A friend of mine had a tree in his yard that lost a limb in last week's storm. His neighbor, who he said 'is a redneck guy who had a chainsaw in his crib' felled the tree. Sort of. First, a few numbers. The tree measured 196" circumference about 4 1/2' above grade (so called diameter at breast height) or 5' 2" diameter. I'm guessing the main trunk went up about 25 to 30' and the higher branches probably topped out around 85'. The limb that came down was an easy 2' in diameter where it left the main trunk and it was rotten. An online wet log weight calculator pegged this Silver Maple's main trunk at 22 - 25,000 lbs. Some pictures:
The main trunk - what is left standing. The splintered fragment hanging off the right is the remains of the storm damage. The red Corona loppers at the base are about 3' long.
One of the bigger limbs to the right of the tree. We had a brown pants moment when I trimmed a limb off and what you see to the right of the trunk rolled to the left, toward me (I was staning behind the main trunk). I'd anticipated that, figuring the standing tree would stop its progress towards me. I had a clear escape path behind me, but as w/ all things grabbitywise, it moved faster than expected. Didn't touch me, and it moved as expected, but the quickness took my breath away. The limb hit the trunk, then slid down with a loud crash. It did surprise everyone (my wife, the owner and his girlfriend).
The tree had to come down. A number of the larger branches were rotting from the inside, we saw large carpenter ants carrying union cards, and this tree shaded the new solar array we put on my friend's shop. He had intended to keep the tree as long as it lived, but the storm pointed out the fallacy of that decision.
The guy who took it down sort of blew it and crushed Brian's orchard. The area in front of the ladder (toward the camera) is about 25' wide and was the intended target - open lawn. Brian was afraid it would take the addition off his shop and said, he can live w/ his crushed cherry trees. The shop would have been much more expensive to fix. I was standing against the back wall of the shop when I snapped this pic.
Rounds cut from the tree. In the background you can see the remainder of the piece that took out his fence. The replacement was meant to keep his dogs in the yard. As with the best laid plans, his bigger dog, Dozer (aptly named) pushed aside one of those rounds placed on its side against the fence and escaped last night. A local animal shelter called at 11.00 PM. Both dogs are well known throughout the neighborhood. The other one's name is Tank. @sirbike will be collecting much of the wood to use for fuel when he makes maple syrup next winter.
Brian cutting up wood w/ his makita chain saw. This little beast kept going. He has a bunch of batteries for all of his tools (he is a carpenter) an kept swapping them out. I am surprised he didn't burn up the saw. He is standing just inside his 'orchard'. It was fenced and netted to keep deer away.
Moi. I cannot tell a lie, I didn't do it all w/ the Stihl battery saw. While all I really did while the 'pro' limbed the tree was watch, Brian and I cut everything else up into rounds while my wife and his girlfriend cut up the small stuff and piled it for future shredding. Most of the rotten wood is behind me to my right. Ironically, there is more than a little spalting, and some of the split wood shows beautiful wavy figure. I'll turn a bowl or two... I'd suggested trying to sell the tree, or at least offer it to someone who would mill it into lumber. Brian did reach someone who was initially interested, but it did not pan out. We knew the heavy equipment and labor needed to handle such a massive chunk of wood might make salvaging it uneconomical. Had this been walnut.....
FYI whenever I used any of the chainsaws I was wearing the chaps, sun safety glasses, ear plugs, ear muffs, gloves, overalls, and heavy boots. No hard hat because the tree was down and there was really nothing to fall on me. Most of the larger pieces were cut w/ my Stihl MS250, some of the larger pieces were cut w/ my MS311, and Brian's Makita 18" chainsaw was amazing.
The sawyer dearly wants a 3" thick round out of the base of the tree and he will take the remainder down after we clean up the rest. A quick calculation yields that slab, presumably for a table, will weigh roughly 236.85 lbs (wet). We still have not the faintest idea how to deal with the main trunk once it is down. Where is @treemuncher when we need him?
The main trunk - what is left standing. The splintered fragment hanging off the right is the remains of the storm damage. The red Corona loppers at the base are about 3' long.
One of the bigger limbs to the right of the tree. We had a brown pants moment when I trimmed a limb off and what you see to the right of the trunk rolled to the left, toward me (I was staning behind the main trunk). I'd anticipated that, figuring the standing tree would stop its progress towards me. I had a clear escape path behind me, but as w/ all things grabbitywise, it moved faster than expected. Didn't touch me, and it moved as expected, but the quickness took my breath away. The limb hit the trunk, then slid down with a loud crash. It did surprise everyone (my wife, the owner and his girlfriend).
The tree had to come down. A number of the larger branches were rotting from the inside, we saw large carpenter ants carrying union cards, and this tree shaded the new solar array we put on my friend's shop. He had intended to keep the tree as long as it lived, but the storm pointed out the fallacy of that decision.
The guy who took it down sort of blew it and crushed Brian's orchard. The area in front of the ladder (toward the camera) is about 25' wide and was the intended target - open lawn. Brian was afraid it would take the addition off his shop and said, he can live w/ his crushed cherry trees. The shop would have been much more expensive to fix. I was standing against the back wall of the shop when I snapped this pic.
Rounds cut from the tree. In the background you can see the remainder of the piece that took out his fence. The replacement was meant to keep his dogs in the yard. As with the best laid plans, his bigger dog, Dozer (aptly named) pushed aside one of those rounds placed on its side against the fence and escaped last night. A local animal shelter called at 11.00 PM. Both dogs are well known throughout the neighborhood. The other one's name is Tank. @sirbike will be collecting much of the wood to use for fuel when he makes maple syrup next winter.
Brian cutting up wood w/ his makita chain saw. This little beast kept going. He has a bunch of batteries for all of his tools (he is a carpenter) an kept swapping them out. I am surprised he didn't burn up the saw. He is standing just inside his 'orchard'. It was fenced and netted to keep deer away.
Moi. I cannot tell a lie, I didn't do it all w/ the Stihl battery saw. While all I really did while the 'pro' limbed the tree was watch, Brian and I cut everything else up into rounds while my wife and his girlfriend cut up the small stuff and piled it for future shredding. Most of the rotten wood is behind me to my right. Ironically, there is more than a little spalting, and some of the split wood shows beautiful wavy figure. I'll turn a bowl or two... I'd suggested trying to sell the tree, or at least offer it to someone who would mill it into lumber. Brian did reach someone who was initially interested, but it did not pan out. We knew the heavy equipment and labor needed to handle such a massive chunk of wood might make salvaging it uneconomical. Had this been walnut.....
FYI whenever I used any of the chainsaws I was wearing the chaps, sun safety glasses, ear plugs, ear muffs, gloves, overalls, and heavy boots. No hard hat because the tree was down and there was really nothing to fall on me. Most of the larger pieces were cut w/ my Stihl MS250, some of the larger pieces were cut w/ my MS311, and Brian's Makita 18" chainsaw was amazing.
The sawyer dearly wants a 3" thick round out of the base of the tree and he will take the remainder down after we clean up the rest. A quick calculation yields that slab, presumably for a table, will weigh roughly 236.85 lbs (wet). We still have not the faintest idea how to deal with the main trunk once it is down. Where is @treemuncher when we need him?
