Tag Archives: chainsaw
Last brush pile?
Not really the “last” brush pile, but the last one with which I’ll burden my buddy George for a while. He’s been letting me dump my brush at his place where he burns it for me.
But I’ve worked my way far enough down our hill that it’s getting to be chore to drag the brush up to the road where I can load it into the truck. So it’s time to start making some new piles down the hill and back in the woods. I don’ like doing that but nobody (but me) is ever gonna see these so it’s the best solution.
Why not burn them? I know it can be done safely but not by me. I’d rather have the pile and the critters like them.
Fiskars Pruning Stik®
Before I tell you about the Fiskars Pruning Stik®, a little about me and tools. I’m not really a tool guy. I’ve got a hammer and pliers and some wrenches and stuff but you’ll not find me trying to fix the washing machine or changing the oil in my truck. But I have a fondness for outdoor power tools.
I’ve had a couple of chainsaws, a weed trimmer and last year I added a pole saw (all Stihl products). I can’t explain it but I enjoy going down into our woods and clearing brush and cutting cedar trees. Not sure how many more years I’ll be able to (safely) do this but for now, it’s something I enjoy.
The Stihl pole saw allows me to trim limbs that you couldn’t get to with the big chainsaw. But it weighs about 15 pounds and gets heavy fast. And we kept seeing dead limbs that were just out of reach of the pole saw.
Barb started researching “extendable tree pruners” and purchased the Pruning Stik® from Fiskars. I think it was about a hundred bucks quickly proved it’s worth. Extends to twelve feet and light enough you can safely stand on a ladder for a few extra feet. We’ve been going nuts with the thing. You wouldn’t think you could exert enough force (at the end of a long pole) to cut a good size limb, but it works like a charm.
I’ll still fire up the pole saw for the bigger jobs but the Pruning Stik is a must-have tool if you have a lot of trees.
Big Ass Brush Pile
Grapple Loader
We’ve had a bunch of brush piles on our property for the last five years. Home to many birds and critters no doubt. But a couple close to the house had become eye sores so I had the boys from Korte Tree Care come and adios them.
More adventurous types would burn these but the thought of setting our woods on fire is too much for me.
It makes no sound
I can assure you, when a tree falls in the forest –with no creatures around — it does not make a sound. A heave wind pushed this guy over last week. Been dead for a long time, providing home for bugs (and birds). I fired up my little chainsaw and cut it into nice, easy-to-lift chunks that will be hauled out later this week.
Last of the wood piles
After five long years, the last of wood piles are gone. I finally got up the nerve to take the pickup down into the woods… and get her back out. This opens up lots of possibilities. Instead of hauling bags of mulch in a wheelbarrow, I can drive the entire load to where it’s needed. Same for firewood.
Couldn’t have done it without the pickup and, sadly, it did not come through unscathed. You really can’t see how big the dent is in these photos. And, ironically, the good steel in this older trucks makes is more difficult to remove some dents.
UPDATE: The guys at Xtreme Body managed to fix the dent and put the trim back on… all for $120.
Haulin’ logs
During the 30+ years we’ve lived in our home (on 3 acres) we’ve thinned out a lot of trees, mostly scrub cedar. Woodsman that I am, I chainsawed them into logs and stacked them, thinking someone would want them for some purpose. Wrong. They’ve been sitting where I stacked them for years.
Today I started getting rid of them… with the help of Minty Fresh, the family pickup truck. It was always my hope I could drive the truck down into the woods and haul shit out with logs at the top of the list. But having no experience driving off-road in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, I’ve been reluctant to tackle the rough terrain and steep-ish grade. Until today.
I flipped the lock-out hubs to LOCKED… put the low-range gear lever in “granny low” and eased down the hill. I scraped a tree once or twice but the pickup is so beat up you’d never find the spot. I loaded up the extra-long bed with logs and made it back to the road without a hitch (although I do have a hitch).
Aside from my lack of off-road/4WD experience, the big obstacle to this project was nobody wanted the logs. But as (bad) luck would have it, my friend George has some big-ass brush piles as a result of last spring’s tornado… and he offered to let me add my logs to his piles which he will safely burn.
I’ve got maybe half a dozen more truck loads but it’s a labor of love and great exercise. And if I role the pickup… a great blog post. [Photos]
Improving the view from the deck
We have a beautiful view from the deck at the rear of our home. Front and center is/was a cedar tree (the one with the bird house) that that started looking pretty gnarly so we called the tree guys to cut it down, along with a few other cedar trees that just weren’t adding to the view.
These guys did some work for us back in January. They’re not cheap but they are really good.
Trees trimmed
Barb brought in the tree guys yesterday to drop a few dead trees and clean up some branches. Lots of yahoos with a ladder and a chainsaw in this business but these guys are probably the best around. Worth the money.
This is my favorite oak tree. The arborist estimated age at 80 years.
