i-cut-down-a-tree

2008-02-17 14:16:50′, ‘2008-02-17 18:16:50’, ‘

In our back yard, there was a pine tree that grew ThisClose to another tree. It died about 10 years ago and for the last 4 years has been leaning over more and more. So I decided that I needed to cut it down. I got my electric Chain saw plugged in and was working on cutting the wedge of wood from the tree so the tree would fall in the right spot. After some cutting, I saw the wedge break free from the tree, and I pulled the chainsaw out. The tree cracked and leaned over and pinched the wedge into its slot. The tree did not fall down. The wedge would not come out. I was bummed. I tried a crowbar on the wedge. I tried to knock it out with a sledge hammer and a long bar. The wedge was wedged. My tree felling instructions really wanted the wedge removed so that the tree would fall in the right direction when I did the cut on the back of the tree. So I started to cut at the wedge with the chainsaw. As I cut at it, the tree would make a little crack, I would step back with the chainsaw and the tree would not fall. This happened a couple of times so I cut at the wedge a little deeper. This time the tree did not warn me with a little crack noise when it shifted. It also pinched my chainsaw in the the slot with the wedge wedged on top of it with the whole tree on top of that. I was bummed. I yanked at it, wiggled it. It would not budge. If the tree fell now it might fold my chansaw bar right over. Which is why I did not go get my brand new Christmas chainsaw to try and rescue it. I went to my wood shop and got some long wood chisels and started chipping away the wedge above the chainsaw. I discovered that trying to watch the tree, the end of the chisel, the base of the chisel, the hammer and planning my escape route was too many things to watch and think about simultaneously. The end result of which was the hammer striking my hand a number of times. Like ouchie. After about 15 minutes of this. I was able to pull the chainsaw out. I decided to forget about the wedge and go for the backside cut. The tree fell right where I wanted it to. Yay! This little 3 minute adventure only took me about an hour and a half to complete along with a sore hand. I hope that all my future trees are much simpler.

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