[TheForge] Woodpile (Was: Scaffold) OT

Thu Jul 23 01:03:29 EDT 2009

Thanks for your guidance Bruce;
I got one and have already taken down 3 branches that i couldn't reach 
with the pole saw. One branch is cut free but won't come down till the 
fall winds come.
Of course i lost the bean bag style weight on the 3rd throw. The 4 oz 
lead rock-cod sinker replacement doesn't hang up as easily.
Often, the trees ( mostly Monterey pines and cypress) have close spaced 
branches and it's difficult to place the rope in a usable position. Most 
of the trees are on the edge of  steep slopes making access difficult.
One branch fell into a steep poison oak thicket and crashed it's way far 
enough downslope that it was near the edge of a sheer 200'+ drop. I 
chickened out of  recovering that one...however much i want to minimize 
the fuel loading for the upcoming fire season.
Still, the manual chain saw will be useful and extends my reach another 
7' or so. Thank you for that.

Bruce Freeman wrote:
> Peter,
> 
> Actually I ALSO got one of those spiral saws.  Piece of shit.  Not
> worth the very cheap price ($6?).
> The "chain" saw is in a different league.
> 
> You can extend the ropes as long as you like, but you're on your own
> attaching the handles to them.  The thing comes with ONE special link
> for grabbing the rope anywhere with the handle.  I sure don't see how
> one is useful when there are two handles!  Anyway, all that is
> trivial.  Attaching the ends to a single stout stick works better than
> using those handles anyway.
> 
> I don't really know about using the maple for handles.  In a pinch I
> once used a branch as a handle for an adze, but I took no time to
> refine the shape.  I would think you'd want heartwood for handles -
> no?   That would mean quartering the larger logs and getting the
> handles from the four quarters.
> 
> I'd be no good with a spinning rod, so can't comment.  I do think it
> worthwhile to toss a smaller rope or twine over the branch and use
> that to pull up the saw rope.  I didn't do it that way because I could
> mostly just climb up near enough to the limb I was cutting to get the
> rope over the limb.  But no sense trying to saw from up there because
> the angle is all wrong.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 2:08 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe
> Palmer<artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>> Thanks Bruce;
>> I was thinking of the old spiral cut wire type saw...this looks much
>> faster and more durable.
>> Is there any reason i can't extend the ropes and go higher?
>> I think a spinning rod would facilitate getting the rope up there.
>> Is the maple too brittle for hammer handles?  pf
>>
>> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>>> Yeah, I'm thinking of holding back several lengths of maple trunk, 8" to 12"
>>> diameter, for uses other than firewood.  Would save me the splitting too,
>>> which is damned near impossible where there are knots or branches.
>>>
>>> I've got a couple old logs from a pruning I did a few years ago, and they've
>>> got heart checks which would make them unfit for fine uses, but still good
>>> for strength.  I may mess around with those and see what they're good for
>>> before I decide what to do with the new logs.
>>>
>>>  But most of the wood is <5" thick and is mostly sapwood, so it's no big
>>> deal turning that into firewood.
>>>
>>> As for the too-short pole saw, here's my alternative:
>>> http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=97092&CategoryName=&SubCategoryName=
>>> OR   *http://tinyurl.com/lvfr84
>>> *You can make those ropes as long as you need so you're literally standing
>>> on the ground while sawing off top limbs.  I made my best progress by tying
>>> the two ropes to a single limb (like a 1" dowel) and rocking that back and
>>> forth rather than yanking on those little handles.  The main problem with
>>> this approach is the cutting angle.  If you can't back away from the tree
>>> far enough, then your cut may be mostly downward, rather than crosswise, and
>>> may be twice as much wood to cut as a simple crosswise cut.  A minor problem
>>> is that you have to get the saw over the limb before you can cut it.  They
>>> provide a wimpy little weight to toss  over the limb.  That might work
>>> before the leaves our out, but I ended up getting as close as possible on a
>>> ladder to get the saw over the limb, then I climbed back down to do the
>>> sawing.  A saw like this would be grand if someone could motorize it.  I
>>> figure a  large spring on one end and an air cylinder on the other - or
>>> maybe a gear motor with a large cantilever-mounted wheel.  If I had had a
>>> lot more high stuff to cut, I would have done this.
>>> *
>>> *
>>> On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 3:07 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer <
>>> artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I spend a lot of time with a pole saw here and it's become too short.
>>>> Maple! Fancy firewood.
>>>>
>>>> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>>>>> I'm not much for "getting high" either.  I just finished topping an old
>>>>> maple tree that was shading my yard too much.  I wanted to leave the
>>>> tree,
>>>>> not cut it down, so I had to prune carefully. The job went pretty well,
>>>> but the really high branches I
>>>>> sawed off from the ground using one of those "chain saws" HF sells - a
>>>>> "bicycle chain" with teeth on one side and ropes on either end.  Worked
>>>>> fairly well - I recommend them.  I've now got a massive pile of wood in
>>>> the
>>>>> backyard, partly from this tree, partly from others, and I spent
>>>> yesterday
>>>>> sawing some down for firewood.  Raining today.
>>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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> 
> 
> 