LittleLebowski's big inspirational chainsaw thread

[jeep45238]

The MS261C-M fired right up and calibrated successfully at 10,000 feet. It ran like a champ through three tanks of gas. The difference in power from 6000 feet to 10,000 feet was much less than I expected. So far, so good with M-tronic. Also ran two tanks of gas through my friend's MS251. Good little saw, but for the same weight, the MS261C-M is a much better saw. I am glad I bought it.

Side note. The Hults Bruk Kalix is outstanding at limbing. Very impressed.


We did not drop any trees today due to swirling winds gusting over 30 mph. Just worked blowdowns. There are a ton of leaners in this project. I think we can pull most of them down with the ToolCat. There is one that I am not sure what would be the best approach. Figured I would ask for a little input here rather than resurrect the felling thread. Any suggestions?

Attachment 61629

Attachment 61630

Be very aware of barber chair potential. Have several spare bar and chain combos (cheaper than a spare saw, more chances of a rescue). Learn how to bore cut.

[cornstalker]

Do you have a throwing line and a throwball? Get a rope up in that leaner as far as you can, and pull it out of the other tree if at all possible. You're right that it's dangerous, and I'd hate to be the one to give advice to somebody that'd get'em killed. From the pictures it's impossible to see how well it's hung up, but I'd certainly not want to be the guy standing at the base guessing making a felling cut. Could come back at ya, could go to either side or even forward depending on the pressures. Good place to get a saw stuck. And there's no escape on the one side unless you cut that tree out of there first.

ETA that if the operator is careful and doesn't get it pinched, a pole saw can give some much-needed distance in a situation like this; I've both done it and seen it done. You just have to be ready to MOVE when it's time, have your escape route planned out.

Don't have a throw line or ball, but I am willing to get one. This one makes me nervous, for sure.

Be very aware of barber chair potential. Have several spare bar and chain combos (cheaper than a spare saw, more chances of a rescue). Learn how to bore cut.

Thanks for that. I had to look up barber chair. Very educational.

I don't know if this shows the top well enough. The sun angle was not conducive to a good pic.
We will see if we can figure out how to pull it down with the ToolCat first and foremost. It's dry enough that we may be able to break it near the top.

[RoyGBiv]

Don't have a throw line or ball, but I am willing to get one. This one makes me nervous, for sure.



Thanks for that. I had to look up barber chair. Very educational.

I don't know if this shows the top well enough. The sun angle was not conducive to a good pic.
We will see if we can figure out how to pull it down with the ToolCat first and foremost. It's dry enough that we may be able to break it near the top.

Consider felling the support tree if that would be a safer option?

I had to look up Barber Chair as well...

Some good YT videos on bore cutting.
I don't think I've ever had to fell anything that should have been done by bore cut, but, good to have that info if I ever need it. Thanks! @jeep45238

[LittleLebowski]

Do you have a throwing line and a throwball? Get a rope up in that leaner as far as you can, and pull it out of the other tree if at all possible. You're right that it's dangerous, and I'd hate to be the one to give advice to somebody that'd get'em killed. From the pictures it's impossible to see how well it's hung up, but I'd certainly not want to be the guy standing at the base guessing making a felling cut. Could come back at ya, could go to either side or even forward depending on the pressures. Good place to get a saw stuck. And there's no escape on the one side unless you cut that tree out of there first.

ETA that if the operator is careful and doesn't get it pinched, a pole saw can give some much-needed distance in a situation like this; I've both done it and seen it done. You just have to be ready to MOVE when it's time, have your escape route planned out.

Solid advice. I wouldn’t use hearing protection when working on this guy, you need to be able to hear things and react quick. I just dealt with a pain in the ass oak like this; I solved the the problem with my Jeep and a chain, sometimes just moving trees like these is better than cutting them.

[LittleLebowski]

#NoBrainNoPain

I split all of this manually with my Fiskars X27 in one day.

[Welder]

Consider felling the support tree if that would be a safer option?

The problem with that idea is that you've got a leaner right over your head while you're doing that. It's a super dangerous idea, and sometimes they're really locked together while other times just a little vibration will have them on their way down. You can't watch your cut and overhead at the same time.

