It was a different kind of woodworking this weekend. Actually I didn't do anything other than just watch and hope nothing went wrong and landed on either the house or the shop. I had this large maple tree between the house and the shop that had five trucks coming out of it. They went out in different direction and some over the shop and some over the house and one over the deck. We noticed some bad places on the tree and decided it was time for it to come down before it came down in the wrong place. The canopy on this tree must have stretched over 60'.

 

 

So taking it down was going to require someone with equipment to get up there and take in down in pieces.

 

 

They got started on it around 4:00 Friday afternoon and with a chipper on site they got rid of all of the branches as they were cut and dropped down.

 

 

Moving around from place to place, up and down he surgically removed the branches that were hanging out over the house and deck.

 

 

By the end of light on Friday they had it down to main trunks.

 

 

I had planned on getting the main trunks cut into  8' to 10' lengths and have the cut into lumber. But as we took them down the center of every piece was rotten. At one point when he was cutting through a section of the trunk, the saw was throwing water out as it cut. The inside was full of water. So I am glad we got it down.

 

 

Now it was just take it all the way to the ground and get ready to have the stump ground up.

 

 

It was sure sad to see it come down but so glad I don't have to worry about it being on or through the shop or house. Just wish some of it would have been good enough to save.

 

Well this week it will be back to real woodworking.

 

 

That was a big tree! Too bad about the rotted center. Maybe you could make something on the lathe from some of the trunk pieces so that the tree "lives on".

Well I thought I was going to get to do that Lew.

 

I put a few pieces aside and told them I was going to use them for turning. I had to leave for a while on Saturday afternoon and when I came back, they have cleaned up every piece of wood and hauled it off. Even the pieces I set aside. So it is all gone.

 

I was going to turn a few pieces just to have but oh well.....

John,

 

That's what most of my woodworking consists of.

We had a large Maple about 20' from the front of the house, and one windy day I saw the tree twisting in the wind.

The next day I got in the lift to check it out, and it was hollow from about 15' up down to the ground.   

The trunk was about 3' diameter, with only about  4" of the outside left.   

John,

 

That's what most of my woodworking consists of.

We had a large Maple about 20' from the front of the house, and one windy day I saw the tree twisting in the wind.

The next day I got in the lift to check it out, and it was hollow from about 15' up down to the ground.   

The trunk was about 3' diameter, with only about  4" of the outside left.   

 

 

When they cut it off at the ground there was a hole in the middle about 10" in diameter.

 

The stump is now gone so I am looking at adding on to the side of the shop now.