Well, I finally did it!

gf beranek

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Hand chopped a tree down using a cross cut and axe. No pics. too busy sweating, but did get a few minutes of helmet cam.

God, it was work beyond the imagination. Wish I'd done it when I was younger and in better shape.

Now the facts, it was a monster 12 inch Gowen cypress snag. 12 inch snag! Now I know the reason why the old fallers were so f'n tough.

I needed 40 seconds of using a cross cut and axe for the intro to the series two video "cutting and rigging in the tree" I got it. It took about ten grueling minutes of pulling and chopping to see that outlaw to its lay.

In reflection I truly believe I missed my calling. Talk about a health spa. You ought to give it a whirl. Really!
 
Sounds tough. You're a glutton for punishment, Gerry.
Silky should make a big crosscut saw. It'd probably be a few hundred bucks.
 
Ya know , I can't remember exactly when you wrote about planning to chop out and backut a Redwwod by hand ...the forester wouldn't let you do it , I have often thought about that story and have even thought of asking if you ever got to do it anyways...
 
Yup Jerry, That IS work. Once upon a time I pruned a tree with nought but bare hands. That was ugly but it needed doing and I had no tools. The fun adventure was ROW clearing with a 12 ga shotgun... we got through the overgrown road.:D
 
I used to chop down trees with a hatchet when I was a kid. Seemed like fun then. Seems I was always cutting down something I wasn't supposed to.

Getting a big ole' tree down would be work enough, but I don't think I could stick it out and buck it with a cross cut, especially not from the bottom up!
 
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  • #12
Boy, Dave, you have a memory like a book. I was going to hand chop that tree with Charly Pottorff back in the early 90's.
but his truck broke down and he couldn't make it out here. Now I'm glad that he didn't make it. That tree was about 11 foot.

Yeah the foresters were giving birth to a cow over our ambitions. Ended up taking the 090 to it. A lot less painful for sure.

Even though I was in a lot better shape back then I know now from cutting that little cypress today that big redwood would have killed me early on.

Think I'm going to give it another whirl.

Just kidding.
 
It Can Be DONE! thats a fact.... if want to or not is a different question , speaking of questions ...what style face cut did you chop out ?
 
I felled a bunch of trees with an axe, I think the biggest was a 16" Cedar.
I've used a buck saw as well, did a little bucking with it before dad had a mural painted on it:lol:
 
ha, one of the first trees I cut down, I was about 18, jammed the chainsaw up just fine thank you, ended up taking the axe out to get the sucker to fall over. it wasnt much fun.
 
I could use a work out.Tomorrow I hit 2 standing dead maples.....................................................................................

With the excavator:)
I can see a dead branch screwing up my day as soon as I took my first lick with an ax.Besides,pheasant season opens Saturday and I wanna be able to use my arms.
 
Now, you must find the tallest tree in the forest and cut it down with......



a HERRING!
 
I'll tell ya what ,swinging an axe will put a pair of shoulders on you .I could hit a baseball a mile and the swing all came from splitting wood when I was a kid .

Here of late though the novelty has worn off .:)
 
I'll tell ya what ,swinging an axe will put a pair of shoulders on you .I could hit a baseball a mile and the swing all came from splitting wood when I was a kid .

Here of late though the novelty has worn off .:)

Al, Actually, hitting a basefall for distance is much less about strength than it is timing and quickness in the right parts of the swing. You must have had good timing. Best hitter I ever saw-pro or amateur was a skinny guy with a little stringy muscle but nothing impressive. James could hit a slow pitch softball a quarter mile. He was a complete jaw dropper. Whack.... you gotta be kidding me!:O
 
About 5 years ago I talked Paul Plewa, the guy who taught me logging, into showing me and my two apprentices how it was done in the old days.
Paul started logging back before the chainsaw was introduced in Denmark ( he is 79 years old) and still knows how to use the axe and hand saw.
We felled a 105 year old beech, and to tell you the truth, I was amazed at how fast we had it on the ground.
About 1 hour inclusive explanations and" how to do" tips from Paul.
I have 2 old saws that he has sharpened for me, so if any of you want to try real old time falling, just come on over.
 

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That's too cool Stig. Glad to see that. I was kind of figuring someone would pipe up with a similar experience. Heck, who knows? This could start something going.
 
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