Big cotton wood

Al Smith

Mac Daddy
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
14,307
Location
Northern Ohio
Danged thing up and died on me all 100 foot of it .I think it was some kind of a parasite about like the EAB .100 foot and about 5 feet over the stump .I got Tom and crew out here and I ran my 70 year old Oliver bull dozer about 200 feet away with a 1" three strand nylon line .
Three strand has an elongation of around 70 percent in effect about like a big rubber band .That little dozer,9,000 pounds bowed the main trunk about a foot or two .Then I held it with the brakes until most of the back cut was finished .When it started over I gunned it and down it went with a mighty crash .
If you look real close between those two little girls standing on the tree there's a little dab of blue .That's the target .Only missed it by 1 foot . That thing mowed down a few maple saplings which wasn't that bad considering .I'll be all winter cutting this thing up .Possibly some lumber for out rigger pads and a whole bunch of fire wood which isn't the best but it still burns .
Before anybody asks the guy making the cut I think didn't have much experience with a heavy long bar saw .084 Stihl with a 42" bar .It fell the right direction though which is all that counts .
 

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That one the double trunks are about 36" . It will give me the very rare occasion to use my 100 plus cc saws .It has been in decline for several years so it wasn't a surprise .From what I read it might have been some parasite that attacked the inner bark like EAB .It left tracks but not as aggressive as what I've seen on EAB killed ash . From what I've read the average life of a cotton wood is around 75-80 years as opposed to a white oak that could be 250 years . That stump in my avatar pic was over 4 feet and I counted 270 rings but it was wind damaged from 90-100 MPH straight line winds from a tornado .
 
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