What's the biggest tree you ever felled with a chansaw ?

[SmokeyCity]

What saw did you use? How long to fell it?

For me it was a locust of about 30" diameter. Used a 455 Rancher, Took about 15 minutes from first cut to "timber!".

I know many here have felled "real" trees that are an order of magnitude larger than my little locust.

 

[WoodPorn]

41" Red Oak, used my Husky 365 w/a 24" bar. Was several hours from initial cut to last piece bucked.

 

[TimJ]

I dropped a white oak that was hit by lightning and standing as a 35 foot branchless and lifeless tree for close to 10 years. The tree was 64 inches at ground level but was hollow. I did it with a 25 inch bar. The chain was sharp so it did not take that long.

 

[Wood Duck]

Black Walnut about 15 inches diameter at knee height, maybe 45 feet tall. I used my homelite 16 inch crappy chainsaw and it took about ten minutes to put it on the ground. It fell exactly where it wanted to fall, and fortunately I had figured out where it wanted to fall before I cut it.

Now that I think about it maybe the answer should have been the 18 inch diameter dead Chestnut Oak at a neighbors house. That snag was about 50 feet tall even after all the branches had fallen off, so it was probably 80 feet tall when it was alive. The thing is that I was coached by a friend so although I did the cutting, I didn't really do the thinking.

 

[Jags]

46" dbh. white oak.
Full disclosure - I did not make the back cut. An old timer with a 110cc mac and 60" bar did (I was helper boy). I did the rest of the cuts.

 

[Boom Stick]

I cut down 3 30" pines in my yard a couple years back. First tree I ever felled and I was pretty scared as I made the final cut to put it down..fell right where I wanted it to..the other two did not scare me. I limbed, bucked and disposed of all three of those trees by myself to the local dump. sappy, messy and a hell of a lot of limbs to remove. Was fun though. Funny thing is I spent like two hours the night before watching youtube vids on how to drop a tree.

 

[SmokeyCity]

Just to be clear - my 30" locust took 15 mintes to make it fall over. It took a lot longer to buck it into pickup sized peices.

BTW I LOVE YOUR HANDLE "WoodPorn"! Every one laughs at me when I tell them I've been looking at truck porn or gun porn or chainsaw porn.

It's so true - perfect analogy.

41" Red Oak, used my Husky 365 w/a 24" bar. Was several hours from initial cut to last piece bucked.

 

[SmokeyCity]

I would have burned that pine!

My sister had an 80' pine on her farm and storm winds often bent it toward the house. It has a base well over 30". It was the biggest pine I'd ever seen in person. Ill take a picture next time I,m up. She had it milled into flat boards by the guy who cut it down. He drove a tractor trailer bed truck to her farm and on that bed was a long milling rail saw. Really cool. watching it make rough cut plank boards 12 ft long!

I cut down 3 30" pines in my yard a couple years back. First tree I ever felled and I was pretty scared as I made the final cut to put it down..fell right where I wanted it to..the other two did not scare me. I limbed, bucked and disposed of all three of those trees by myself to the local dump. sappy, messy and a hell of a lot of limbs to remove. Was fun though. Funny thing is I spent like two hours the night before watching youtube vids on how to drop a tree.

 

[toqua]

Droped a 54 inch black locust with an o56 40 in blade.I hit a fence an a water hydrent[sp] dead center i would have hit more things but there was nothing else that I could possibly hit.hell of a tree with lots of wood.He didn't need to keep his cows in that pasture any how,because now they have to leave to get a drink.lol

 

[Thistle]

Back in early '80's Dad coached me on a partly hollow 37" Shagbark Hickory (old fire scar on side facing 7 acre pasture/corn field next to neighbors timber).Poulan 3400 w/ 20" bar,full chisel chain (all you could find back then) probably took close to an hour from set up to laying down.Sorry no pics.

More recently biggest ones I dropped were 24" Shagbark Hickory w/twisted & folded over top in Nov. 2010.That tree was first noticed in late 2008,had about 10% green leaves still on it.Nearest we can figure a microburst or something took it out in summer 2008 sometime.Everything nearby was untouched & undamaged.The top was split in half & folded over,yet still barely attached 30 ft over our heads.Had to pull each part down first then dropping the main stem was easy & much safer.Poulan Pro 475 - 24" Full Chisel brought that one down.

Next was 26" Red Oak snag a few feet from bottom of steep hill barely 10 ft from NE property line.October 2011.Pretty good lean on that one to the east (opposite of where I wanted it to go,naturally.Tied off heavy weighted rope up about 15 ft on broken branch stub,doubled back to big White Oak not far from where the tops would land.Dad held tension,not much effort was needed to help bring it over,especially with double stacking a couple of my thicker felling wedges. Husky 288XPW 28" Skip Tooth did the dirty deed dirt cheap that morning.

Most of the trees I'm dropping on a regular basis (in the woods anyway) are 10" to 16"-18" diameter normally.A few larger but that is rare now.When I get the rare call to remove some eyesore from someone's yard or open field/pasture,that could be another 3ft beast,which I'll normally accept unless its a real problem for me.

Last pic is my now 5yr old Great Nephew,Jackson.Who knows....I may need a 'helper' in another 10-15 yrs if I'm still able to do this stuff

 

[ScotO]

did a HUGE 44" diameter white ash a couple of years back, probably one of my bigger trees. Last spring, we did a 36" diameter black walnut some of you will remember, it was close to 80-90 foot. Did a couple of 36" diameter 100' poplars and a 36" diameter 90' white oak (all at the same job) this past summer, and I have a doosy of a pine tree (right up the road from Wood Duck) to do this winter. I'm betting it's close to 50" diameter at the very base. It's somewhere near that.

