We had a very tall Frasier Fir growing near our house. My gf wanted to call in the pros, but I pointed out that the tree was perfectly straight and that I could drop it right into the corner of our driveway. I calculated exactly where the top of the tree would land, far short of a retaining wall.
So, I spent an hour or so stripping the lower 8 feet of branches. Then I carefully began my cuts. I made a directional notch that was close to perfect, then I tweaked the directional notch a bit. Then I took a deep breath and made a horizontal felling cut, but stopped short of felling the tree. I inserted a wedge in my felling cut and began to tap it. Tap, tap, then step back and reassess. Tap, tap, then step back.
On my third or forth tap, tap, the tree very slowly began its descent. It fell exactly where I wanted it, but the tree was about 8 feet taller than I estimated, so that the top of the tree just barely touched the retaining wall.
To this day my gf tells people about that tree and about how I calculated that the top of the tree would just lightly brush against our retaining wall (I will never tell her the complete truth).
I have used a chainsaw on a number of occasions, including cutting down four or five trees. (Nothing huge - maybe 6-7" diameter trunks, max. But that’s still plenty big enough to need to be verrrrrry careful. Even aside from the danger inherent in the saw itself, trees are fucking heavy, and most of that weight is way up in the air, and when it crashes, you’d best be in a safe place.) But I’ve learned a lot in this thread that I’ll take into account before the next time I use one.
Didn’t know there were classes on how to use a chainsaw. Damned straight I’ll be taking one.
What DinoR said about first aid gear - yeppers to that. I’ve always had someone with a phone, at a safe distance but where they could easily see me and dial 911 at a second’s notice. But first aid gear gets added to the list.
aceplace57, those safety chaps sound awfully good. But how do they affect your mobility? Like you say, they won’t help if a tree falls on you. I seem to have a pretty good knack for easing up to the point where the tree is ready to fall, so that that last cut just barely puts it over the line, and when it starts making those particular sounds that tell you it’s about to fall, I still have a decent amount of time to get the hell away. But I want to take maximum advantage of every second, and I’d hate to be wearing something that interfered with my exit speed.
Neighbors? I’ve never seen them, but I hear them shooting and running chainsaws across the holler. My property backs into the Shenandoah National Park and the only neighbors I’ve met have been black bears, deer, a fox and the fish in our pond. Thanks for the advice, there is quite a bit of downed trees on my property, some of it in good condition. There are a couple of trees that fell in the winter which will be enough wood formour weekend place for quite some time.
This is very instructive. It shows a wide variety of the things that can go wrong, many of which are counter-intuitive. Pay close attention to where the chainsaw goes when the trouble hits, and whether it is still running. (No gore, just trees falling badly.)
Auto-brake. Seriously. Many people get accustomed to using them and disable it. Don’t be one of them.
Those things are good, but I’d highly recommend the battery-powered version; draggina cord around is the pits. Note that the batteries will also run B&D lanterns, drills, etc.
Note that the 4 inches is a bit exaggerated. The jaws will open that wide, but the only “cutting” it will do is scratching with the very tip of the chain. It’s not much use on anything bigger that ~3". However, a downed 3" diameter branch 35’ long is a lot of wood, at least if you’ve got a good stove.
Which raises a question for the OP: what sort of wood-burning equipment do you have?
Update: I have an acquaintance who is a retired park ranger, he’s coming over to assess the wood on the property and then we’ll make a plan to cut it before next winter, he gets half the wood and shows me how to do it. One of his duties as a ranger was to teach chainsaw safety to new hires. Going to be a toasty winter up on the holler.
That’ll be great to have an expert show you how to do it. Have you gotten your own chainsaw yet? The convenience of cordless is great, but it won’t have as much power as the gas that your friend will likely bring. The cordless will still do a great job, but the gas chainsaw will cut through the wood much faster and easier. For the job of clearing all the fallen wood, having gas will be worth it. But later when you’re just cutting a tree here or there, the cordless will be great from a convenience standpoint.
One other thing you need to consider is how to split the cut logs. Generally, you won’t burn really thick logs. You’ll want to split them into wedges. Make sure you ask your friend what he would recommend for splitting the logs.
Spent today pruning trees, using our small chainsaw on a telescoping pole. The battery hooks up to the user’s end of the pole, but damn that chainsaw got heavy after a few hours. This thread was the last thing I wanted to see just now.
Hopping into this thread to thank wolfpup for suggesting this lopper thingy. I had a bunch of small weed / trash trees on my property, which were too big to easily get rid of with a handsaw, and I knew that a chainsaw was probably overkill (plus, I’ve never used one). I got the battery-operated version of the B&D lopper, which my wife immediately dubbed the “Yard-o-saurus” (with the jaws open, it looks a bit like a smiling dinosaur ). It did the trick, and while it still needs to be respected and used carefully (it is still a chainsaw, after a fashion), I love the thing!
We called the one we used the Radial Arm Death Saw. It was extremely effective at removing large quantities of saplings and small trees quickly and safely. At least for the operator; people around them had to keep their eyes open all the time.
With the proliferation of battery powered equipment, I noticed in Stihl’s 2019 product book that they note that chaps may not stop or absorb an electric saw like they would a gas one due to the torque of the electric motor. Just one more thing to keep in mind.
I’ve an older version of that tool. Rev it up and swing it like a sling blade. Works well. Two blades. One with saw teeth good for saplings and brush. The other has knife like teeth good for tall grass and weeds.
A good source of how not to use a chainsaw can be found on YouTube under the general category of “Chainsaw Fails”. Mostly hilarious, and a good illustration of Darwinism at work. It’s probably not right to laugh uproariously at somebody who’s probably going immediately to the hospital, but damn!, they’re funny. It’s amazing how a tree can shake an interloper right out of its branches.
Somebody gave me an electric one once for cutting up downed branches. It was a pain in the ass to keep the chain tight. I only used it a handful of times. My recollection is that the most likely way you’ll hurt your self is by not thinking through what is going to happen to the pieces of wood on either side of the cut as you work your way through and complete it. Ie. one side is situated such that when you finish the cut, it pops up and smacks you in the face, falls on your foot, etc. etc.
). It did the trick, and while it still needs to be respected and used carefully (it is still a chainsaw, after a fashion), I love the thing!