[bond3737]

Hey all had a few questions for you all on a scenario I hadn't run into before and thought I'd ask the pros how they would have handled it. I sawed up a rather large log of FBE today on my buddies farm and though most of it went pretty well I'm always lookin for ways to make things better. The tree came down in a storm and ripped the roots up. I'd say the first 5 feet of the tree were surrounded by earth 9 or so inches up the radius of about 18" in diameter. The rest was in the air and easy to cut. I brought a shovel and marked my lines and then excavated down underneath the log where the cut would go as best I could. Though this helped out a great deal I still think I hit dirt several times when I came through the cut at the bottom even though I took my time n tried my best not to let it happen. Time to resharpen the saw and damage to the saw and chain are obviously my big concerns. But also time management in terms of what is the fastest saw friendly way to go about a problem like this. What do you all think? thanks in advance,
Bond

 

[ETWW]

Without a way to lift the butt log out of the dirt, you did about as well as you could by digging underneath where the cut was made. Even then, there would still be dirt in the bark and dirt quickly dulls a saw chain (band blades, too).

I would probably have left the portion buried in the dirt but then, I have access to lots of trees for sawing my own lumber and would rather sacrifice a few feet of log rather than get my saw chain in the dirt which is hard on the chain, bar and sprocket.

 

[Post Oakie]

Every log is different. Salvaging blow-downs is some of the most difficult logging there is. There can be all kinds of stresses in the log that make it do strange things. Here are a couple of possibilities:

Cut to one log length above the roots first. With a little luck, the root ball and log will stand up, and you can cut it like a regular tree.

It takes special cutting techniques to cut a log that is supported on one end, to keep it from splitting. One way is to cut from the bottom up about 1/3 of the way, then from the top down. I always keep plastic wedges on hand for when the saw gets pinched, and have reduced more than one wedge to shavings.

Keep an old chain on hand (that doesn't mean dull) for cutting that last bit near the dirt. You'll find that a rounded edge chain does better in dirty wood than a full chisel or semi-chisel. Here again, it often helps to have plastic wedges to open up the cut.

CAUTION: Those stumps can stand back up in the hole with amazing speed. I know of one tragic event, though I'm sure there have been others.

Best of luck.