Huge oak fell!

[Fuddy1952]

I need some more work to do. I looked out and this HUGE oak had fallen in the pasture. I bet it's 150 years old. I wanted wife raise be in tractor bucket but said "we'll both die" and went in house.
So I cut what I could, rolled over with tractor, cut so now all limbs off. I think I'll put a free oak firewood sign out on the road.
I bet it's 5ft across at base at least.

 

[dodge man]

Kind of like the ads on Craigslist. Free firewood, you just have to cut the tree down, which happens to be hanging over their house. Sounds like a good reason to get a chainsaw with a 48” bar.

 

[beowulf]

My wife wanted me to hang a tire swing from a branch of a very large oak tree. I told her I wouldn't do that. I don't trust the integrity of oak trees - even very large ones. We have had oak trees and large branches just come down - looked totally healthy until they fall and you can see inside. Really interesting to hear the crash when a big one falls. Once I was taking an oak tree down with a chain saw at the base so I could widen a road. About a quarter of the way into the cut water began to gush out - shot about 3 feet out of the cut. It was almost black and for a moment I thought I blew the chain saw motor and it was oil. It kept spraying for 2-3 minutes. Once the tree was down I discovered it was hollow from the base and up at least 20 feet. Again - it looked totally healthy but was hollow and rotten inside.

There are many varieties of oak trees in California - I don't know if they all present the same risk.

 

[CptSteelHead]

Echo chainsaws sponsors a group of carvers that travel all over the country to different festivals. They love them big trees see video

 

[Doughknob]

U definitely should not need to be raised up in anyrhing to cut that up. That looks like standard fare around here. Just a fun afternoon with Mr. Husky....

 

[LD1]

No problem to cut a tree like that up from the ground...roll around with tractor.

Just pay attention to which way limbs are "loaded". Wood acts like a big spring. A second saw is handy incase you misjudge and pinch the bar.

Free wood would be gobbled up around here....but lots still burn wood. Don't know if you are in an area that people burn in the winter or not

 

[Fuddy1952]

No problem to cut a tree like that up from the ground...roll around with tractor.

Just pay attention to which way limbs are "loaded". Wood acts like a big spring. A second saw is handy incase you misjudge and pinch the bar.

Free wood would be gobbled up around here....but lots still burn wood. Don't know if you are in an area that people burn in the winter or not

Yes they burn. Oak is about the best.
I did roll & cut it, so it's easy now. I have a grapple too. I hate to see it go to waste, at least 2 cords wood I bet.

 

[MossRoad]

I was given an oak that size a couple weeks ago. It was in a family friend's yard and fell over onto their neighbor's house. Insurance paid for it to be removed from the neighbor's house and left in the yard of the tree's owner. Owner paid tree company to chip the branches and debris, but they wanted another $600 to haul off the trunk and large branches (which they're gonna sell for firewood). So, they offered it to me. I have an 18' car hauler, and hand loaded two full loads. Then went back with my PT425 and forks and loaded 3 more loads. It'll probably be close to 4.5 cords once it's split.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Kind of like the ads on Craigslist. Free firewood, you just have to cut the tree down, which happens to be hanging over their house. Sounds like a good reason to get a chainsaw with a 48” bar.

I'll tell my wife tonight I need a Sthil MS881

 

[4570Man]

I had to take down about 5 or 6 that big on a job a while back. Not fun. I also got to demo and burn a house. That was fun. I had an 80 trackhoe, my 40 trackhoe, and my skid steer on the job. We got all trees down and the brush burned in one day. The main trucks and stumps are still there. Unfortunate they have metal in them so their value is about zero.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

We had one fall a few days ago. Was 19 ft around it at 4 ft high. Fell on the fence. Cows were there. Had to fix.

 

[CptSteelHead]

We had a Hurricane whilst living in Carolina. Two guys were out cutting wood up. Well it was getting dark one couldn't find the other so he left.
. Turns out the guy was standing behind the large root clump. So when it got cut the root clump lifted back up in to its hole killing and practically burying the other guy.

