Lost a tree

[MartinH]

During the bad storms this week here in NC, I lost a tree I'm estimating at roughly 110 feet. This is a monster. I've spend most of the week trying to cut this sucker up, but it's slow going as this oak is hard as nails.

 

[Rusty Mouse]

We got a good chunk of that storm here. It was great, I love 'em.

Please tell me you're using a chainsaw. I had big tree fall down a couple years back that I was stuck chopping with a dull axe.

 

[MartinH]

Ha! I tried the axe, but to no avail. It was like smashing the axe into metal. My neighbor has two large chain saws, so I hope we can start to really make a dent in this thing this weekend. Of course, with the weather forecast to be stormy, who knows. I may have to call someone to just saw it up and toss it to the back of my property. I have 0.75 of an acre behind my house, so there's plenty of space for this wood.

 

[Natch]

Wish I lived closer, I'd be happy to come over and help slice 'er up (for a truck load or two, of course!). My wife panics and has 911 on the speed dial every time I oil up the chain saw, but I sure love using that toy.

I've lost three of the six huge trees in my woods over the past 20 years. But two were sweet gum (easy to cut up, but unfortunately poor fire wood) but one was the largest chinakpin (sp?)oak I've ever seen and that one tree alone heated the house for just over two years by itself! Had a number of blackjack oaks die in the past few years and for the difficulty of cutting it up (one of the toughest woods I've ever tried to cut) it wasn't the best wood I've ever burned.

Hope you have a wood stove?

Natch

 

[flytyer]

Martin maybe you can ask around for someone who cuts there own firewood, you may be able to get rid of it, and have someone else do the bulk of the dirty work for ya.

 

[the macdonald]

Martin maybe you can ask around for someone who cuts there own firewood, you may be able to get rid of it, and have someone else do the bulk of the dirty work for ya.

Last October CT had the "ice storm" that was also known as arborgedon. We had branches as thick as my thigh (I squat 315 for reps for reference) cover 75% of the yard. Our neighbor, thank god, either hates trees or loves wood, becuase he couldn't wait to help cut, chop, and destroy every stick, branch and anything else in sight. After a week between his yard and mine, he started looking at the woods behind our property...

I don't know what I would have done without him. Nothing like a storm to bring people together.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Old oak + fire = smoked meats...

Pipe stands? Carving practice?

There's gotta be a use or three for a downed tree. 8)

 

[MartinH]

Yeah, kind of what I'm thinking also. How does one age wood? I figure I can take a few nice pieces and work on carving them. Of course, I haven't carved anything since I almost cut off my finger.

 

[KevinM]

Re: that ice storm that hit CT on 10/29. Most of the AP photos showing the destruction were taken right around the corner from me. The one bit of luck for us, if you can call it that, was that the maples in the front yard had dropped their leaves, but not he ones in the backyard. So the ones in the backyard got the most damage from wet snow/ice. We hired an arborist to take care of the back. Believe it or not, he didn't get here to do the job until last week

Cutting trees is hard, dangeous work, so I'd rec hiring somone who knows.

 

[the macdonald]

Re: that ice storm that hit CT on 10/29. Most of the AP photos showing the destruction were taken right around the corner from me. The one bit of luck for us, if you can call it that, was that the maples in the front yard had dropped their leaves, but not he ones in the backyard. So the ones in the backyard got the most damage from wet snow/ice. We hired an arborist to take care of the back. Believe it or not, he didn't get here to do the job until last week

Cutting trees is hard, dangeous work, so I'd rec hiring somone who knows.

No kidding there! Damned hard work even with the right tools. Where are you? My area, Windsor CT was one of the hardest hit. We didn't have power for eight days.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Old oak + fire = smoked meats...

Old oak + fire = Weber Smokey Mountain!

 

[MartinH]

I have an update for you gents, here goes...

old oak -> chain saw -> == poison oak on Martin

Yeah the tree trunk is full of ivy and apparently poison oak - not fun

 

[KevinM]

I'm in South Windsor. We stayed in the house for 48 hours with no heat or electric. They had a shelter at the H.S. and we went there for another 48 hours. The missus wasn't handling this well and, it dawned on me to call a resort on the rock bound coast o' Maine. It was not only open, but was renting rooms for half price! Three hours later we were still grubby, but eating lobstah dinners. have a brother-in-law who works in the Maine woods. He's had two narrow escapes when trees came down on him. I'm too old for that [bleep}!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I have an update for you gents, here goes...

old oak -> chain saw -> == poison oak on Martin

Yeah the tree trunk is full of ivy and apparently poison oak - not fun

Gah! Geez, man, you're a danger to yourself! :lol:

 

[asmoke]

I have an update for you gents, here goes...

old oak -> chain saw -> == poison oak on Martin

Yeah the tree trunk is full of ivy and apparently poison oak - not fun

So you basically sprayed yourself with tiny bits of poison ivy/oak. That is bad....

 

[KevinM]

Never underestimate the Disaster Value in home maintenance. One of my bird feeders has a hornets' nest in it. Out front, the missus had a contractor put in gravel beds and cute little shrubs. Chipmunks made burrows in it. "Leave them alone. They're cute," quoth she. She did want me to nip grass and weeds growing up through the gravel. I wondered where the yellow jackets were coming from. The little flying dobermans build nests in the chipmunk burrows. Last plumber we had here seemed kinda nervous. Turned out that in the previous job there was quite a large black snake that had set up camp behind the water heater. Surprise!! No home maintenance job is as straightforward as it first appears.

 

[ejames]

The weather around here has been really hard on the trees. Between the ice storm a couple of years ago and the dry weather we've had for the last two summers we have lost a bunch of trees. I've got six trees in or around the yard that have died this summer and last winter. A lot more in the woods around the house. Come fall I will be busier than a one legged man in a butt kickin' contest cutting wood.

 

[MartinH]

My neighbor works in construction. He brought in a BobCAT and in a few short hours pushed the entire tree, back to my property where it can rot for all I care. Of course, he also had the 20" or so chainsaw that he used to cut it up into 6-8foot sections.

Been hot has hell here lately and I probably don't have to tell ya that I'm glad to have it done by someone with heavy equipment.