[TheForge] Woodpile (Was: Scaffold) OT

[Bruce Freeman]

Right.  Exactly my case.  This is a lovely red maple but was MUCH too
large.  It is maybe 30' behind the house and 10-15' from the garage.
I could not have topped it without risking one building or the other.
By taking it down a limb at a time the risk was much reduced.  Smaller
limbs are smaller risk, and multiple cuts mean the final trunk mass is
much reduced. It's true that the cutting is slow and tedious.

 In my case, being "under" the limb was not a big deal.  You can tell
when the limb is about to fall, and have plenty of time to get out of
the way.  Besides, you're about 45* from directly underneath, so
aren't that close anyway.

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 9:45 AM, Steve Bloom<smith at blacksmithing.org> wrote:
> 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
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> TheForge mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:TheForge at mailman.qth.net
>
> TheForge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login: blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> Password: anvil
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>



-- 
Bruce
NJ

The total lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.