I decided to post the follow up in a new thread.
So I went down this morning and noticed that the trunk as settled a little lower overnight. Where the snagged branch connects to the main trunk was now about chest high, rather than over my head as it was yesterday. Still too dangerous to sever at that point so I stuck with my plan to start at the butt end that I had cut loose yesterday from the fractured stump. The bottom seven or so feet of the trunk was hollow. The walls of the hollow part of the trunk were about five inches thick with only a thin layer of rot from ants/termites. Once I got past the hollow part I began to "score" the entire trunk, pre-cutting 20 inch lengths about 2/3 way through the trunk. It was easier to do most of the cutting while the trunk was in the air. When I got ready to begin to cut all the way through I drove in a couple of wedges to avoid pinching my bar. I removed a couple of 20 inch bucks and let the snagged trunk settle down some. Then I dropped a three buck section at one time. This left the rest of the trunk suspended in the air. At this point it was easy to cut through each, pre-cut buck as it would fall free since it was not touching the ground on one end. Soon, the only piece left was a 20 inch section suspended in the air by the snagged branch. I stood on one of the bucks I had just cut and made the severing cut. I was able to get one more 20 inch buck out of the snagged branch and could not reach any higher.
I split up all the hollowed out pieces, then took my chain saw (Stihl MS390 with muffler mod) and noodled in some cross grooves on each of the big bucks I had just cut. I had not tried this before and was amazed at how easy these big, green bucks split. I literally just tapped one wedge into one of the grove about three times and it split right in half. No need to give it a mighty whack. Now I just have to go back and haul all of that wood out of that draw and back up to my truck. Too bad this tree couldn't have fallen on the high ground!
Below: The tree intact as it sat yesterday before I began working on it.
Below: started off today bucking out the hollow butt end.
Below: I start working up the trunk.
Below: You can see how I 'scored' the trunk with pre-cut slices.
Below: I took two 20 inch bucks off the top, leaving about 40 inches still hanging on.
Below: Last piece. I dropped one buck from the left side of the branch then made a horizontal cut and
severed the last piece from the branch. Then took one more 20 inch buck from that branch. Done! and
in as safe a manner as I possibly could.
So I went down this morning and noticed that the trunk as settled a little lower overnight. Where the snagged branch connects to the main trunk was now about chest high, rather than over my head as it was yesterday. Still too dangerous to sever at that point so I stuck with my plan to start at the butt end that I had cut loose yesterday from the fractured stump. The bottom seven or so feet of the trunk was hollow. The walls of the hollow part of the trunk were about five inches thick with only a thin layer of rot from ants/termites. Once I got past the hollow part I began to "score" the entire trunk, pre-cutting 20 inch lengths about 2/3 way through the trunk. It was easier to do most of the cutting while the trunk was in the air. When I got ready to begin to cut all the way through I drove in a couple of wedges to avoid pinching my bar. I removed a couple of 20 inch bucks and let the snagged trunk settle down some. Then I dropped a three buck section at one time. This left the rest of the trunk suspended in the air. At this point it was easy to cut through each, pre-cut buck as it would fall free since it was not touching the ground on one end. Soon, the only piece left was a 20 inch section suspended in the air by the snagged branch. I stood on one of the bucks I had just cut and made the severing cut. I was able to get one more 20 inch buck out of the snagged branch and could not reach any higher.
I split up all the hollowed out pieces, then took my chain saw (Stihl MS390 with muffler mod) and noodled in some cross grooves on each of the big bucks I had just cut. I had not tried this before and was amazed at how easy these big, green bucks split. I literally just tapped one wedge into one of the grove about three times and it split right in half. No need to give it a mighty whack. Now I just have to go back and haul all of that wood out of that draw and back up to my truck. Too bad this tree couldn't have fallen on the high ground!
Below: The tree intact as it sat yesterday before I began working on it.
Below: started off today bucking out the hollow butt end.
Below: I start working up the trunk.
Below: You can see how I 'scored' the trunk with pre-cut slices.
Below: I took two 20 inch bucks off the top, leaving about 40 inches still hanging on.
Below: Last piece. I dropped one buck from the left side of the branch then made a horizontal cut and
severed the last piece from the branch. Then took one more 20 inch buck from that branch. Done! and
in as safe a manner as I possibly could.