Adventures with Stihl & Allis

Had a big old dead elm on the fence line way at the back, just at the edge of the marsh. Been dead for years; bone-dry, all the bark long gone; two months of winter fire-wood just standing there.

What held me back for years was the question of which way she was going to fall. Must have walked all round that tree a hundred times doing the mental math. About twenty feet from the ground she branched out into five seperate trunks. Had two big trunks heading off to the west, away from the marsh. There were three trunks that were closer to neutral or eastward.

Which trunks were heavier depended a lot on your perspective. When I stood on the marsh side, it always looked like she'd fall that way. Looking up from the other side, you'd swear she was going west. Directly under the tree, it was a toss-up, but I was thinking the two big limbs heading west would outweigh the three going east. Time to fire up Mr. Stihl.

The diameter of the tree was about a foot more than the reach of the 18" bar on the saw, so just making the "v" cut on the west side took four cuts instead of two. Same with the back cut. I was making the second of the back cuts. Gradually the kerf starting to open up a bit. Yes! Two years of head-scratching was paying off! She was going to go west!

I'm practically through, and there's a gust of wind, and all of a sudden the kerf closes up. Shit! Couldn't get the saw out in time. There I am with a tree that's been practically cut through, saw caught in the trunk, and a thirty foot tow strap to pull 'er back the right way.

It's about a 75 foot tree. I've been there before. Ain't going there again. Figured next time I'm in town I'll pick up an 80 foot rope and away we'll go.

Then I got to thinking. I've got a back-hoe; maybe I could use the boom to nudge the old elm in the right direction!

Had to wait a few days because as you know the think tank here at Falling Downs has been pretty busy following world events. Like, holy cow, what up with the Santorum show last night? Haven't even got around to blogging about that aberation.

But I finally got around to it. Had to plug the old Allis-Chalmers in because that diesel just doesn't want to start in the cold weather. She hasn't run for a few weeks, so I also had to hook it up to a battery booster. Finally got the old girl fired up, and I was on my way.

Theres about three fields to traverse before I get to the mighty elm, and the last one has a couple of low spots where I normally cross the fence line. I was worried about getting stuck in the low spots. You'd think an eight ton piece of machinery wouldn't get stuck in anything, but you'd be wrong. I decided to build a new path through the stone fence that demarcates the last field.

Those stone fences! What a testament to the work ethic of our pioneer forebearers. Stone fences made out of the rocks and boulders they picked out of the fields by hand the first 75 years that the European settlers colonized the land in these parts. Such a thing is inconceivable today.

I've had about two hours of practice time on the back-hoe, so carving a new gateway through the stone fence takes a little longer than I expected. The Allis will actually throw five hundred pound boulders. Trouble is, I'm not trying to throw them. When I figure I have a pathway cleared, I steer through into the next field and get hung up on some of the boulders I didn't throw.

Well, here's the beauty of a back-hoe! You can actually get hung up on rocks and use the various hydraulics to get un-hung! Trouble is, my learning curve is pretty much a straight horizontal line so far and this is taking way longer than I expect.

Finally make it through, and I arrive at the elm. Only it's no longer there. It's gone over.

Into the swamp.

Shit!

I should have known. We've had some strong winds these last few nights. After pondering the situation I finally decided that I'd try to use the hoe to pull the tree out of the swamp and back to where I could cut her up.

Long story short, I managed to do that, and the mighty Stihl was none the worse for wear after being lodged in the trunk for a few days and then lying there in the snow for a few more.

Unfortunately, by then it was pitch dark. I still wanted to bring Allis back home with me, and I had to move a few more boulders to get across that fence line without getting hung up again. That was quite a deal. I understand now why excavation work is generally done in the daylight hours.

I've beeen bullshitting the farm manager about getting the oil tank filled. Haven't actually followed through. With the big old elm now on terra firma, I figure we've got wood heat clear into June.

By then we won't need it.