Cedar Falls

[Jim Koepke]

A friend Verne came out with his friend Kevin who has years of experience cutting trees. Verne has cut trees for me in the past, but he has recently had some knee operations and says he doesn't move fast enough for falling trees.

They were planning on bringing down four trees but the first one was a bit harder than they thought. Keven brought about a half dozen plastic wedges for the job and was needing more. My predilection for buying wedges when they are found cheap helped out as did my propensity to hang on to pieces of scrap metal. All his wedges, my wedges and some of my scrap metal finally caused a big popping sound in the tree and a huge thud when it hit the ground. Candy came out to look saying, "it shook the whole house."

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The red thing on top of the stump is a yard stick. We measured the stump and it was 6' across at the cut.

There were some soft spots of rot in the tree so the butt was cut off:

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Hopefully it will be possible to cut a notch out of the butt to make a bench. The stump might be a bit more work, but if it can be cut out it would make a nice sitting spot for a couple of people.

The saw man used a new chain on a 36" bar and stopped to sharpen the chain twice. In one of the soft spots we found an old tennis ball.

We only got the one tree down before it was getting too dark to work safely.

jtk

[James Pallas]

That was quite a tree. I'm glad it was you around it and not me. I don't have problems with most species but cedar and juniper will swell my eyes closed in seconds and give my sinuses a workout for weeks. In a few years you'll have lots of chests to make.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

In a few years you'll have lots of chests to make.

That possibility has crossed my mind if there is enough wood left after it is cut into mill logs. With what we have been cutting there should be about three loads going to the mill. Currently the prices are up.

Might get enough to buy a few tools if SWMBO allows.

jtk

[Jerry Olexa]

Anything you build from that tree's wood will have a special meaning and memory...selling a few loads will also replenish the "tool fund"...
Trees are amazing..Good luck..

[Jim Koepke]

Anything you build from that tree's wood will have a special meaning and memory...selling a few loads will also replenish the "tool fund"...
Trees are amazing..Good luck..

I have a few items from trees harvested in our yard. Most special is my big mallet. Also have a wooden spoon in the kitchen. There are also various other items.

Most things so far have been made out of trees cut for firewood.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Jim,

That is an amazing tree. Hope you have a bit left over to build something out of.

In Kansas where I lived most of my life we have some big cottonwoods, the biggest I have been around was about 8' in diameter, and there are some a lot lot bigger than that. However, they are few and far between that reach such sizes.

However, cottonwood is not a great choice for a woodworker.

If you have some left over that you can build something out of let us know what cool project you do!

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

Hope you have a bit left over to build something out of.

There should be a bit for me to play with.

My only regret about trees not being taken down is the one in our yard down in California. There is a Black Walnut tree in the yard that is over 60 years old and has a very large trunk. Alas, we are selling that property with the tree.

jtk

[Don Dorn]

Wow - being from Iowa, the title had a different meaning. There is a small city in Iowa named Cedar Falls!

[Jim Koepke]

Wow - being from Iowa, the title had a different meaning. There is a small city in Iowa named Cedar Falls!

Yes, we have heard about that out here in the west. It came to mind when this was posted but decided to go with it anyway.

jtk

[Jerry Olexa]

Also an area in the Hocking Hills of Ohio called "Cedar Falls"..:)