[TheForge] Woodpile (Was: Scaffold) OT

[Steve Bloom]

Greetings all --

Just a comment on the Chain-Saw-On-A-Rope ... I dismembered (or is 
that de-limbed) a large dead live oak using the tool -- placement was 
with a 20+' piece of bamboo. I used a radiator clamp to hold a hook 
('Y' shaped with one leg pointing forward and the other hooking to 
the rear- hand-forged, of course) on the business end. A spare hammer 
head was attached to one of the ropes and I just did the 
'raising-the-flag-on-Iwo-Jima' to get the hammer over the target 
limb.  Since I don't think it's a really good idea to be positioned 
under a ton of wood that is eventually going to fall, I rigged a 
simple pulley on one side and ran the rope through it. Imagine a 
large triangle - one side on the ground and the other two sides 
reaching up to the cut point. I would then stand on one vertex of the 
triangle (on the ground) and the pulley was on the other vertex on 
the ground.  A couple of old hammer handles and a couple turns of the 
ropes around the handles provided the necessary grip.  After that it 
was a case of pull left, then pull right, then pull left, 
then....forever it seemed until the limb started dropping.  At which 
point, I dropped the handles and scampered out of the immediate 
area.  Took awhile but the tree provided most of the winter's 
firewood and didn't have the opportunity to fall on the house. The 
reason for the piece-meal approach was that the tree was in the front 
yard, leaned towards the power line and the house, and was tall 
enough to smash something no matter which way it dropped.

Steve Bloom, Ironflower Forge