 

[jmc]

My wife wanted me to hang a tire swing from a branch of a very large oak tree. I told her I wouldn't do that.

Reminds me of an OT story about a farm I bought, including an ancient farm house with an ancient walnut tree in the front yard. That tree apparently never had competition for sunlight so it spread horizontally, with several horizontal limbs about 10 feet off the ground. It also had a crude swing hanging from one of those limbs with an old board for a seat that you instinctively tested before putting any weight on it. When friends with kids came to see our new place, that swing was the first thing those kids saw after a long ride down and they made a bee line for it.

But that house needed work. One of the contractors working up a quote came down with his foreman. The boss was a chatterbox but the foreman was a quiet, beady-eyed guy who was taking everything in while his boss was glad handing. He did volunteer that he was from the next town over- an area known for their "provincialism".

When the boss finally stopped talking, his foreman spoke up. He squinted, nodded at the walnut tree, and said, "I see ya got ya a good hangin' tree over there."

Oh yeah, I want these guys around my family during the reconstruction.../S

 

[workinallthetime]

Oak trees can be very unpredictable. I have taken a bath in Oak juice myself, not a fun experience.
We had a huge one fall in the worst possible place to get to, and it hung up in a cottonwood about 20 feet up. This was a live tree that fell and really did not pull the root ball when it went. I can only figure the varmints had tunneled under it for so many years the ground was just too weak. It continued to stay green for the first year but died the second year. I ended up getting tired of looking at it and started making relief cuts just to try and get it on the ground. The cottonwood was starting to lean and if it went over the entire thing would be blocking the creek and taking a big section of the bank with it.
Finally got the thing on the ground and found that everything above about 20 feet was hollow. I have fell a few trees in my days, this one had me worried for my life with each cut until it was on the ground.
36" across the center, this piece the saw is on is close to the capacity of my L45 FEL a little over a ton. I saved this for a friend who does woodwork, everything else was split.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I need some more work to do. I looked out and this HUGE oak had fallen in the pasture. I bet it's 150 years old. I wanted wife raise be in tractor bucket but said "we'll both die" and went in house.
So I cut what I could, rolled over with tractor, cut so now all limbs off. I think I'll put a free oak firewood sign out on the road.
I bet it's 5ft across at base at least.View attachment 722550View attachment 722551View attachment 722552View attachment 722553

You can buy a longer bar and chain for your chainsaw. It will take a while, but a longer bar will do the job. You don't have to buy a whole new chainsaw to cut a 5' log.

My experience with big logs is getting them split. Horsing a 5' diameter bolt into a splitter requires some real muscle, or maybe your grapple will do the job? Typically I lay them flat and split shakes off of them with a maul until they are small enough to handle.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yes they burn. Oak is about the best.
I did roll & cut it, so it's easy now. I have a grapple too. I hate to see it go to waste, at least 2 cords wood I bet.

Oak is good heat but it leaves a lot of ash.

 

[oosik]

I feel insignificant with my ancient Ponderosa pines here. A REALLY big one will be 38" to 42" diameter on the butt. And, even dead, they are still solid on the butt.

 

[Thomas]

Looks like 2 man job and long chainsaw bar good splitter needed.

 

[check]

I was given an oak that size a couple weeks ago. It was in a family friend's yard and fell over onto their neighbor's house. Insurance paid for it to be removed from the neighbor's house and left in the yard of the tree's owner. Owner paid tree company to chip the branches and debris, but they wanted another $600 to haul off the trunk and large branches (which they're gonna sell for firewood). So, they offered it to me. I have an 18' car hauler, and hand loaded two full loads. Then went back with my PT425 and forks and loaded 3 more loads. It'll probably be close to 4.5 cords once it's split.

View attachment 722571

Wow, Moss, nice find!

 

[Jstpssng]

I'll tell my wife tonight I need a Sthil MS881

NOW you're thinking!