Adventures with Chainsaws

Back in August, a gust of wind proved to be too much for one of our oak trees. There was a damaged section of trunk, and the wood splintered. It took a while for the top half of the tree to fall down, so we left it alone till recently. I'm sad to lose this tree- it was a big tree at the end of our driveway and the branches gave great shade and coverage.

The tree started at this angle, about 45 degrees closer to the ground.

After a few weeks the weakened wood had splintered enough for the the top of the tree to be at a 90 degree angle.

A few weeks later, it finally gave in and broke off completely. Unfortunately the top half was still leaning against the trunk, which made it difficult to do anything with it. So we didn't. We just let it stay as it was.

Here's a view of the damaged part of the tree, right after it started splintering. Once I looked, it was quite obvious that that section was weakened and in trouble.

 Here's the other side of the tree, showing the bulging of the splinters.

The mangled ends after the tree finished breaking.

Here's what it's looked like since the leaves fell. Not very pretty.

A week ago our very kind neighbors came over and took the tree down for us. I'd asked one of them to show me how to use a chain saw so I could do it, but he expressed concern about the technicality of the job since the top part was leaning against the trunk. So he got together with our other neighbor, who's more experienced in such things, and they took it down.

They looped a rope around the top section of the still-standing trunk, attached it to the tow hitch of a Jeep, and ratcheted it tight before making the first cut.

Here you can see the fallen top part has slid down to where the rope is.

Tightening the rope before cutting a bit more.

Pulling the tree down.

And it landed right where it was supposed to. Yay!

Branches on the top part had to be cut then it lay on the ground as well.

Here's a section of the trunk where it splintered. It was just mangled. 

A few cuts and the trunk pieces were moved off the driveway. They'll finish cutting the trunks and take the wood home for seasoning and splitting. They both have wood fireplaces/heaters, and we don't, so giving them the wood was a no-brainer.

The chunk of trunk on the right hand side of the driveway, furthest up, is for us. We're going to let it season and then get it planed into a mantle beam by a local sawmill. We'll then hollow it out so we can attach it to the wall above our {gas} fireplace. 

I've always hated the minimalist mantle the previous owners installed, and thought the idea of a rough-hewn mantle made from a tree on our property was a great idea. I planned on using one of the other trees that need to be taken down, but since this one came down before we had a chance to take down any of them, we're using this tree.

{this is not what it looks like anymore- thank goodness!}

After they did the big stuff, I pulled out our {as-yet-unused} chainsaw and they walked me through the proper usage and safety precautions  of a chainsaw. I've been nervous about doing it myself (I kept having visions of accidentally chopping off part of a foot), but figured once I learned how to use it all would be fine. This proved to be true. It's fun to use! Though I do need to watch my body mechanics since I managed to get a migraine and trigger my sciatica because I was tensing up so bad while cutting the branches on an incline. Probably a flat cutting surface would be good.

Have you used a chainsaw?