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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 15, 2022 19:15:45 GMT -6
Good job, Woodeye! Congratulations on getting all those posts driven.
Is the lighter green on the right side of the photo the Hackberry foliage, or is just the direction of the sun making it appear lighter? Is the tree precarious, or just too close to your garden area?
When we moved our garden to its current spot, there were all sorts of cedar branches hanging over a neighbor’s fence into the power lines on our side of the property. The power company said it was a problem, but it wasn’t an emergency so they wouldn’t handle it. We wanted to get them down before we put in the garden fencing, so we spent a lot of time working very carefully with a pole saw to get little bits thinned out so that anything that fell on the lines wouldn’t take them down. It actually worked! We had huge, huge piles of brush for months after that that we chipped and shredded and used all around the garden area. There was one tree on our property that needed to come down for the garden, and for some reason it leaned toward the power lines (that was kind of a northward lean which we thought strange). It wasn’t a huge tree, just a cedar, but big enough that it could have been a problem. We watched lots of teaching videos on tree felling and ended up using a rope attached to another tree to put tension on it to get it to fall somewhat sideways. That also worked. Phew! I’m glad we don’t have to repeat any of those jobs.
I’m betting you’ll be glad when you get your Iron Curtain built not to have to do that over again, too!
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Post by woodeye on Oct 15, 2022 20:07:46 GMT -6
Thank you, chrysanthemum. The lighter shade of green at the tip top and below is the hackberry, I'm not certain on the right side of the tree. I will make a point to look at it tomorrow and see if it is a hackberry limb or if it was just the sun shining on it that made it look like that. Also, I had not noticed that this picture makes the power line look lots closer to the tree than it actually is. I sort of wish it was close like this picture makes it look, because if it was I could get them to remove it and I wouldn't have to. If the blackjack was dangerously close to the line, I would not cut it myself.
The blackjack and the mostly enclosed Hackberry shade that end of the garden for a long time every morning, that is the main reason it is coming out. I'm sure there are tree roots under my garden, removing those would be impossible for me to do. Killing the stump of the Blackjack and the Hackberry is what I'll work on instead. I have felled trees with ropes, chains, and cable hoists. I could even use that method with this tree. The reason I prefer the method of pushing the tree over is because when the tree actually falls, I'm in the Kubota seat with my seat belt on.
And a big YES, when this tree removal and all things related to the construction of the Iron Curtain are done, it will be huge. I don't know if it's proper to give oneself a standing ovation or not, but I'm going to do it anyway...
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Post by woodeye on Oct 16, 2022 9:41:28 GMT -6
chrysanthemum, I just rode out to the garden for photos that will make the tree removal method clearer. The lighter shade of the leaves on the right is Blackjack, it was just the sun making it look lighter yesterday.
I'm standing directly under the power line in this photo, the Blackjack is to the right.
A closer look at the trees that will come out. There is also a dead elm tree trunk that is still standing, but it won't be a problem for the garden. I'll push on it with the tractor to see it it will fall over, but if it doesn't push over easily, it can be left. All the underbrush of the Blackjack will come out too, just so I'll have a safe path while cutting down the trees.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2022 12:21:08 GMT -6
I don't know how I missed all these recent posts on the "Iron Curtain" project, but I read them all and got caught up today. Wow! those posts that you drove make my bones hurt just looking at them! Great job!
You did good by deciding to remove the trees. Those roots probably extend nearly 30' feet out from the trunk. You can probably tell exactly where they are in this dry weather by looking for dead grass. It always surprises me to see how far away from the trunks our trees suck all the water out of the ground.
Man, I can surely relate to the ground rods. As an apprentice at GRDA, it was my job to drive all the ground rods, so the old Journeymen Electricians wouldn't have to. Whenever possible, I commandeered an air compressor and a 35-pound jackhammer. Unfortunately, that was rarely available. I've stood atop many a ladder while swinging a sledgehammer, driving ground rods. (Apparently, the contractor I worked for had no idea what a post driver was for?) I think part of the job requirement there was in the amount of human suffering one could endure. Oh well, I was getting paid by the hour.
