Yep, big problem is the blades bend and thats where a chainsaw, with its bar, wins, but they can/will do the job, for 300mm blade max size =
250mm, allowing for recip...Has been very useful for rough work, cutting the sides out of 4x4 jcb front tyres to make planters and the like....
Niel.
A sad day but our 30 year old cherry tree has had it (due to massive over-pruning over the years to keep neigbours happy). It's about 20' tall and there's plenty of good wood in it (a few 8+" thick branches). I've managed to cut off all branched below this size (phew) with a rip saw but now find that tool hire places will not hire (only) sell chain saws. Any recommendation from where/cost I can get a cheapo one? given I'll only be using it for this one job?
As a second thought...has this wood any value? In which could I get someone to cut it down if they keep the wood? (Well, maybe worth a try anyway :-) )
Assuming that you're in reach of a mains power supply, use an electric chain saw since these are far cheaper than petrol models. How cheap do you want? Screwfix do one (Cat. No: 55175) for 85 quid which would do the job. Otherwise, similar second hand saws have recently sold on Ebay for 30 quid or less.
The wood will make nice logs if you've got an open fire. Otherwise, it's probably not any good for anything. I recently had a willow tree chopped down, and enquired whether the wood could be used for cricket bats etc. - only to be told "It's the wrong sort of willow"!
Yes, I've chopped a few smallish trees down in my garden with an electric type, with everything going to plan and no injuries. However, I declined to attempt the ~7m willow. I got a professional in to do that one, rather than risk decapitation or knocking the house down (or the neighbour's). I didn't see the deed, but apparently he climbed up near the top using a strap and dismembered it piece by piece rather than felling it.
It cost me 100 quid, which seemed pretty reasonable, given the expertise and insurance provided. It would have costed 250 quid to have it taken away. He seemed very happy when I suggested I would do that part, so there obviously isn't anything in it for them to remove them, at least for my type of willow. I plan to chop it up and use it as fuel for a chimnea and barbecue.
Christian.
We bought an electric one from B&Q when we were cutting down a tree. It's lasted for several more but you must keep the oil reservoir filled apparently and Spouse has sharpened it once, while cutting down a 70yo pear tree.
You must remember that green fruit wood can be heavy, branches must be roped and you'll need help with the trunk even if you cut it into, say 4' lengths - which is what we do because we're old and feeble.
It depends where you are. Cherry can be desirable as a strong and decorative timber (unlike willow!). Transport would be costly over any distance though. We have all the fruit wood we want for our use but if you were within her range our cabinet maker daughter would be interested. She has the wherewithal for converting, seasoning, storing and eventually using it.
My other comment is - bloody neighbours!
Mary
Who you gonna call?
George Washington!
...
I'm in the Nottingham area - will email if/when etc
Yeah - quite! It was a beautiful white blossom cherry situated at the bottom of both gardens. It didn't block anyone's light and boy was it spectacular in Spring. Every year the neigbours would chop their side to the vertical (as was their right of course) but seemed a real pity. They have been making "remarks" about it for 25 years! They are now looking straight at a plain brick wall of the house opposite! Sorry - rambling OT...
Sorry, too far for south Wales ...
Not at all - we've had similar neighbours. I'm very sorry for you. We were threatened with solicitors. That's not why we cut down trees though, we were fed up of seeing mutilated trees and decided to grow vegetables. The neighbour, uncharacteristially, said he'd pay half for the new fence and help us with it and ended up falling through a roof light into our 'bomb hole'. Not funny at 79 ... long story though.
Mary
Mary
Bite their hand off, we have the same model and it cuts through wood like butter!!, Where we went wrong was trying to cut out the roots with the saw, it blunted the chain in about a minute, and was no use after that, a sharpen at our local hire centre didn't help much which resulted in us getting a new chain which cost another £15, once you've used it sell it on ebay - you may even get back what you paid for it!!
Jon
Think cricket bats are made from willow from india
Few thoughts on tree felling looked into this myself a while ago when i added up the cost of hiring the chainsaw (almost the same as buying) and the proper safety equipment it added up to quite a fair bit .Luckily as things happened a freind had a friend who was a tree surgeon and he did the job on the weekend for less than the cost of hiring the equip but guess i was lucky there
Have you ever used a chainsaw before? if not do you want to have your first try hanging onto a tree/ladder 15 odd feet up? that was another reason decided to get someone in !!
