I Guess the Stents Are Working

gitano · April 23, 2020, 03:08:18 PM

There was a spruce tree in my yard that was the second tallest tree on my property. I figured it for about 80 feet tall. It had been dead from spruce bark beetle for a long time, but every year when the robins (Turdus migratorius), arrived, the males would get in the very tippy top of that tree and sing their lungs out! Well, those days are gone unfortunately, as in the last windstorm that tree blew down. It wasn't a big heartbreak to me, as 1) it was dead, and 2) I had been eyeing it for several years because it was so straight and limb-free for about 20' up the trunk. The wind blowing it down made it easy to 'get'.

I took the chainsaw to it, and cut it into sections of about 4' in length. I figured I could get those on my lawn tractor and haul them up the hill out of my yard and to my shop where I would make boards. Getting it cut up went about as planned, but the ground is way too soft to allow driving the lawn tractor around on it, let alone trying to get up the hill in it without tearing up the lawn. By the same token, I couldn't leave the logs in the woods because the ends would split. I ended up just man-handling them up the hill. About 70 yards from where they laid to my shop door, and about 25' uphill. I hoisted the first one onto my shoulder to 'see how it felt', and it seemed 'ok', so I humped it up the hill. A while later, all eight pieces were standing outside my shop door:sweatdrop: (I've already cut the smallest diameter one up.)

and I didn't have a heart-attack doing it. :jumpingsmiley:So I guess the three stents are still doing what they are supposed to do.:grin:

Black spruce trees are notorious for being slow growers. Sometimes a tree only 4" in diameter can be 100 years old. Down here in south central Alaska, where it's warm,

they can grow a bit faster, but they're still slow growers nonetheless. The 'big end' of this tree was almost 15" in diameter. The smallest end of the logs I cut was 9" in diameter. Here's a picture of the 'big end'. I have aged this tree. If you care to, you can use this picture. I'll post the age after anyone interested in doing it themselves has a chance to.

Paul

Jorge in Oz · June 18, 2020, 03:46:41 PM

Nice work Paul. I need to get my chainsaw working again.

I Guess the Stents Are Working

gitano

Jorge in Oz