I learned a cool trick along the way in rocky ground. If you drive the ground rods at a 45° angle they go in a lot easier, then just take a pipe hickey and bend the tops of them so they are pointing straight up. The Inspector tested them all when I was done, they all came in at 25 ohms or less. I've never tried that trick on a fence post though.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 16, 2022 12:42:03 GMT -6
Thanks, heavyhitterokra. Yes, I have long despised that Blackjack, not because of species, but because of location. I do not look forward to sawing Blackjack, it is by far the worst tree as far as wear and tear on a chainsaw, at least it has been for me. I never cut the dead limbs with a chainsaw, I chop those off. They'll dull the chain fast, however not as fast as sawing a Blackjack stump from about 2 feet from the ground and down, in freezing weather. They are the only tree I have cut that will begin to hollow, then fill up with dirt and water, then freeze. It's almost like sawing sandstone. I'll saw this one about 3 feet from the ground and hopefully stay away from that. I'm sure the roots on that tree go halfway across the garden, I hope to kill out the stump, and I'll probably have to burn it out. I used to have a big metal ring to put around a stump and use charcoal and deadwood to burn them out, but I have no idea what happened to the thing. I'll figure out something else to use if necessary.
I would be out there today, but I finished a shop project yesterday in addition to driving the last of the posts, so I have given myself the day off. I may regret that decision later on, it's actually perfect weather for working on the Iron Curtain today...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 16, 2022 14:17:56 GMT -6
Thanks for those new photos, woodeye. That blackjack still looks awfully close to the powerline to me, but I trust you to know what you’re doing. I know you have great respect for the dangers of electricity. Oak is a hard wood on saw blades, though there are differences in different types of oak. There is a noticeable difference in cutting our cedar and our oak, especially since most of our oak is live oak, which is particularly dense. Our red oak isn’t so difficult as the live oak. I think it was the first Christmas that we lived here that I bought my husband a Stihl 2-in-1 sharpener so that he could sharpen his chainsaw blades on his own. (When we lived in Virginia, he would drop off a few at the hardware store for sharpening.). When we’re working on oak, we have to sharpen in the midldle of the job most definitely. I’m glad you gave yourself the day off today. I think you earned it.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 16, 2022 19:29:57 GMT -6
chrysanthemum, I can see how the photo still makes the tree look too close for comfort, but that was the best angle to show that there is some distance between the power line and the tree. The closest limb on the right in the picture is much lower than the power line and it still appears closer than it really is. Plus, that limb will be sawed off before the tree is cut down, enabling the tree to fall to the west more easily. If it turns out that it looks like anything bad could happen to spoil my plan for the tree, I can also use chains and a cable hoist between the Blackjack and an elm tree that is situated to the west of the Blackjack. That's TBD.
I agree, different oaks for different folks. I have post oaks that are easy to cut and do not dull a chain any faster than pecan does. The dead limbs and bark on the Blackjacks, combined with their ability to draw dirt up into their trunk, make them very difficult. Without a doubt, Blackjack is my least favorite tree to cut down, but it has to go, so...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2022 21:25:23 GMT -6
woodeye,
Is that Blackjack tree bigger around than a 55-gallon barrel?
The reason I was asking is that I've used a 55-gallon barrel as a fire ring before to burn out old tree stumps. That worked pretty well, but it was slow, because the stumps were nearly as big around as the barrel I was using. I spaced the barrel off the ground using red bricks, so air could feed the fire from underneath.
Do you have power available for a remote air compressor way out there?
When we first moved here there was a huge, half-dead red oak only about 15' feet away from our house. I cut it down to prevent dead limbs from falling on our house. I hooked a 60' foot cable to it and anchored it to a backhoe, so it wouldn't fall toward the house. I had my neighbor, Bill to keep tension on the cable as I cut the tree. Once it was down, the stump was too close to our house to build a fire large enough to burn it, so I built a small campfire beside it, just for the bed of coals.
Once I had a few coals, I rigged a 10' foot piece of 1/2" inch EMT to the hose on the air compressor and adjusted the handle on a 1/2" inch ball valve, to barely leak some air, so I could blow on the coals for a controlled burn. In that manner, I was able to burn the entire stump all the way underground, including several large roots, just by blowing a continuous feed of air on the coals. (No wood added). every few hours, day and night, I'd have to adjust the EMT to keep the airflow pointed directly on the slowly moving coal cavity that I had created.
It took about two or three days for it to finish burning, because the stump was so large and it was such a small fire. When I was finished, there was a giant hole in the ground about 2' feet deep by about 5' feet in diameter. I enlarged that hole with a pick and a shovel to make it 8' feet by 8' feet square. Then, I filled the hole with hay-grazer stalks, peat moss, cow manure, straw, and sulfur, to build a highly productive blueberry bed there. (Well worth the effort).
