Bowsawin' an Oak tree

could we have pictures so we....

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>so we could better appreciate the suffering?

Re: could we have pictures so we....

Bob Hackett

>If you didn`t get any pics yourself,just ask SWMBO to borrow the ones she plans on bring to the competency hearing.I`m sure they`ll be all we, or the judge,need to see.

There is a reason those saws used to be called "misery whips" there Todder.I`d see if the neighbor will still let you use the chainsaw to drop the trunk.If he`s been watching your antics so far the loan of power tools may be in doubt.Perhaps the other Todd(Todd H.)has a spare anti-tank gun you could sign for.

Mainely,Bob-Who thinks the heat and bugs may have gotten to his compadre here.;^)

hooray for purists

Tom Sontag - St. Louis

>You diehards are fun to watch or read about. Reminds me a bit of hearing a friend describe homesteading in Alaska without a chainsaw.

Me? I have recently become one with a chainsaw. It is an awesome tool. And while Todd is ripping that oak trunk into boards by hand, I'll be writing a check to the portable mill guy...

Re: hooray for purists

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>I have to admit I have wanted to sharpen up a good big crosscut saw and see just what it can do, but then I have always come to my senses shortly before and borrowed my dad's 24" McCullough. I beleive modern chain saws are appropriate punishment for the evil trees.

Todd, you know you'll have to build a saw pit in that back yard now, and get a good pit saw. I was reading in "The Woodwright's Companion" by St. Roy about pit sawing, and he claims the saw makes about 1/2" of progress per cut. That may be in soft wood with a smaller tree, but still really seems like a good inexpensive option for getting some nice oak boards out of that tree. Course he also talks about riving, but that I think would create a lot more waste. There's also a good section on making shingles, which is a good option with a nice big oak tree.

P.S. A suggestion; next time, just mow the yard when she asks you too, and definitely borrow the chain saw. ;)

That's good advise Moses

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Only would of taken me half an hour to mow the lawn.

No Bill, no pics as I haven't joined the digitial age yet. I have a digitial camera, but I still need to get something called Smart Reader IIRC. Supposedly cost $25 at best buy. Money is kinda' tight these days, so it's either a Smart Reader or rust-hunting, and here lately it's been neither. :~(

Tom, I don't think I'd be able to get much in the way of lumbers from this tree as it was not straight anywhere. Should get some nice turning stock tho. :~) Gonna take the trunk down by hand too. By golly I've done this much by hand so I might as well go the distance. Betwix my saws and axes I'll get it on the ground by hand. Reminds me of a story my Dad told me once. Seemed he got stranded about 20 miles from home and started walking and thumbing. Nobody picked him up. He got with 5 miles of home, didn't hear a car come up behind him, so og coarse he didn't hang out his thumb, and dang if the driver didn't stop anyway and offer him a lift. Dad said Hell No, I've walked this far, I'll walk the rest. Trust me, I am my Dads son. Hard-headedness seems to run in my family too.

Bob, My neighbor thinks I'm a nut case. I started at 6:30 this morning and knocked off at 6 p.m. tonight. Got into the 90's today and other than a short break(se my next new post) I worked right thru the day. Bet I drank four gallons of water today alone. the thing is I have ENJOYED every second of this job and will be heartbroken when I finally complete it. Good hard manual labor is hard to find these days, especially when you live in the suburbs of a major city like I do. No large rocks to move, no fire wood to gather, no snow to shovel, no gardens to turn over by hand, no nothing. Plain disgusting. Pretty sad when a fellow has to invent some hard work to apprease his desire for hard work. I miss Maine. Plenty of hard work to do in Maine on a regular basis. I can hear it now when I get home way again, "Todd, good god man, you've gotten Soft"! I have nightmares about that.

Todd O.

We really do need a picture!

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>I love this story. It has all the elements of every domestic fiasco I have gotten myself into over the years, and they make a long list. Number one, the spectacle takes place way up in the air without safety ropes. (Todd: avoid rool tearoffs). Number two, it has that handyman thing where flimsy tools and wienie-roast clothing are gonna get you shredded (Todd, let me just say this: don't ever try to take down a bougainvilleae). Number three, it has the immortal image of LOML looking out the kitchen window with hands on hips in consternation and disbelief, wondering if this thing is going to end up in the emergency room (yet again).

Bill's right--we really need a photo, even if it's the competency hearing one.

Wiley

Bougainvillea

Clay C in Miami

>Oooo, that sounds like another voice of experience! After Hurricane Andrew visited in '92, I had to clean up many, many cubic yards of bougainvillea - a 50-year-old specimen that had climbed 70' into an adjacent tree. I do have a photo of that somewhere - me and the helpers, all of us with gaudily blood-streaked legs. (For those of you who've managed to avoid this task, bougainvillea branches are themselves thickly forested with 1-2 inch thorns.)

(Would that hurricanes arrived in winter instead - the cleanup is bad enough without having to accomplish it with no A/C or running water [at least for those of us in Miami still on wells].)

Clay

Re: We really do need a picture!

Carole in VA

>I live between the Cheasapeake Bay and the Atlantic, so I know what rust problems are! I have keep all my smaller tools in a tightly lidded box with a sock full of crystal kitty litter (silica). Seems to have worked so far. Tools that are too big for that, I use Boshield.