49" Willow Oak

[Dodgy Loner]

Red Clay Hound and his LT40 got a workout over the weekend. So did I. Even WDH came by to supervise the sawmilling!

My aunt had a big willow oak that had died beside her driveway. She wanted it down. We wanted the wood. All we had to do was cut it down and mill it. Easier said than done, though - this was a BIG oak. Not customsawyer big, but far bigger than anything I had felled. It measured 49" across at the stump. And I only had a 20" bar on my chainsaw. It took 1.5 hours of chainsawing and driving multitudes of wedges, but I finally got the tree on the ground. Exactly where I wanted it, no less! But that's when the real work began :D.

Starting the notch


Cleaning it up


I had to cut back the sides a good bit so my bar would reach the center


Boring through the trunk


On the ground! And just a tiny bit of pullout where my bar didn't cut all the way through the center.


I had to cut 6' off the butt to get a log that would fit on the mill. The sawlog ended up being 37" on the small end and 39" on the big end, and 10' long. Not much taper! I'll be back at my aunt's house over Christmas, and if I'm feeling froggy, I might try to quarter the butt log with a chainsaw and mill it as well.

We've got more pics of the sawmilling, but this is what I wanted from the log: a 24" wide, 4" thick slab. I'm going to use it as a workbench top. We ended up with about 550 board feet from this log. It could have been more, but the sapwood was completely rotted so we cut it all off. Had to bibby it down to something we could handle anyway.

[Dodgy Loner]

We even got a video of the tree falling!

Kinda long, but all the action is in the last 30 seconds. You might just want to fast-forward to the end.

[beenthere]

Good pics of the felling procedure and how to use a 20" bar to cut a much larger diam. tree.

[Dodgy Loner]

Thanks, beenthere! Can you guess where I learned those felling procedures? (hint: right here :D) Finally got a chance to put them to use!

[sandhills]

Nice job, I especially liked the "now clean it up" part at the end of the video  ;D.

[Riggs]

I liked the speedy retreat in the video.

[Dodgy Loner]

Nice job, I especially liked the "now clean it up" part at the end of the video  ;D.

Yeah, that was my brother :D. Always good for ribbing you. He actually helped clean it up as much as anyone. We probably got 2 cords of firewood out of the branches.

A few more pictures of the sawing:

We couldn't have done it without the New Holland. We had two at our disposal and used them both!


Maxing out the mill!


Finally got it bibbyed down. Much smoother sailing once you get to this point.


We cut a few 2"x26" boards, a few 4" thick slabs, and the rest was random width 4/4 and 8/4.

[Tree Feller]

Nice log and great pics. Thanks

[Magicman]

This project is a full meal deal.  Pictures, video, nice tractor, good log, Wood-Mizer, fine slabs, Father/Son project.      It just doesn't get much better than that.

[fishpharmer]

And its "Biggie" sized too! 8)

[Red Clay Hound]

Dodgy's wife would not watch the felling operation.  I think she thought the tree was going to fall on him and was afraid he didn't have enough life insurance!   However, he wouldn't let anyone else near the chainsaw, and since he is the professional forester I didn't want to show him up! :D :D

[hackberry jake]

All I can think is "That poor sawmill"  8).

[Red Clay Hound]

All I can think is "That poor sawmill"  8).

The sawmill did fine, my back not so much!  It's amazing how much an 8/4x26"x10' red oak slab weighs, not to mention the 4" thick slabs!   Thankfully, we had the tractor to help with moving those.

Seems I'm on a roll with the big logs lately - I quarter-sawed a 36"x12' white oak last week.  Just got a call last night from someone who has a 35' long white pine log that's 36" on the big end and 24" on the small end.  He plans to buck it into four logs.  That one will be a portable job 60 miles from home and his tractor is a 1974 Ford 2000 so I'm not sure how much help it will be in handling those logs!   I'm charging that one by the hour!

[Magicman]

Wood-Mizers are log magnets.  They just keep attracting biguns. 

[Tree Feller]

That 20" bar on Dodgy's saw looks tiny against the tree. That was a good job falling that tree and a good demonstration of the bore cut. That little bit of wood it pulled was nothing.

[WDH]

It was a thoroughly enjoyable enterprise.  Red Clay Hound even gave me two beams that I needed  8).  Here is Red Clay Hound Bibbying the log.



 

Here is the Master Faller, flush with success.



 

It truly was a family affair.  Dodgy, Nathan, and Red Clay Hound defy the laws of nature  :D.

 

Here is Mr. Willie, Casie, and Dodgy Loner, enjoying a beautiful November day in central Georgia.  It does not get much better than this  ;).



 

When y'all come back, maybe we can convince Jake to come over for lunch so that he can expertly split that big butt log  :D.

[Dodgy Loner]

Casie is impressed that you spelled her name right, Danny! ;D

I would be happy to crisp a chicken for Jake if he would come split that butt log after Christmas . He still needs to show me the chain-sharpening tip that he showed Danny. And heck, I still have yet to enjoy the pleasure of Jake's company! I will definitely have to lure him over somehow...Grits, maybe?  ???

[WDH]

He is originally from Colorado, so grits won't work 

[Okrafarmer]

He is originally from Colorado, so grits won't work 

A pair of skis, maybe? Just trying to help.

[Red Clay Hound]

He is originally from Colorado, so grits won't work 

Rocky mountain oysters? ;D

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Looks like an Awesome day was had by All  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8) Good Falling Dodgy  ;) ;D (don't know if those two should go in the same comment though Mate  :D :D ) and I like building single piece top work benches too  ;) ;D

and you did a Top Job on the Sawin Hound  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)

Regards Chris

[WDH]

He is originally from Colorado, so grits won't work 

Rocky mountain oysters? ;D

That is sure to work  ;).  I heard he likes seafood  :D :D.

[Leigh Family Farm]

Nice work everyone! The thing I like most about this adventure, besides the sawmill, tractor, slabs, etc., is that this was the first 10 ft. section of the tree!  ;D ;D When you gonna saw the rest of the tree?

[Dodgy Loner]

This is actually the second log- I cut 6' off the butt to get something the sawmill could handle. We also milled 3 small saw logs out of some of the more upright branches, but the rest is firewood! 

Oh, and Dad- we can do Rocky Mountain oysters if you want, but you're going to have to explain to Jody what happened to the bull :D

[Red Clay Hound]

Oh, and Dad- we can do Rocky Mountain oysters if you want, but you're going to have to explain to Jody what happened to the bull :D

Might be easier to explain to Jody than to the bull. ;D  How would mountain oysters go with grits? ???