Oh man, what have I gotten myself into...

ADin · Aug 5, 2006

Well, today I took the day off and started a new round thinning of about half of my 1 acres of woods nearest to the house. The main goal when done is for this section to still be fairly thick, but thin enough to make mowing tolerable and allow just enough light in for shade grass to grow. I could just mow it before with my JD335 garden tractor the my new JD2305 with ROPS and larger deck is now too tight in many spots. My secondary goal is to remove as many of my hawthorn trees as possible.

I have dropped an unbelieveable number of trees todays, mostly 1" to 5" diameters, and it still looks like I have barely made a dent. More than half of the trees are these nasty multi-trunk'd hawthorns. They are absolutely terrible. They are either rotted or hard as rock maple with nothing in between. The limbs twist and turned and grab onto anything near them. In the process of cutting I'm also creating a shower of limb/thorn fragments blanketing the ground which I know will be puncturing my tractor tires for the next year.

I rented a Vemeer 6" industrial chipper and it's still a bear to get them down its throat and I risk ripping myself up as I drag them over to chip. The 12" chipper is what I need but is too big and heavy for where I need to position it. And to think I was even considering buying a chipper/shredder - what I joke. Tackling these hawthorns with anything smaller than the Vemeer and I suspect it would be faster to cut them and let them decay where they lie.

If anybody else has dealt with and has any shortcuts on cutting and chipping hawthorns I would love to hear. I have two more days left and I still believe I will get it all done, but it now looks like my liesurely jog has turned into a marathon.

Timber · Aug 5, 2006

I feel your pain Bro, Slow and steady man. I only wish my projects went as I thought they would. The only thing you can do is stay calm and keep moving forward. Don't let yourself become overwhelmed by the lack progress you think your having. The more you do the better you will become at managing your progress and before you know it you will see the results you want. 1 foot in front of the other. Don't look at the end, look at what in front of you.

PineRidge · Aug 5, 2006

As you found out it's hard to deal with them without injury to yourself. I cut them all at the same time, then go back and grab them with the grapple and deposit them in the burn pile. It's the safest way to handle them and it gives me a weird sense of pleasure when I start the fire.

Used to get all kinds of flats but none since I filled the tires with Multi-Seal.

Timber · Aug 6, 2006

I had 1 recently very close to my barn with about 15 sizable trunks intertwined like spiny snakes. 1 branch was making contact with the roof. I cut every trunk an it just stood there like I did nothing. wound up pulling it down as best I could and just went at it piece by piece. The only good thing was the brush piles up and you can crush it with the fel and it locks together nicely to move it along. Even a good pair of leather gloves is no match for these nasty branches

3RRL · Aug 6, 2006

I was gonna say to watch yourself when using that Vemeer...don't get yourself caught up with the thorns and branches. It's a nasty job. I like Pineridge's idea of the burnpile. Save your back and keep from getting thorned to death.

frank_f15 · Aug 6, 2006

i also opt for MIKES idea , pile them and burn the suckers

ADin · Aug 6, 2006

Well, three long days and I finally got it all done just as it was getting dark here Sunday night. Pretty tire, sore, and cut up, but I think tomorrow I will probably feel worse. All in all I faired pretty well except for the the 2" thorn I put through I big toe at the joint two hours before I quit. It's throbbing so bad as I sit here typing now.

After about the first 10 hawthorns I did start getting a bit more proficient with them but they were still terrible to work with. The main trick that I learned was how to guage which limbs would hang in the chipper and then to only cut them about 75% through. That way I could drag one big limb instead of many small limbs, but by cutting most of the way through the chipper would be able to muscle it down it's throat.

3RRL - I've got a deep respect for the Vemeer and all the chipper safety precautions. I found out quickly that I was fair game to be hit with chips and debris if it was within a 20' radius of the machine. The "play of the day" was when I was standing ~12' TO THE SIDE of the machine opposite the discard chute (wiping my brow) and the chipper quickly rotated and jerk a 4" limb so hard against the side wall of the infeed chute the a dead 2.5" limb still entended further out was flung over and hit me in the leg like a base ball bat. Also, extreme care must be take when feeding and one must realize that *anything* can happen if you put your hands "within the zone" defined by hopper infeed chute; snagging clothes and gloves easily occur, but more often it's being beat by limbs rotating or jerked up/down as they are sucked in. One piece of advice when starting -- make sure you instinctively know whether to push or pull the handle to stop and/or reverse the feeder. No need to be trying to figure it out under pressure...

PineRidge - The grapple really, really would have be nice if only I had enough long term usage to justify (and storage space). Anything that works to increase seat time definitely has my vote.