 |
| Mrs ERJ had me retie the dog run line back on the tree. Obviously I need to install a post. |
The Captain showed up last night to drop off a few necessary tools. We still had the east wind. I asked him if it made sense to simply drop the tree.
The had spent the day watching his granddaughter play soccer and was still wearing dressy clothes. "Why not?" he said.
In ten minutes the tree was on the ground.
 |
| This tree was planted in 1994 as a three foot tall sapling. That is pretty good growth for twenty-five years. Maybe things grow faster down south but 20" in diameter in twenty-five years is very good for around here. |
 |
| The obligatory pictures showing growth rings. During its best years the tree added six inches of diameter in four years. |
|
|
 |
| The four regions tell the story of the cut. The leftmost region is where the wedge was cut. I wanted the tree to fall in that direction. The torn strip to the left of the ruler was the hinge. I should have left it larger. The surface the ruler is sitting on was the bore cut. If you look hard you can see the bruised bark on the near side where one of the wedges was placed. The tall plateau on the extreme right was the last cut. |
I gotta couple to drop that I'm trying to figure out the logistics on. I'm gonna need a cherrypicker on one.
ReplyDeleteThey want a lot to fell a tree.
I've done a few in my backyard with success.
One I took down, you couldn't check the growth rings for the honeycomb of carpenter ant borings.
The stump, after being soaked with gasoline, burned for days and the ground caved in around it when done.
I don't understand the plunge cut when you hsd the tree cabled to force it to go the way you wanted. I always thought that was done when you have a very high value tree that might be prone to splitting.
ReplyDeleteYour humble scribe has belt-and-suspenders disease.
DeleteThe tree had a slight lean to the north, toward the house.
I was not absolutely sure that the tree wasn't hollow. Hollow trees can collapse any darned way they please.
But the primary reason was the first one listed.