A(nother) Home in the (different) Woods

[beppington]

Woe, creepy tractor disappearing!!! (or appearing??!)

I notice the word "conservation" at the bottom of your first "pic", the terrain elevations/ contours map. Has that caused you any problems or put any limitations on your property?

Oh, & what are the squared off lines on that map, that connect the contour lines & make it look more like steps? They seem to define areas that are cross-hatch filled. I can't tell what those areas are.

 

[dstig1]

Woe, creepy tractor disappearing!!! (or appearing??!)

I notice the word "conservation" at the bottom of your first "pic", the terrain elevations/ contours map. Has that caused you any problems or put any limitations on your property?

Oh, & what are the squared off lines on that map, that connect the contour lines & make it look more like steps? They seem to define areas that are cross-hatch filled. I can't tell what those areas are.

Beppington - I was wondering if anyone would notice that And it wasn't even a Halloween stunt! The camera has a panorama mode where you take 3 pictures in a row rotating R-L or vice versa, and then it stitches them together within the camera. Sometimes weird things happen at the stitch line

The conservation easement is just "open space" that is not part of anyone's lot. It basically amounts to some of the edges of the Section that the development is in, and a broad open area near the entrance from the main road. It's buffer space for future developments, and nothing more. No wetlands or anything like that. Mostly, the developers set aside land that nobody could possibly use anyways, IMHO.

 

[Obed]

Obed, Yep - that is exactly what we did, and there were stumps everywhere. But the original plan was to get a land clearing place or rent a huge stump grinder and take out the stumps. So after trees were cleared I went back with the MS660 and the 32" bar and flush cut almost all of the stumps.

When we cleared the areas for our house and garden we hired a guy with a highlift and excavator. He pushed the trees over with the stumps attached. We might have to take down some more trees to provide more sunlight for the garden area. I'm debating whether to cut down the trees and leave stumps or to hire big equipment again. One of the options just takes time; the other is expensive.
Obed

 

[brin]

Obed...what I have done over the years is take the trees down and live with the stumps..just work around them until I find a guy that will grind them down on the cheap....I once had a guy that ground down 13 pine stumps all over 12" for $100...that is what I am talking about..So I learned a long time ago not to be in a hurry...Patience will be rewarded...

 

[dstig1]

Cutting them down and flush cutting the stumps is reasonable for a small quantity. It will depend on what you are dealing with. Softer woods can be ground out pretty easily with a stump grinder, but oak is a lot of work (let me tell you...). Basswood and poplar grind like buttah. Maple isn't too bad. Oak is brutal. If you have a bunch of the softer woods, then rent a ~30hp grinder for a day and you should be able to burn through them for no more than a couple hundred bucks.

I ground a bunch of stumps early on as they were too much in the way for vehicle access. That included several large oak stumps too. Probably 12 or so total. Cost me like $220-250 for a 24 hr rental of a 32 hp serious grinder. Anything smaller is a waste of time. I tried a 20 hp one that just had no guts comparatively. Maybe OK for pine, but not my stuff. I managed to take out a couple critically in the way stumps with the smaller one, but it took forever and that was what prompted me to find a bigger one for some real work.

Then since you have a BH, you can dig up remaining roots and bits. It also pays to move the chips around after you think you are done with a stump and find the bits you missed that got buried in the pile. I didn't have that option - No BH and I was moving to grind as many stumps as I could hit, so no time wasting...

 

[scoutcub]

When we cleared the areas for our house and garden we hired a guy with a highlift and excavator. He pushed the trees over with the stumps attached. We might have to take down some more trees to provide more sunlight for the garden area. I'm debating whether to cut down the trees and leave stumps or to hire big equipment again. One of the options just takes time; the other is expensive.
Obed

What I've done in the past is dig around the stump with the hoe mostly on the side I want the tree to fall. Then push with the loader, or use a snatch block/cable with truck pulling, etc. I've also dug out around the stump, and left for a week......good wind, it comes done. Only recommended in an open area, no houses, kids, etc.
Good luck!

Frank

 

[aczlan]

Teg - thanks - and sorry about that. I do downsize all images, but the panorama ones just don't downsize well so they are the exception. The other ones should be small enough that even dialup isn't too bad and they shouldn't be too horrible on most screens. I suppose if you have a small screen then they might be a problem, but my mid sized 20" LCD doesn't show an issue with the regular ones (no scrolling needed for them), so I wasn't expecting much problems there.

You could click on the paperclip after you attach your pictures and click on the attachment you want to insert (from the drop down list of attatchments), it will then insert a thumbnail inline which can be clicked on to view a fullsize picture.
Easier for those on dialup or with small screens.


Aaron Z

 

[MotorSeven]

DST, looking forward to your build. I am glad you made it through the tree cutting intact. I too learned all I could, bought all the gear have over 70ac of trees on my place & heat with wood. It's been years and I am still learning, and I am still never 100% comfortable taking down the big ones. Barber chairs, dead branches, blade pinchers, spinners.....always something to suprise you. 95% of the time it's operator error...but that 5% can leave permanent marks. Here the terraine is steep making the escape path real tough...keeps me on my toes

I can see you have a good attitude and are not scared to jump in and learn how to fix things. This kind of drive is what it takes to build your own house and you will do fine. I still get overwhelmed some times on my build, but refuse to give in to it. Slowing down, or taking a day or two "off" helps shake it even if you then feel guilty for not being out there going 110%.

 

[mkane09]

DST, I've been clearing a creek bottom for a pond and have cut about 60 30+ ft tall poplars. In the process, I've burned 6-8 huge piles of trees. With the proper application of used motor oil and diesel (NOT gasoline!), even green trees will burn. The key is getting the fire hot enough. If your wood won't burn, the fire simply is not hot enough yet.

mkane09

 

[dstig1]

mkane - The problem with trying to burn wet wood is that if you don't get it going, it is unwise to add more petrochemicals to the mix as the risk of FOOM is too high (IMHO). So if you miss on the first try, you are out of luck, and that is what happened to us the first time. We got smarter the second time and started a decent fire in one section, fed it small sticks until it was moving itself along, then started way on another side. We lit 3-4 places to get it moving faster and it worked well.