[Welder]

Solid advice. I wouldn’t use hearing protection when working on this guy, you need to be able to hear things and react quick. I just dealt with a pain in the ass oak like this; I solved the the problem with my Jeep and a chain, sometimes just moving trees like these is better than cutting them.

I was taught that you always want the tree in a position with as little stored energy potential as possible when dealing with stuff like this. If you couldn't just pull something like this out of the tree it's hung up in and it was bucket-truck accessible and the tree it's leaning on was solid enough, you'd get a rope in the top of the leaner, tie it above to a sturdy position in the good tree, then have the rope head down to a porta-wrap or something similar, and tied off there.

Then you'd pole-saw it right at the break to reduce the risk of a barber chair from the stored pressure. When free, the butt end of the top section of the tree will fall down until it hits the dirt. The top will stay in the good tree because the porta-wrap is holding it there. Next you get the short standing log cut down and out of the way. Finally you saw off pieces of the hanger as it's lowered down on the rope.

Similarly, if you have a broken top out of a tree, or just a felled tree laying on the ground that wasn't limbed before it hit the ground, you get the branches that are not under pressure out of the way first, watching the heavy ones because the tree will shift as it's center of gravity is adjusted by your cuts. When finished you have what's basically a scalped-looking log with only the limbs in contact with the ground remaining. Then start getting them out of the way in such an order that you know where it's going with each cut so that it can't hit you or anything valuable. You make your cuts from whichever side of the limb or log is under tension; whenever you start your cuts from the compressed side, you get a stuck saw.

The great advantage of a bucket truck or a climber in the tree is being able to take limbs and pieces of log off in the air so that you're just dropping a short log at the end. Obviously not talking about trees being used as saw logs.

ETA that bore cuts are useful for a log that's laying on the ground where the bottom of it is under tension and the top is under compression, but the bottom of the log isn't high enough off the ground that you can get your bar under it to start your cut. Bore cuts are hard on the nose of the bar, and more rounded bars are better for this. Beware of the kickback zone (top 1/2 of the nose), don't try to cut with that area of your bar. Keep your body to the side of the saw in case anything stupid happens, don't line yourself up where the bar has a path to your core if you make a mistake and it kicks back.

Rather than use wedges, I make bore cuts on felled logs where the log is in compression on the top side because of how it's laying. Right or wrong, that's what I do.

[jeep45238]

Don't have a throw line or ball, but I am willing to get one. This one makes me nervous, for sure.



Thanks for that. I had to look up barber chair. Very educational.

I don't know if this shows the top well enough. The sun angle was not conducive to a good pic.
We will see if we can figure out how to pull it down with the ToolCat first and foremost. It's dry enough that we may be able to break it near the top.

Frankly, if you've got to think about how to approach this particular one, hire a pro to do it. It is way cheaper and easier than messing up.

[Tensaw]

Frankly, if you've got to think about how to approach this particular one, hire a pro to do it. It is way cheaper and easier than messing up.

Not that anybody needs my .02, but I second this right here. If I couldn’t get line up in the stuck tree and get it unstuck *I* would not otherwise mess with it. Clint Smith’s “Always cheat, always win.” seems appropriate when dealing with trees like this. I try not to rely too much on my winch for felling trees, but I also don’t hesitate to use it as back-up or insurance when dealing with dicey trees.

On another, much more mundane, note does anyone else hate cutting stumps flush with the ground? I cut a pecan stump while ago. Conservatively 24” across and probably closer to 30”. Man it just sucks. Seems hard on the saw (hot) and hard on the guy running the saw - and this was with plenty of wedges. Am I missing some trick?

[jeep45238]

Not that anybody needs my .02, but I second this right here. If I couldn’t get line up in the stuck tree and get it unstuck *I* would not otherwise mess with it.

On another, much more mundane, note does anyone else hate cutting stumps flush with the ground? I cut a pecan stump while ago. Conservatively 24” across and probably closer to 30”. Man it just sucks. Seems hard on the saw (hot) and hard on the guy running the saw - and this was with plenty of wedges. Am I missing some trick?

Depends on the saw you were using. Also depends if the bar was big enough to do it in one swipe, or if you had to spiral around it.