What's The Oldest Tree You Have Felled?

[Real1shepherd]

Wow....admire any pro fallers who had the time to count rings...maybe on lunch break....assuming all your equipment was perfect and needed no attention.

Probably the oldest I ever cut was Old Growth Engelmann Spruce; right on top of the Grand Mesa in Colorado. Forest service marked them and we took 'em. I have to admit, there was at least some rot in all of them-good call. I had a few over six ft at the butt....I can only guess how old they must of been to get that big in CO.

Kevin

 

[Real1shepherd]

This was the oldest I fell back in 1987, used my 090G 48 inch bar
to make the notch. 064 to make the back cut. The blue gum was
rotten in the center. It had only about 8 to 12 inch of green solid
wood all the way around. I could not count the rings because of
the rot.

Uhhhh...that's a huge face cut for that tree...I mean deep. I can't see the back and around, but the face looks more than a third into the tree. With that kinda rot, glad no one got killed.

Kevin

 

[RandyMac]

Uhhhh...that's a huge face cut for that tree...I mean deep. I can't see the back and around, but the face looks more than a third into the tree. With that kinda rot, glad no one got killed.

Kevin

Why do you think that is a problem.

 

[madhatte]

Oldest felled? Not too impressive, a suppressed hemlock maybe 150 YO.

Oldest bucked? That's a different story. I bucked out of a fire trail what was believed, at the time it fell, to be the single largest and oldest old-growth Ponderosa Pine in Western WA. It was about 60" (with bark) where it crossed the road, about 100' from the butt. It blew over in a storm a couple of years ago. I have a ~50" round drying in the shop from it, minus bark, from about 50' above the butt. That's where the rot stopped. It's somewhere over 600 years old, but I haven't counted yet. We'll make a display once it's dry and put dates on rings and such.

What's that, you say? "There are no old-growth Pondys in Western WA"? Well, that's pretty much true... except for about 150 acres specifically where I work. It's a pretty unique stand. There's plenty of discussion about how it happens to be there -- pine-nut trading among the tribes? Relict communities from the xeric period ~5K years BCE? Nobody knows, exactly, but it's pretty interesting stuff nevertheless.

EDIT: I wrote the word "pretty" three times in the same paragraph, in the same context. That's lousy writing. Sorry.

 

[Mr. Bow Saw]

Uhhhh...that's a huge face cut for that tree...I mean deep. I can't see the back and around, but the face looks more than a third into the tree. With that kinda rot, glad no one got killed.

Kevin

Your comments are said out Ignrance. First off Im not you.
Thats right you can't see the whole picture here. See that big
round glob on the left side,thats part of the tree and it go farther
back on the other side you can't see,
There was a large leader limb back there we cut off.
Theres allso a 3/4 inch rope tide in the top and hooked to a truck.

Oh and your glad no one got killed, You must think every one
is lost like you are when it comes to felling a tree.

 

[RandyMac]

Get 'em Mr BowSaw!!!

Oh NO!! another stump sawn over a third the diameter.

 

[derwoodii]

A 250 plus year old Red gum as I sadly counted the rings after my wrong decision to remove it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_camaldulensis
I had been working only about 3 years and had just read but not fully understood articles by Shigo about codit and recognizing decay.
The tree was in a forest group in a new school playground at its base was a wound with a small bracket fungus above it. Armed with my poor knowledge I considered this tree was a hazard and its removal was required.
Saw in scarf and no decay saw in back cut over n down I find solid timber apart from a small decay pocket sealed in hard.
Red gums can live on for 600 plus years this was 1984 so the tree would still be here for another 300 years plus but for my lack of knowledge.

 

[RandyMac]

I mistakenly felled a Port Orford Cedar, it was way south and east of the normal range for the species and at fairly high elevation. I was irritated with it, it was in our strip, marked for harvest, but it was squatty looking and half way to being a snag. I knew the instant the steel hit it, that it was a mistake, no other tree smells like a Port Orford. The mill wouldn't take it, we had three big chunks of it, just before it was to be converted to stove use, a guy from Tahoe bought it to saw shingles out of it. It was an old tree, I didn't count rings, it had very fine grain.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Get 'em Mr BowSaw!!!

