[TheForge] Woodpile (Was: Scaffold) OT

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

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.
>>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>>
> 
>