SageHill
Herd Master
Gotta love those battery chainsaws!I just came in from cutting down a cedar tree. The branches were hanging over a big old burn pile that the tree service made when they cut my two huge oak trees down back in May. We wanted that tree gone anyway, because cedar trees tend to suck the water out of the ground around them.
After DH and I stood back and surveyed the lean of the tree, I started cutting it with my 12 inch battery operated Stihl chainsaw. I know! Y’all are gonna say I’m crazy to cut a big tree down with a 12 inch chainsaw. My big chainsaws are too hard to start, so we just use the 12 inch battery saw when we can.
A couple years ago when I was cutting some trees down in the backyard, I figured out that if I make my first horizontal cut (halfway in) and then cut in the sides (about 1/4 of the way) even with that cut, I can then cut my wedge out and go to the back of the tree to cut to the middle. It works like a charm! This morning, I got the back cut about a third of the way in and started hearing cracking noises, so I took off running. Then it was time for celebration! That big ole cedar tree landed EXACTLY where I wanted it! Not bad for a 72 year old RN turned farm girl 8-1/2 years ago!
Initially, I was going to cut as low as I could to the ground, so I could use the tree as a post somewhere. But because the tree had a Slight curve at the bottom, we decided to start the cut Further up. That turned out to be a wise choice, because it turned out the tree was “rotten to the core”!
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If you look closely on the lower left corner, you can see what looks like an orange wedge. I learned about How do I say that cutting a smaller wedge before I cut the bigger wedge From the egg tree guy that cut or two big oak trees down. That prevents the tree from sitting down on its self and refusing to go over. It works like a charm!
Once the tree was on the ground, I went to work cutting off branches. While I cut branches, DH Dragged them to a pile off to the side of the burn pile. We will add those after the pile burns down some. After cutting branches, about 6 feet up the log, I had to Stop cutting for a while because I was getting a spasm in my lower back. I tried to push through it bad it just kept getting worse, so I finally had to quit.
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After getting some water and sitting in the shade for a few minutes, I was able to pick up the chainsaw, start cutting branches off again and finished cutting all the branches off the log. It turned out. We should be able to get at least a 10 foot post off the log. So it won’t be a total loss.
WTG