Oh NO!! another stump sawn over a third the diameter.

You go stand in the corner young man!!! You have broken too many of the cardinal rules. tssk tssk. LOL

Pioneerguy600

 

[Gypo Logger]

Uhhhh...that's a huge face cut for that tree...I mean deep. I can't see the back and around, but the face looks more than a third into the tree. With that kinda rot, glad no one got killed.

Kevin

I think it's important to critique each others work and not to become too sensitive about it.
The picture in question may have had too deep of an undercut, however that would ensure that the tree would fall in it's intended direction. Trees with deep undercuts tend to fall much faster, especially when the heart is rotten, and may prevent any chance of barberchair.
The only problem I really see in the picture was that there was an unintentional dutchman, which is a moot point because of the rot.
Nice big tree. What species?
John

 

[RandyMac]

You go stand in the corner young man!!! You have broken too many of the cardinal rules. tssk tssk. LOL

Pioneerguy600

Ahhhh, no.
Just getting started.
I have 8 of the big Ten broken, a few more little ones won't hardly measure.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Ahhhh, no.
Just getting started.
I have 8 of the big Ten broken, a few more little ones won't hardly measure.

Now Randy, don`t go postin all the rules you have broken, the world will tilt and the sun no longer will shine. LOL

Pioneerguy600

 

[RandyMac]

Fear not friend Jerry, I will in no way spread the darkness further, in the end, I won't recant or repent either. I figure that the most good I can do, is be a bad example. Don't let your babies grow up to be old growth fallers.
I've got a prolonged ramble coming on, better wait til later.

I usually cut my Dutchmans last, from the backcut, doing it first can lead to overcutting, getting more stem action then you intended can be noisy.

 

[dancan]

Thanks for posting the video John, guess you won`t be counting all the growth rings in that one. Slow growth means a lot of rings per inch.
Pioneerguy600

Just like some of the 2" to 5" stuff we got here with no rot , you need a magnifying glass to count the rings !

Lol, Jerry, it seems we never get sick of it. I guess it's in the blood.
John

You sure are right on that one !
Shut the saw off and listen... the crash of the tree hitting the deck never gets old !

I mistakenly felled a Port Orford Cedar, it was squatty looking and half way to being a snag. I knew the instant the steel hit it, that it was a mistake, no other tree smells like a Port Orford. The mill wouldn't take it, we had three big chunks of it, just before it was to be converted to stove use, a guy from Tahoe bought it to saw shingles out of it. It was an old tree, I didn't count rings, it had very fine grain.

My father was a district superintendent for a large pulp/paper/mill operation here in Nova Scotia , he had a mill owner that was always complaining that the wood he was getting was way to small (we are not known for having large wood like the west coast) , he found a 5' old growth hemlock and had the crew take it down and deliver it to the mill , a week later the mill was complaining to head office that the wood was to big !

Now Randy, don`t go postin all the rules you have broken, the world will tilt and the sun no longer will shine. LOL

Pioneerguy600

I'm pretty sure that is just a section in the unwritten loggers code handbook !

 

[pioneerguy600]

Fear not friend Jerry, I will in no way spread the darkness further, in the end, I won't recant or repent either. I figure that the most good I can do, is be a bad example. Don't let your babies grow up to be old growth fallers.
I've got a prolonged ramble coming on, better wait til later.

I usually cut my Dutchmans last, from the backcut, doing it first can lead to overcutting, getting more stem action then you intended can be noisy.

