Today....

Did a stump removal getting the last goody out of a worn-out bar and blade. Saw a bit, attack with sledge hammer and wedges, rest a bit, repeat. Had to touch up the chain twice while the saw battery was recharging during the afternoon of work. Good exercise. Nobody rents stump grinders around here.
 

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Winchman said:
Did a stump removal getting the last goody out of a worn-out bar and blade. Saw a bit, attack with sledge hammer and wedges, rest a bit, repeat. Had to touch up the chain twice while the saw battery was recharging during the afternoon of work. Good exercise. Nobody rents stump grinders around here.
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Mr. Winchman, I do believe you are in better shape than I am, and I am about half your age. I must compliment your conditioning, and hope I am in half as good shape when I get to your age!
 
That stump looks as big as any I've ever dug by hand. I kinda like the challenge. So far I've never rented a stump grinder (only worked on my own trees and next door). If they're bigger than that one I just cut 'em at ground level and let them rot on their own.
 
Made a mess for a homeowner to clean up.

Neglected orchard of 9 trees.



Bid this yesterday. log tape is the "good side" of this maple with crusty tops. Like a drum.IMG_20200207_122725447.jpgIMG_20200206_153943738.jpgIMG_20200206_153848123_HDR.jpg
 

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Today it paid to be Irish.

Stone dead oak, agrifolia, 85 foot, a decade dead, serious lean uphill, into a poison oak infested hillside.

Bigshot up to about 55 feet, pulled a bull line down to a trunk tie.

So winching it upright n over 180 degrees off the lean was the plan.

But last weekend I'd boasted that I could lay it 90 degrees off its lean between thankfully still living smaller oaks.

But this morning decided nah,bexactly 180 off or forget it, expecting 25-30 foot ot travel from the hinge of a petrified oak's optimistic at best.

So I decided to utilize a boxcut to hang onto the stump as long as possible. Long story short, I left about 3-4 inches of hinge at the top.

Ran to my winch, stood her up vertical, winch quit due to only one battery being used on a dual battery setup.

So I had to rev the ole toy up a few minutes, build up the battery, then back to the winch, pulled it over center, just as the hinge failed, sending it 90 degrees off pull, threading it exactly through the living little oaks as I'd boasted I could do last Saturday, but it was pure Itish luck, it fell 90 degrees off the 180 I was tryin for.

I doubt box cuts are utilized much in hardwoods, particularly dead hardwoods, but they work a treat in most live conifer's in my experience.

Gonna have to get me a cordless 12 volt winch remote control, minimize all this runnin back n forth.

My immunity to poison oak's still alive n well in me at sixty years old, knock on Quercus.....

Jemco
 
Fun read!! I had to look up box cut, but it looks like you proved what it says about its disadvantage.2020-02-09_box_cut.png
I recall seeing a video of a cut that may have worked better in your case. A notch was cut first on the side toward the desired fall. That was followed by two vertical and one horizontal plunge cuts to form a narrow tongue from the tree down into the stump. An angled plunge cut severed the part of the tongue below the notch and hinges. Cutting the outsides from the back left the hinges intact for the pull. As the tree fell, the tongue continued guiding the tree long after the hinges broke. That's a lot of work. I've never tried it, but it looked like it worked pretty well.
 
Winchman said:
Fun read!! I had to look up box cut, but it looks like you proved what it says about its disadvantage.View attachment 65279
I recall seeing a video of a cut that may have worked better in your case. A notch was cut first on the side toward the desired fall. That was followed by two vertical and one horizontal plunge cuts to form a narrow tongue from the tree down into the stump. An angled plunge cut severed the part of the tongue below the notch and hinges. Cutting the outsides from the back left the hinges intact for the pull. As the tree fell, the tongue continued guiding the tree long after the hinges broke. That's a lot of work. I've never tried it, but it looked like it worked pretty well.
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tongue and groove ... good for any timber that doesn’t split spar wood easily...
 
I had a nice 65' climb this afternoon after finally getting a line up to a decent TIP in this tall pine.
IMG_3381 (2)_LI.webp
Got rid of seven dead limbs two to six feet long and mostly about two inches in diameter. It was my fifth climb in the last seven days. All the others were shorter oaks, so I was looking for a longer climb using just my arms.
 
Today I learned the Makita twin battery electric trimsaw has a design flaw. Two 18 volt batteries for 36 volts of oomph.

But swingin between leaders aloft today with the saw snug on my saddle, caused a collision with the battery release button and trunk that disconnected one battery which thankfully survived the fall.

Back to the drawing board Wiley Coyote!

Keep Murphy's law foremost in your brain designing this stuff, okay?

Jemco
 
Just because it survived the fall doesn't mean it wasn't damaged inside. It certainly wasn't designed to survive such abuse. Consider how much energy is stored in a fully charged battery and how bad it would be if that energy was suddenly released while you're in a tree or driving around. It could last another five years, but maybe not the next bump. Do you really want to take that kind of chance for the price of a battery?
 
That's a shield to keep the upper pulley and rope from binding against the tree near the TIP. It's hard to control which way the pulley is hanging or to see if the rope is touching anything. It's probably beefier than it needs to be, but it only weighs a couple ounces.
 
Stone pines are pretty common in these parts, and pruned properly are gorgeous from below looking up as the leaders spiral skyward.

Today's Pinus pinea though was huge, untouched, ancient, with tons of leaders drooping having lost their structural integrity, but still attached n green.

Viewed from below I saw about six compromised leaders, but once aloft I realized their were twice that many, one huge at 18 inches plus.

There's a distinct possibility this old Stone's over 100 years old, and planted in the late 1800's.

Prolly take me 5-6 days to get it back into a modicum of proper form.

DBH is 5 foot, spreads about 90.

Stones are susceptible to Ips beetles, so I may just get it structurall sound now, then wait till winter to give it a fine pruning. Springs a comin n the beetles'll be flyin soon.

image.webp

Jemco
 
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