bad day in the woods

[the skrat]

i am cutting a nice stand of hard maple right now and was walking up to the first tree for the day and noticed the shape at the butt was a little peculiar and told my dad i thought it might have birdseye. i cut the notch in and when i cracked the wedge of wood in half i noticed it was curley maple. well i was pretty exited because i find a few curly soft maple logs but curly hard maple is very rare and this one is veneer quality. i am pretty exited now and proceed to cut this tree down witch is a really bad leaner now i cut trees like this every day and never have a problem but i guess i was so exited about this tree that i didnt consentrate enough and split this log 9 feet up! after my dad chewed my butt out for a couple minutes we decided to take the log home and cut it on our woodmizer mill latr this winter. the log has very tight consistant curl its entire length and i think i can cut 2 planks out of it enough for 4 gun stocks. oh well i guess it didnt turn out so bad after all.

curly maple

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

Look on the bright side. At least you didn't get shot by someone arguing over your tree.

 

[dchawken]

Stupid but true admission-

I'd built a really nice hardshell shelter over a pier foundation that I intended to build a cabin on the next year. I even had a small deck/porch in the front. Too late, I'd realized that I'd left a couple of 16"/50' hickories too close for long term construction. They had to go.

I'm not an expert woodsman I admit, I came to this kind of late in life, but the first fell sweetly about 2 feet away from the deck. The next was more difficult.

I undercut it by the book, and started the back cut. It tipped backwards, and I just got the chainsaw out before the kerf closed. I pondered. I Undercut what normally would have been the back cut, but the tree just sat there, balanced on a 2"x16" hinge, 6 feet from the shelter. 45 min later, it was still there.

The tree was completely unstable. A breath of wind could put this down on the shelter, or in any other direction. I don't know how experienced lumbermen deal with this situation. I pretty much improvised.

Not to get off topic (I didn't have my Hawken then), I got out a loaner 30-30 Marlin 336 from my truck. From about 30' away, I put 3 150gr rounds into the hinge opposite the shelter. Groan, creak, it fell, falling on top of it's brother and missing the deck by about 18"

I figure it was about a 1200 Pointer.

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

You wouldn't happen to be related to Annie Oakley, would you? ::

 

[dchawken]

If I was, hitting a tree from 30' away isn't something I'd brag about

 

[Griz]

Wedges, use wedges. Stick one into the kerf and start driving with a sledge hammer. You can almost take a tree in the opposite direction doing it this way.

 

[jrdavis]

Stupid but true admission-

I'd built a really nice hardshell shelter over a pier foundation that I intended to build a cabin on the next year. I even had a small deck/porch in the front. Too late, I'd realized that I'd left a couple of 16"/50' hickories too close for long term construction. They had to go.

I'm not an expert woodsman I admit, I came to this kind of late in life, but the first fell sweetly about 2 feet away from the deck. The next was more difficult.

I undercut it by the book, and started the back cut. It tipped backwards, and I just got the chainsaw out before the kerf closed. I pondered. I Undercut what normally would have been the back cut, but the tree just sat there, balanced on a 2"x16" hinge, 6 feet from the shelter. 45 min later, it was still there.

The tree was completely unstable. A breath of wind could put this down on the shelter, or in any other direction. I don't know how experienced lumbermen deal with this situation. I pretty much improvised.

Not to get off topic (I didn't have my Hawken then), I got out a loaner 30-30 Marlin 336 from my truck. From about 30' away, I put 3 150gr rounds into the hinge opposite the shelter. Groan, creak, it fell, falling on top of it's brother and missing the deck by about 18"

I figure it was about a 1200 Pointer.

I like to see a picture of the mount!

 

[sneakon]

No such thing as a "bad day in the woods."
We cut a bunch of dead trees at our elk camp last summer and they were falling all over the place. Didn't much matter where they fell, but I sure proved that loggers we're not.