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Thread: Dead radiata pines
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10th March 2021, 12:55 PM #16
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31st July 2021, 06:22 PM #17
Job done!
My saga of cleaning up the dead radiatas finally ended today. Apart from the normal blood sacrifice any job demands nowadays (hate this old-man fragile skin!), I'm happy to report that there were no mishaps.
In the end, I took down the 13 trees that died on our property, plus another 4 on the neighbor's side, that had the capacity to do some serious damage to life & property if they decided to blow over the wrong way in a storm. This clump in particular contained 4 trees on our side, and 4 trees on the neighbors side, all within uncomfortable proximity to the garden shed & my work shed to the right: Clump2a.jpg
But I'm pleased to report they all fell over where they were supposed to, and buildings remain intact: Clump2b.jpg
The neighbor's trees were in a little corner of their property where no-one ever ventures, so I just chopped the trunks into manageable sizes & rolled them down the gully: Collateral.jpg
It's a pity I used up all of my enthusiasm for milling on the first couple I took down, the butt on the left in the pic above is 4.5M long, & about 500mm diameter with very little taper. If anyone close to me who has an Alaskan mill or slabber & wants to mill it, they are welcome to it. There is some blue-stain, but the wood looks very sound otherwise.
Sure looks different in our yard now. There's a few dozen billets to split for fire-pit wood, but it's all pretty tidy: Clump1a.jpg Clump1b.jpg
It was a monumental job & I'm mighty pleased it's over, but it was getting downright dangerous to go near the trees - I took to wearing my hard-hat when mowing if there was the slightest wind......
Cheers,IW
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31st July 2021, 07:50 PM #18
Ian
Looks like a win to me. Yard was made safe, yard was tidied, a small supply of pine boards were obtained and no body was killed in the process. Oh yes, and one sore back! I think that is unavoidable as we don't use the chainsaw all day long. Irrespective of too many birthdays we are utilising muscles normally left sleeping.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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31st July 2021, 09:04 PM #19
I wish it were only the back, Paul! Arms & shoulders have muscled in on the act too (pun intended).
But yes indeed, Mrs. W's little boy is one very happy chap tonight & rewarded himself with an extra glass of red. You saw the trees & the potential for disaster, so you can appreciate more than anyone else how relieved I am that nothing went badly astray. I should also fess up that I went against your maxim of "if in doubt, aim down-hill" on one of the last trees because after gazing at it from umpteen angles for 10 minutes I couldn't tell which way it was weighted. I eventually decided it might be ever-so-slightly biased to go up hill & scarfed it accordingly. However, I was wrong - this was the second tree that sat stock-still when I'd cut to within 5mm of the scarf & refused to go anywhere! Fortunately, there was not even a hint of a wind to complicate matters & a couple of wedges persuaded it to go precisely where I wanted it...
And on a good note to end, I chucked some old files into the pile of branches & offcuts I was burning last night, & raked 4 nicely annealed bits of steel out of the ashes this morning. They'll eventually be re-purposed into something(s) more useful. Two came out a bit curved, either because they bent under their own weight, or something sat on them while they were red-hot, but that won't be much of a problem to deal with.
IanIW
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10th August 2021, 12:48 PM #20
Pine
Great thread, very interesting read
Funny, I read the first post, then scrolled up to see if your age was listed. Wow!!! 75!!
Hope I can still do that sort of work at that vintage, Well done, keep it up
Sincerely
Willy
Spring chicken at 56
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10th August 2021, 06:19 PM #21
I must confess Will, it ain't as much fun as it was when I was 56. But save the admiration for my old dad, he was still milling in his 80s - with a Hagan saw!! My paltry efforts pale beside that....
Cheers,IW
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