Yes the noisy thing I can remember well, the noisiest tree fall I was around happened around 1973, my dad and I had been contacted to take down a large tree that was between a house and a high tension 3500 volt powerline, a parking lot on the left and a street on the right. We were to show up by 6:30 AM and take it down before things like traffic got busy. We just pull in at 6;05 on site to see the tree topple 90* to the intended fall direction, it takes out the powerline, pulls down a pole, blows a transformer, lands on the bosses near new 3/4 ton 4X4, top of the tree breaks off and does a 180* and bounces through the glass patio doors on the house. Well the noise took more than 30 mins to die down to a low background rumble, after all yelling and the sirens from the firetrucks + police subsided. Dad and I didn`t even bother to start up our saws, we didn`t want to be associated with that mess. Boss man thought he could save a few bucks and drop the tree himself with the help of one his yard apes.
Best part was that after all the dust settled he asked if our insurance would cover this mess if he paid us the original fee we quoted to bring down the tree. LOL

Pioneerguy600

 

[pioneerguy600]

Just like some of the 2" to 5" stuff we got here with no rot , you need a magnifying glass to count the rings !



You sure are right on that one !
Shut the saw off and listen... the crash of the tree hitting the deck never gets old !



My father was a district superintendent for a large pulp/paper/mill operation here in Nova Scotia , he had a mill owner that was always complaining that the wood he was getting was way to small (we are not known for having large wood like the west coast) , he found a 5' old growth hemlock and had the crew take it down and deliver it to the mill , a week later the mill was complaining to head office that the wood was to big !



I'm pretty sure that is just a section in the unwritten loggers code handbook !

Black spruce on a high dry knoll, 6" in dia and 150 years old, nearly petrified wood.

Pioneerguy600

 

[RVALUE]

Yes the noisy thing I can remember well, the noisiest tree fall I was around happened around 1973, my dad and I had been contacted to take down a large tree that was between a house and a high tension 3500 volt powerline, a parking lot on the left and a street on the right. We were to show up by 6:30 AM and take it down before things like traffic got busy. We just pull in at 6;05 on site to see the tree topple 90* to the intended fall direction, it takes out the powerline, pulls down a pole, blows a transformer, lands on the bosses near new 3/4 ton 4X4, top of the tree breaks off and does a 180* and bounces through the glass patio doors on the house. Well the noise took more than 30 mins to die down to a low background rumble, after all yelling and the sirens from the firetrucks + police subsided. Dad and I didn`t even bother to start up our saws, we didn`t want to be associated with that mess. Boss man thought he could save a few bucks and drop the tree himself with the help of one his yard apes.
Best part was that after all the dust settled he asked if our insurance would cover this mess if he paid us the original fee we quoted to bring down the tree. LOL

Pioneerguy600

That is a pretty good story.

 

[RandyMac]

Yes the noisy thing I can remember well, the noisiest tree fall I was around happened around 1973, my dad and I had been contacted to take down a large tree that was between a house and a high tension 3500 volt powerline, a parking lot on the left and a street on the right. We were to show up by 6:30 AM and take it down before things like traffic got busy. We just pull in at 6;05 on site to see the tree topple 90* to the intended fall direction, it takes out the powerline, pulls down a pole, blows a transformer, lands on the bosses near new 3/4 ton 4X4, top of the tree breaks off and does a 180* and bounces through the glass patio doors on the house. Well the noise took more than 30 mins to die down to a low background rumble, after all yelling and the sirens from the firetrucks + police subsided. Dad and I didn`t even bother to start up our saws, we didn`t want to be associated with that mess. Boss man thought he could save a few bucks and drop the tree himself with the help of one his yard apes.
Best part was that after all the dust settled he asked if our insurance would cover this mess if he paid us the original fee we quoted to bring down the tree. LOL

Pioneerguy600

That tops it all LMAO!!!

I do miss the noise, sometimes I would find a likely tree, get creative, fling it downhill with a half twist, just to see how far it would go.

 

[pioneerguy600]

That tops it all LMAO!!!

I do miss the noise, sometimes I would find a likely tree, get creative, fling it downhill with a half twist, just to see how far it would go.

That type of fall takes a lot of understory with it, noisy for sure.When those oldgrowth hit the floor the explosion of debris takes more than a few seconds to settle down. LOL

Pioneerguy600

 

[RandyMac]

OG DFs are my favorites, somewhat forgiving if you are a little off. Now for major noise factor, dump a big one through a stand of other big DFs, it could be days before all the loose stuff hits the ground, oh the humanity.