A little work done

[unicornduke]

The goal for today was a solid half day of work work, then go and do some house work. Got the work stuff done, then had to take care of Mara and eat lunch.

My goal for the house work was to start the chainsaw. That was it. I was a bit afraid of trying to start it. I haven't actually used a chainsaw in ohh, 15 years or so, back when I was a teenager on the farm. Plus last time I tried, I completely failed to start it, although it wasn't my fault probably. I watched a video and re-read the manual. And I started it! It took a little bit, the pull start was really hard to pull at first, but once I gave five or six pulls, it loosened up and I was able to start it without flooding the engine. Woo!

Then I looked at the tree.




I took the top off so I could pull it off the dog fence. I started on the uphill side and started taking limbs off and then decided I was going to wait on this. No one else was home, I was still a little anxious about the chainsaw. In my previous chainsaw experience, I had only cut up logs that were already loped of branches and laying on flat ground. Given that this tree is up on limbs and across the face of a hill, I decided to wait and ask my Dad what he thought when I went home for Christmas. You can't tell from this photo, but it is up on little broken limbs and no part of the trunk is actually resting on the ground. I don't know what I'm doing!

This was the total damage in case you were curious



I may also chat with friend A, who took a course and everything (also on my to-do list) to take a look and see what she thinks.

After that, I put a lock on the shed. This was more involved than I thought it would be, but I had to add a strip of wood to the frame by the door because someone hadn't put a plank over the frame when they were done putting the door in. Then I added the latch once it could actually reach something. I'll put the lock on it shortly. It won't be locked 99% of the time, but if one of us is out of town and not checking, all the power tools are in there and the door does face the road. Plus one of the neighbors had a break-in yesterday, stopped only because their teenager was home and called the cops, so the person drove away. A trooper was here asking if we had seen anything or F's cameras had seen anything. (actually the first question he asked was, have you seen anything unusual today? uhhh buddy, it's the middle of nowhere, there's so much weird shit happening)

So anyway. Then I worked on making my warping board bigger. I have a 4.5 yard warping board apparently. I found this out because I have started working on my next project, which is a 7.5 yard warp of wool/mohair blend that will someday be a giant wool coat for me. You can't get 7.5 yards onto a 4.5 yard warping board, it just doesn't have enough length and pegs. So I figured it wouldn't be hard to replace the inner sections with longer sections. It hasn't been so far. I used the jig saw to get nice clean edges and since it would be more accurate. The warping board section is 1 inch wide by 1 3/4 inch tall so it needed to be accurate. I used rough cut boards since they would actually be an inch and sanded them very well. They're a tiny bit under 1 inch now but it's not bad. I ran into issues when I was getting ready to drill the holes for the bolt, in that it is in between the 3/8 and the 1/2 inch bit sizes that I have. It looks very much like Ikea style bolt and little peg inserts that the bolts screw into, so I will be going to the hardware store at some point and seeing if I can find a drill bit that matches.

I'm now back inside and answered some work emails that popped up. I have plans to do other projects tomorrow afternoon and all day Friday (shelf for cones of yarn, ramp for Mara for my parents' house) and only the ramp needs to be done before we go traveling for Christmas. I think the tree will wait until next week when I get back with knowledge and some thought put into where the logs will actually go after I cut the tree up. And all the limbs. hmmm

Comments

[graydon]

Good call on the tree! They have a nasty habit of rolling even if you restrict yourself to lopping off limbs that aren't in contact with the ground.

How are you fixed for rope? One approach is to fasten the fallen tree to some standing trees in both direction before you start sectioning, to limit the opportunities of the fallen trunk to rise up and smite you.

Hurrah for getting stuff done just in general!

[unicornduke]

Not good on rope but I've got heavy duty ratchet straps that will do nicely and some well placed trees to work with. I'm actually not worried as much about the tree going up as much as down the hill with speed. Sectioning is going to be a little difficult because of it. I wonder maybe if I can do bigger sections, attaching a strap and rotating them so they're vertical on the hill instead of horizontal before I section. The picture I took was at eye level and the hill is very steep.

Gonna get some more stuff done today hopefully!

[graydon]

Slope is a thing for sure.

Sounds like you've got a plan. I'd maybe be wondering about section into cord lengths with the limbs on and limbing once each section is vertical, but you know about how much room you've got and how far it is to a flat bit.

[ranunculus]

Look at which limbs are carrying the weight of the tree. They may be resting on the ground hard, broken off and sticking into the ground or shattered and resting on the ground. Ask yourself: What part of the tree is heaviest, and which way is it leaning? What limbs pull it in that direction. Once you think you know what is happening; it can be useful to stand uphill, grab limb, pull; and see how the tree moves. Is it super solid where it is, or is it thinking of rolling one way or the other? Start slow, and if needed attach a rope so you are in a safe zone when you move things. Once you think you know which way things might move, cut back non-weight bearing limbs trying to keep the weight balanced. Check frequently to see how the removal of those limbs is affecting the balance of the tree. Keep asking: Which direction does the weight of this tree want to move in, how will my next cut affect the balance and how do I cut things and stay safe? Usually cutting the branches off the top side will be relatively safe and it will reduce the number of things that might hit you if the tree does move. Eventually you will get to a place where you can get the trunk on the ground, and then it's easy. But it really is all about figuring out what where the weight is and what way it wants to go.

[unicornduke]

Yeah, it's on short broken off limbs near the bottom and bigger ones that are either bent or broken in the middle. It's all on a pretty good hill and none of it is on the ground. Thank you for the advice, I will think about it some more! I also have some well placed trees to attach to if needed. One of my concerns is cutting sections off and having them head down the hill since they're likely to do that. But I'll think about it more before I do more cutting.

[ranunculus]

Make a dam with the limbs that you cut on the first step. Then anything that rolls will stop.

[reedrover]

uhhh buddy, it's the middle of nowhere, there's so much weird shit happening

BWA ha ha ha. I’m not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from here. And yeah, no, please define “weird,” Mr. Policeman.

[unicornduke]

Yeah, like do you mean the UTVs on the road, the neighbors doing weird stuff on their property, or what? But also, the neighbor with the break in isn't actually visible from our house and is a seven minute hike up the hill and back down to actually get to it from our house, or a longer winding road. Like lol, no we're not going to see shit.

[which_chick]

Chainsaws are kind of intimidating for me. I can start and run one, but... I'm always kind of vaguely "this tool could kill me" terrified. *sigh*