Timberrrrr! (3rd time's the charm? fixed links? (please, dear god, let them work)

[Rumpltzer]

What are you going to do with all the branches?

 

[drum]

its best not to have your pants around your ankles when operating a chainsaw

 

[Howard]

Wear eye protection when operating a chainsaw.

 

[DrPizza]

Nope, no fireplace. But, we have small campfires at night a couple times a week. (S'mores. Mmmmm)

The animal in the background is an alpaca

The branches: fed a few to the goats; all that 30 goats + llamas and an alpaca could eat, didn't even make a dent in the pile.

Lumber mill... closest is 3 miles from me. Next closest is 3 1/2 miles, then there are a couple 4 miles from me... (A lot of the Amish operate their own lumber mills) It's convenient when I need some good quality wood... cheap.

Yup, sawdust in the eyes sucks; my son was working on mostly smaller branches (less than 4 inches) - hardly any sawdust. He's actually pretty good with a chainsaw; he no longer kills my chains by hitting the dirt; and not once did he pinch it - he knows when to make bottom cuts, and when to make top cuts. Both boys spent a lot of time putting in a dirt bike trail through the woods; they cleared a bunch of wood out of the way.

 

[gsethi]

Taking full advantage of that free child labor ?

Poor fellow looks tired in some of the pics

 

[DrPizza]

Yep, free labor!

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Yup, sawdust in the eyes sucks;

Could be worse than sawdust. :Q

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Nope, no fireplace. But, we have small campfires at night a couple times a week. (S'mores. Mmmmm)

The animal in the background is an alpaca

The branches: fed a few to the goats; all that 30 goats + llamas and an alpaca could eat, didn't even make a dent in the pile.

Lumber mill... closest is 3 miles from me. Next closest is 3 1/2 miles, then there are a couple 4 miles from me... (A lot of the Amish operate their own lumber mills) It's convenient when I need some good quality wood... cheap.

Yup, sawdust in the eyes sucks; my son was working on mostly smaller branches (less than 4 inches) - hardly any sawdust. He's actually pretty good with a chainsaw; he no longer kills my chains by hitting the dirt; and not once did he pinch it - he knows when to make bottom cuts, and when to make top cuts. Both boys spent a lot of time putting in a dirt bike trail through the woods; they cleared a bunch of wood out of the way.

Please tell me he is wearing a face mask when using that chain saw, I guy I know last year was using a chainsaw and kickbacked and hit him in the face. Just tore his face apart and now he has a scar from above his eye just at the forehead all the way down to his chin.

 

[mobobuff]

So you hired someone to cut down the tree in segments and branches, and then had your kid clean it up? How much did you pay total? How tall (roughly) was the tree? How close was it to other structures?

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
So you hired someone to cut down the tree in segments and branches, and then had your kid clean it up? How much did you pay total? How tall (roughly) was the tree? How close was it to other structures?

Power line relatively close on one side, house on the other side - plenty of room to drop big chunks, but most of the leaders needed to be cut at least in half to avoid hitting the house (30 feet away). How tall? About as tall as a typical mature maple tree (65 feet?.) The base is (wow, I was going to guess 3 feet) three feet, 1/4 inch in diameter at 2 feet above the ground. (I just measured it.)

Cost to take it down: (no clean-up/hauling of branches, etc.) = $250
I fed a few of the branches to the goats and llamas last night. They cleaned them off quite nicely. Son did an excellent job cleaning up. No, no face mask; he's aware of what kick-back is. Saw has a safety feature to instantly turn off the chain if kick-back occurs. Plus, he knows how to avoid kickback.

 

[compman25]

Most power companies will cut it down for free if their lines are near enough to the tree. It saves them money in the future by not having to trim the branches every year. We had two giant maples bigger than yours when I lived in CA and PG&E was more than happy to cut them down. We did have a woodstove, so it was a double win for us.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: compman25
Most power companies will cut it down for free if their lines are near enough to the tree. It saves them money in the future by not having to trim the branches every year. We had two giant maples bigger than yours when I lived in CA and PG&E was more than happy to cut them down. We did have a woodstove, so it was a double win for us.

The power company trims branches on a regular schedule every few years here. Late last summer, they were in the neighborhood. I had them trim out as much as they were allowed to trim (I told them to just drop it in the yard, but it was against their rules.) But, at least it made it a little easier around the power lines for the workers the other day.