As an alternative do you have a recip saw there are some mean sounding long blades for them . 300mm long 3 tpi anyone here ever tried them on trees? If any one has and it worked out ok why not get a recip saw and some blades it will have many more uses than a chainsaw arround the house. Or one of those dewalt aligator type things
How old is your bow saw a new blade often improves things a lot
Just a few thoughts
Steve
Yes, I most definitely wouldn't recommend using a chainsaw for the first time for felling a tree. I bought my electric chainsaw originally simply for chopping up logs (having had sometrees felled professionally). After some years of using it for this I decided that I could fell some small trees and that has been OK (and quite fun in a way) but I wouldn't have wanted to try that as a first exercise with a chainsaw.
Soil is almost immediate death to chainsaw chains.
You can sharpen them yourself or be lazy like me and send them off to
, of course Weems invented the whole thing.
Lee
All the trees I've done I used an axe. I prefer it anyway.
BUT you really have got to understand the problems with tree felling. One lil mistake and you can end up with half a ton of tree on your head, or poking out your ribcage. If you /do/ appreciate the dangers and the traps, its really fairly easy. Ropes help a lot, and are essential in many cases.
If you dont understand how to do it, dont. Read up thoroughly, because its not danger free.
Regards, NT
You're George Washington, I cannot tell a lie and I claim my £5
Cherry is a good turning/carving wood so you could try local woodturning/carving centre,or their NG. Also makes good logs so could try a woodyard. Unfortunately I am to far away or I would do it for you. Chainsaws are extremely dangerous in untrained hands especially when felling trees. To give you some idea, my safety clothing cost treble the price of a cheap chainsaw. Mouse.
I'm sure you're right, Mouse: I've felled a reasonable number of trees using nothing more than a bowsaw - with the normal 24" blade there's nothing to stop you cutting through 12" of trunk, which makes for a pretty sizeable tree. Yes, it requires the application of both effort and thought - effort for making the cuts, thought about where the tree's going - but I've never had one go any way other than "the obvious" way, using standard tree-felling technique (cut a wedge of up to 90 degrees out on the side you want the more-or-less vertical tree to fall, about a third of the way into the trunk; then make the backcut from the rear of the tree towards the point of the wedge, standing to the side of the tree as you cut to avoid any kickback hitting you), sometimes assisted by rope pulled by more-or-less willing helpers from A Long Way Away when the desired direction is somewhat (can't work miracles, mind!) awry of the tree's natural lean, and/or it's particularly important (neighbour's property or public highway) that the tree does *not* fall in a given direction. Plenty of more detailed advice on the Web from the US OHSA (equivalent of our Health & Safety Executive) and chainsaw manufacturers.
The advantage of working by hand is that all your concentration is on what the tree is doing, in particular the noises it's making. Cutting the wedge should be noise-free, i.e. no breaking/straining noises, as you're not making all that much difference to the tree's support at this stage. (If you cut - especially on the first cut of the wedge - too deep, the cut will start to close on your saw, trapping it; but working by hand, you'll (a) feel it start to bind and can stop to re-evaluate your approach, (b) not get hit by a flying chainsaw body (or worse).) Once the wedge is out and you work on the back cut, you'll first see the tree beginning to lean the way you want, into the gap left by the wedge - usefully opening up the cut you're making - and then as you get closer to the apex of the wedge, encouraging creaking noises ensue. On bigger trees I try to take a breather before this point (and yes, it comes at different proportions of the way through depending on the species), so as to complete the final part of the backcut reasonably swiftly so the tree falls according to the wedge direction rather than according to how any crack in the remaining fibres decides to propagate.
The same "cut a wedge out, then cut from the other side" works well for larger side branches too, where you cut the wedge underneath and make the final cut from the top; this stops the branch tearing along the branch stump, which can happen if you cut only from the top.
Doubtless you can still do yourself and others serious damage using only a bowsaw; but life's like that. If you tackle a gert big bendy sick monster as the first thing you ever fell, Darwin may take a hand...
Cheers, Stefek
Try making your main cut a little bit above the apex of the wedge. The idea is that the piece of wood between the front edge of that cut and the apex of the wedge forms a hinge which then controls direction that the tree falls. The angle of the wedge (the depth of which should be about a quarter of the diameter of the tree) should be such that it will close just before the tree hits the ground. This will break off the hinge for you. This means that you have to take into consideration any slope of the land; felling downhill will require a wider wedge than felling uphill.
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