Nothing like felling a huge tree like that. Puts the butterflies in your stomach every time you do it. Love that rush!!

 

[ScotO]

Droped a 54 inch black locust with an o56 40 in blade.I hit a fence an a water hydrent[sp] dead center i would have hit more things but there was nothing else that I could possibly hit.hell of a tree with lots of wood.He didn't need to keep his cows in that pasture any how,because now they have to leave to get a drink.lol

WOW. I'd have been in HEAVEN. I wish our locusts here grew to a diameter like that! I'd probably kick the rest of my stack (minus my locust, of course) in the creek behind my woodpile if I had locusts like that growing around here..........

No, no I wouldn't.......

 

[ScotO]

Black Walnut about 15 inches diameter at knee height, maybe 45 feet tall. I used my homelite 16 inch crappy chainsaw and it took about ten minutes to put it on the ground. It fell exactly where it wanted to fall, and fortunately I had figured out where it wanted to fall before I cut it.

Now that I think about it maybe the answer should have been the 18 inch diameter dead Chestnut Oak at a neighbors house. That snag was about 50 feet tall even after all the branches had fallen off, so it was probably 80 feet tall when it was alive. The thing is that I was coached by a friend so although I did the cutting, I didn't really do the thinking.

you can come up the road and help me drop that monster 50" pine in my buddy's yard this winter. Probably in January......

It'll be a blast.

 

[Gasifier]

A White Ash about 36" across and approximately 60 feet tall I guess, with a Husqvarna I use to own. A nice straight tree with some really nice rounds. I think that was the biggest I have dropped. Out in the woods behind that tree is a series of the same type Ash that grew out of one trunk and in the middle of a forest of pine. I would say they are about 40 feet tall at the highest point. But there must be about six large limbs and then it fans out and up. A nice, different Ash to look at. I am going to leave it and see if it eventually falls to the EAB. If it does, I will take it then. Unless my brother beats me to it.

 

[PapaDave]

I won't even bother.

 

[Techone]

Droped a 54 inch black locust with an o56 40 in blade.I hit a fence an a water hydrent[sp] dead center i would have hit more things but there was nothing else that I could possibly hit.hell of a tree with lots of wood.He didn't need to keep his cows in that pasture any how,because now they have to leave to get a drink.lol

Heh biggest one i've dropped is a 54 inch cottonwood! I used a MS 660 with a 36" blade. Mine wasn't that bad though cause it had a good lean to it. Water poured out of the center of it for a good 5 minutes or so after it was cut.

 

[jdinspector]

I've never dropped a tree. I scrounge already cut trees. Heck, I even cut them into rounds at the place I get them. No sawdust to clean at home.

Still would like to cut a big tree someday!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Don't remember for sure but do remember it was a cottonwood. If my memory is right, we had a 48" bar and it took all of that plus a whole lot more! Don't remember how long it took but will say it was rather quick. Cut it and drop it. No messing around and we didn't even use a wedge. With a big saw it does not take that long to drop a tree unless it is extremely technical.

 

[Techone]

Don't remember for sure but do remember it was a cottonwood. If my memory is right, we had a 48" bar and it took all of that plus a whole lot more! Don't remember how long it took but will say it was rather quick. Cut it and drop it. No messing around and we didn't even use a wedge. With a big saw it does not take that long to drop a tree unless it is extremely technical.

Yeah I don't get worked up over big trees really either, especially since most of the cutting I do is away from buildings and people. They all act the same pretty much unless you cannot find any lean to it then wedging can be a chore compared to smaller trees. I use a 32" blade on a 460 pretty much exclusively for most of the cutting I do because I have found that if you are clearing a lot of trees of varying sized especially trees like eastern red cedar that have branches close to the ground it is much less effort to just carry a saw that can handle all of them instead of having to cut into a tree through the branches and then crawl in there and fell it, or have to go back to the truck for a bigger saw. Also with a bar like that you can rest the saw on it's nose (hopefully in soft soil) to rest your arms when needed, instead of having to set the saw down on the ground.

 

[Hickorynut]

Several 24-30inch cherries, oaks, locust, one elm etc. All I have is a 353 husky with 18&20" bars. Anything bigger and it needs to already be on the ground. I am looking at a 562xp maybe down the road that should help the situation

 

[Blue2ndaries]

~65ft, 30in Doug Fir with a MS362 25in bar. Took about 20min from initial cut to fall.

Nothing like the distinctive sound and "whoosh" of a large Doug Fir coming down like this one in the vid from clearing our property 4 yrs ago (not me cutting).

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[WoodPorn]

I won't even bother.

How about if we ask what's the biggets diameter Birch you've ever cut.....

 

[PapaDave]

Dang it, I'm battin' zero. I have exactly one birch.
It's in the west yard, and I use it as my winter arrival barometer, because it's the first tree to lose leaves.
Ok, ok, if you insist.
12-13" oak that I felled, but I've bucked up a couple White Pine at about 30".

 

[Whitepine2]

This is either second or third largest,the only one I have pic's of at this time. It was cut about four feet from ground that is a stone wall behind trunk it is about four feet at cut and is a cherry.

 

[Whitepine2]

Sorry about the pic's guess I pushed wrong button. I'll get it right before I die. LOL