A few years later, I removed some fairly good size trees from my future garden by cutting them down and digging the stumps out by hand. I filled those holes with so many dead okra stalks that I was no longer able to pack them down with the tractor, then, I top-dressed the okra stalks with chicken litter, pelletized Lime, and topsoil. (Kind of like a Hügelkultur pile on steroids). After that pile had time to season all winter, I planted on top of that spot. Talk about good soil! I wish my whole garden had been done that way.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 16, 2022 21:37:40 GMT -6
I'd have to take some measurements of the Blackjack, heavyhitterokra, it's pretty good size for a Blackjack on this place, and with the Hackberry tree that is twisted together with it, I don't even have a good guess what the diameter is. I will check that out tomorrow, and if a drum would fit around it, I could use that. It's probably about 200 feet or so to that tree from the house. That's a good idea with the air compressor, I'll keep that in mind when I get to that stage. Thanks for the tips...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2022 22:09:35 GMT -6
If your air compressor is anything like mine, it will take a pretty heavy gauge cord to beat the voltage drop on 200' feet. 12/3 Romex ought to do the trick though if you don't have a 12 gauge cord handy.
I have on occasion run a length of #2 Tri-plex from my house, 600' feet to the tailgate of my truck, to run a crackerbox Lincoln welder down at the garden. A generator would probably have done the trick, but I didn't have one of those. I did however have plenty of Tri-plex laying around. Where there's a will, there's a way.
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Post by rdback on Oct 17, 2022 9:48:42 GMT -6
Teddy, you're making excellent progress. Wish I lived closer - I'd come give 'ya a hand. Be careful with that tree.
Hey, have you guys ever heard of (or used) snatch blocks? I'm needing to pull an ash stump and happened upon "snatch blocks". Whole new world to me. I haven't put them to the test yet, but looking forward to it.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 17, 2022 12:24:12 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra, I have 2 air compressors, one is a pancake style Porter Cable, and the other one is a 20 gallon Craftsman. I don't enough 12 gauge extension cords to run that far. I'll have to look at my roll of 12/3 and see how much is left on it. That would be the only way I could possibly have power that far from the house. I measured the Blackjack tree this morning, at the ground it is 36", but on up 3' from ground level it is about 24". Once I got right close to the trunk of the Blackjack this morning, I discovered that the Hackberry tree is not right up next to the Blackjack, it's about 3 feet from it. So, I will have to somehow remove the Hackberry first, then work on the Blackjack. I can use chains and cable hoists to snake the Hackberry out of there, it is not a real small tree itself, but it can be done...
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Post by woodeye on Oct 17, 2022 12:29:28 GMT -6
Teddy, you're making excellent progress. Wish I lived closer - I'd come give 'ya a hand. Be careful with that tree.
Hey, have you guys ever heard of (or used) snatch blocks? I'm needing to pull an ash stump and happened upon "snatch blocks". Whole new world to me. I haven't put them to the test yet, but looking forward to it. Thank You for offering to help. I worked for 3 hours this morning, that's about my limit per day. We used to have snatch blocks at work, I do not have any of them here at home. I do have regular pulley blocks, but they don't have the side plate that is hinged like the snatch blocks we had at work. I don't even have a block and tackle, which are amazing things themselves. I have lots of chain and a couple of cable hoists, I'll make use of those when I remove those trees. It will be awhile before I get to the tree removal, but yes, I will be very careful with it. Thank You...
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Post by woodeye on Oct 17, 2022 12:35:43 GMT -6
Today was post extensions day. I got the pipe sawed, drilled and installed on the 8 t-posts on the west side. I can't work tomorrow, I am taking my brother to the doctor, but plan to work on the east side post extensions Wednesday. The extensions are all a minimum of 10' 1-1/2", but some are as high as 10' 6", I saw no need to cut them off again to make them pretty, I just let the top run wild. The pipe is very rigid, more so than I thought. One was bent towards the top, I tried to straighten it and it wouldn't budge, but it will be fine as is. The extensions are crooked, I'll attempt to straighten things up as I put the pipes on the sides for the wire to attach to...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 17, 2022 20:35:02 GMT -6
That oughta do it. I guess a fella could probably stretch a string line later on if he didn't like the looks of the 'runnin' wild' tops and trim them all down with a tubing cutter. That would sure be easier than trying to guess-timate the lengths needed on the final product before the fence goes up. The project is looking great! Your progress is encouraging for the rest of us that still have that to do.
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