Up a tree

[precaud]

Spent the afternoon limbing a big old Siberian Elm in front of the house today, with the help of a local guy who is like a monkey when he's up there and completely fearless. This thing had gotten so leggy, the branches were hanging way over the street and blocking the early morning sun from reaching my solar heaters, I was losing 30-40 minutes of sun exposure to this thing, so it was time to cut some of it back. Probably should have taken the other limbs down too but we ran out of time. Looks like it yielded maybe a 1/3 of a cord once the bark falls off, and a lifetime supply of branches for kindling...

Since he was being paid for his work, I let him use his own saws. His chains were incredibly dull, and his Stihl 390 was in a poor state of tune. Any one of my saws would have run circles around it. But bottom line, the guy does great work and we work well together, which is so important on jobs like this.

 

[CALJREICH]

Only one thing worse then cutting wood with a dull chain , PAYING someone to do it. But hey now you'll get more sun on the house. Enjoy

 

[precaud]

I cut everything I could from standing in the crotch, but above that... not me. I'm getting too old for that. I gladly paid him to do it. He charged about 1/10 of what a tree service would have.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It's been a while since I did much trimming except for treestands. I miss it. It can be fun work.

 

[precaud]

Very fun. There's definitely an art to it, just like felling. No question, trees are one of the coolest things on the planet.

 

[tpikaart]

Hey Precaud,
They sure aren't pretty are they!?

I helped a friend cut one way down last week too. He had access to one of those Ginormous forklifts (the kind w/ the big boom) so he lifted me around and I trimmed away. Most folks in my neighborhood don't trim them to the bone like that, but I think it actually works out pretty well. Got one in my yard that could use it...

Last day on my forest permit today. Actually found some Alligator-- and possibly some more for next year. Got a piece burning right now. Dang that is heavy, dense stuff--and smells wonderful.

 

[rdust]

I'm curious why you just don't cut it down. Looks pretty off balance the way it is.

 

[precaud]

NMman, no they are not pretty. You got to cut back yours the easy way! I'm jealous.

I've never (knowingly) seen Alligator - what does it look like?

rdust, I thought many times of just taking the whole thing down, but that side of the yard would look empty without it. Next year those limbs on the other side will come down, we were going to do it but ran out of time. They'll all grow back soon enough - the growth rate of these things is really fast.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

NMman, where on earth did you find the alligator wood?

 

[tpikaart]

It's a species of Juniper ((broken link removed to http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/juniper/Jdepp.htm))
They live for an amazingly long time and grow extremely slowly. There are not as many
at our elevation (7,000 +) as there are in lower parts of NM and AZ. Apparently the big
ones can be 600+ years old--which is why it upsets me when I see one cut down that was
not dead.

I happened to find one w/ some big, dead branches--topped off my load of Pinon very nicely.

Also saw the Biggest Mule deer buck I've ever seen!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Lasso that buck. I'll come out for him soon.

 

[precaud]

It's a species of Juniper ((broken link removed to http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/juniper/Jdepp.htm))
They live for an amazingly long time and grow extremely slowly. There are not as many
at our elevation (7,000 +) as there are in lower parts of NM and AZ. Apparently the big
ones can be 600+ years old--which is why it upsets me when I see one cut down that was
not dead.

Ah yes, I have seen those before. Found a dead one near an arroyo a few years ago, it's root system had become exposed and it finally gave in. Rock hard stuff. Now I know what to look for - thanks!