The preacher next door at the adjacent church seems to dislike trees. The church owns a home behind the church, and they have bought three very run down properties in recent years, which I have no issue with. They had the local fire department burn two of them for practice, which entertained the kids greatly, then demolished the rest, smoothed the areas out and planted lawn. On which the preacher practices his putting and chip shots each afternoon.
However, one by one, the mature Oaks and a Pecan have been taken down. Last week, they had a service take down a very big but dead red oak. It is the large pile in the center back ground of the above picture. Now, I thought taking out the dead tree was ok, but THEN they moved on to another living oak, and another...... one of the things we love about living in an old neighborhood are the mature shade trees. I couldn't watch.....
The next day, Frank (well, I'll call him Frank 'cuz that's his name) asked me if I wanted any wood, so who am I to say no? I mean, no sense in launching into a tirade on how a sin was commited by taking out a living tree...... "How about this one?" pointing at a felled oak. "Why sure!" I say. This one had some core rot but it had many, many years left in it.
The next day I pick up a gen-u-ine Oregon brand made in US of A chain for my Poulan saw. And go to work. I had about half the trunk and most of the top cut up when I called it an evening. A couple of the older guys who showed up early for their Wednesday evening services watched me through the window of the church as I attacked the trunk, which was about 18" to 24" in diameter and hanging on both the stump and the ground, and no doubt were saying to one another "Reckon he's a gonna hang that saw up?" and the other reminiscing about the McColloch they used back in '64.
I undercut it and avoided bar pinching, as well as keeping the saw OUT OF THE DIRT which kills a chain quick. They don't last forever, but if you keep 'em out of the dirt and avoid nails, touch 'em up with a file here and there, you'll get good life from them.
I used my hand truck to haul a few big ones the 200 yards from his yard to mine, but some were just too big. So I will try to quarter them with my saw. I tried the spltting maul, HA HA! So green, it just about bounces off!
There is a decent size pickup truck load here. We have an open hearth fireplace that unfortunately does nary a thing for the general heating of the home as it is in a den on the west side of the house, an add on we estimate to be from the early 80's with the rest of the place built in the early 50's. However I love to burn wood, and hope to have a home we can heat with wood one day. We'll still have a backup central system, but I like the way wood smells and crackles. Warms ya twice, especially if you split and stack it yourself. :)
Below is a link to a youtube vid of me doing the cutting. The black back ground makes it hard to see but it's there. I love cutting with a saw when the saw is working right!
CUTTING VIDEO
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