That's a 32" bar on the 660 that was used to drop it.

Between felling and blocking it up, we took ~2 hrs and burned 4+ full tanks of gas, with 2 of us working at it, from opposite ends to get it blocked up and the bigger pieces noodled.

This was our "final" day dropping and blocking out there. We've got enough cleared that it is time to pull out all the wood on the ground (once the snow melts so we can actually get it out...). Then I need to do a little preliminary survey work to stake out the house site a bit better. After that we can see what else need to be dropped. Probably next fall for that. Gawd there's gotta be 40-50 cord on the ground already...

The dutchman is plain to see, not hacking on you at all, just saying. You cut 'er down, its good.

 

[davec]

The dutchman is plain to see, not hacking on you at all, just saying. You cut 'er down, its good.

Actually I didn't do the cutting on this one, but I thought the wedge was just fine... Dunno...

 

[Curlycherry1]

I am the guilty party with the saw. I was the one that cut Oakzilla down. Here I am for my flogging. I am a bit rusty as it has been ~25 years+ since I was whacking big trees down day in and day out. Something about my body aging and not being able to get that bar to go exactly where I want it to every time it has to cross 30" of wood to do its job. I used to be able to get those cuts to line up perfectly, but I am out of practice.

As for cutting the trees down around a house, it is the only way to go. The reason is that big oaks especially and others like them NEVER survive when you mess with their roots or their water table.

Anyone that thinks otherwise needs to go look at the development behind Stillwater Highschool in Stillwater MN. It is smack behing the Menard's on Route 36. Take a look at that place any summer or better yet, stop and ask any resident in that development what they think of big mature trees in their back yards,I am sure they will give you an earfull. Here is the reason why.

About 1999 or 2000 that development was a big old mature oak forest. Solid trees for 2-300 acres. They came in and cleared 1/4 to 1/3 acre lots for the houses leaving ~50-100' between the houses back to back, and 20-30' of trees between each house. The land is fairly flat but not totally flat. All the houses have basements. When the houses went in those trees provided plenty of nice shade. The developers sold all those buyers the mystique of building a house in amoungst all those big old trees providing lots of shade and character tot he development. Every house did have ~30-50' of grass around each one because they wanted to keep away from trees falling on the houses. I suspect the developers knew full well what was going to happen next to those trees.

Today nearly every big old tree left standing is dead or dying. The water table was changed with the basements and the roads and so now the trees cannot live. They are all dying. The ones that have died are costing thousands per tree to take down and the residents are peaved. My former next door neighbor has two kids that live in that developement and they have spent ~$5K per year getting rid of trees that are dead. The figure it will cost them over $40K by the time every tree on their properties are taken down. Big limbs have fallen and almost landed on kids in the neighborhood.

And if this developemnt does not convince people big trees being left when a house is built only need to go to 51st street North off of Keats Avenue in Lake Elmo, MN for another example of the same thing. 2001-2002 The development went in and now all the trees that were left are dead or dying.

You cannot mess with the water table around a big old oak and have it live. They just cannot tolerate it and I have seen it a million times.

As for using the wood for lumber. Oak is about $1.30/bd ft around here for clear, kiln dried wood in nice wide widths. We could go buy 10000 bd ft of the stuff and trim the house with it and tell folks it came from the property and nobody would be the wiser. But, Davec is not a fan of red oak, he is a quarter sawn white oak junkie, and me, I loathe red oak (vomit wood because it smells like vomit when milled) and I prefer PA American Black Cherry. And I get my wood in flitch cut logs from a specialty mill in PA. So I have no need for vomit wood in log form.