Yesterday I finished another section of my fence rebuild. The rebuild is going slow. This section took me three days. I should be able to rebuild a section each day, but daylight is shorter and other things also get done.
One of the other things is that on Thursday afternoon I spent time helping at Mabel's house. High winds earlier in the week broke off part of another dead tree. The broke off tree section put holes in the metal roof of her car port. I nailed down a new sheet of metal roofing over the section with a large hole. Another section needs the 'goop' I used when repairing her house roof a few weeks ago. Donna didn't bring the 'goop', so that will be done another time. I also nailed down a few other metal sections where the impact popped out their nails.
I chainsawed the broken tree section. Then I looked at the remainder of the standing dead tree. The tree trunk was straight and not leaning. Most of the side branches were gone. The tree was still tall even though it was now shorter. I looked and looked and thought I could cut the tree down as there was a section of the yard where the tree could fall without causing damage. If I left the tree alone then some year it would fall over and potentially fall on power lines one way, or the house another way, or the car port yet another way. The odds the tree would hit something were higher than the odds the tree would miss everything.
Mabel's live in friend also thought we could cause the tree to fall the 'correct' way if I cut the trunk in a particular way. So we went at it. But slow. I made the cuts so the tree should fall a certain way. But that is not a guarantee. Maybe there is a lean I could not see. I cut then stopped. Listened for any cracking by the tree. None heard. We tried to push the tree the way we wanted but the tree stood without any movement. Then more cutting, stopping, listening, pushing. Over and over as I didn't want anything unexpected to happen. The window for a successful fall was good, but not large.
At the high end cut, the side we didn't want the tree to fall, I then pounded two wedges into the cut so the tree wouldn't get the idea to lean back that way. I cut some more on the opposite side. Then I was able to get the wedges completely pounded into the cut. We still couldn't push over the tree, or even make it wobble. I made some more small lower cuts on the side we wanted the tree to fall. I then started to hear a few cracks. We then pushed on the tree and it started to make more cracking sounds and started to fall over the right way. Once the tree started to fall we jumped back away from the back of the tree in case it bounced on the ground and then went backwards. It didn't.
Then I cut the tree into short sections that a person move for cleanup and also could later split for firewood. I used more than a tank of gas to cut the tree down and then in sections. That problem is now solved. Mabel has a few more dead trees. But they are very tall and the area for them to fall when cutting the tree near the base is small to none. Mabel will have to hire a tree service where they cut the tree from the top and then down lower. Today was very windy. I wonder if another section of a dead tree broke off.
Here is a photo of the tree branches I had cut a few weeks ago on my tall box elder trees. I stacked them next to the logs I have yet to split for my wood stove.
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