Henry Rifle Forums

I cut this tree down about a year ago. I counted 76 rings.

Now, that is truly awesome! What a day's work that must have been! Thanks for sharing it.

I remember that project. Impressive bunch of wood from the tree.

Very nice! Any plans for it Sir Henry?

RetiredSeabee wrote:I remember that project. Impressive bunch of wood from the tree.

You were around when I was taking it down.

I will often use a round for a background.

That's impressive. I've cut a lot of firewood over the years. But personally don't want to saw anything that needs a bar that long!

I have 4 trees in my yard that were seedlings from the Wye Oak. We planted them in 1993. It was the Maryland state tree and the largest white oak in the US. The trunk was 31'10" in circumference and almost 500 years old. That's a huge tree here in the east. It came down in a storm in 2002.

If you like trees it's worth a web search to see some pics. We have a large print of a photo that was taken by a famous local photographer A. Aubrey Bodine in 1944. http://www.aaubreybodine.com/gallery/de ... k&rtn=spec

Impressive tree, and your firewood project is a "cut-above" what most folk do!

Again, some brief comments about my Dad. When he was a youth/young man in the former Yugoslavia, by trade he was a woodcutter. He knew wood inside out, and loved working with it. I caught that enjoyment, and have cut/split wood over the years for a number of wood stoves and fireplaces we enjoyed.

But when he retired and moved to a fairly large property he enjoyed (5 acres), at times he lost some of the elder trees. He would take them down himself, of course. What was always interesting is what he did with the stump. Never hired anyone to saw it up (into chips) in order to take it out. He got down on his hands & knees and manually dug it out! Never have seen the likes since.

Then he would take the stump base into his workshop for some type of project. Of course, a heavy-duty flat steel cart pulled by his John Deere was the way he move it from the yard to the shop -- heavy stuff. Then he would make tables, ottomans, whatever out of those stumps. My sister has one of his largest tables, and it doesn't move around very much in her house! And how he finished the tops of those stumps was incredible. He measured the depth of the stump, made sure it was the same at all degrees, and perfectly planed the top into an extremely smooth surface with little-to-no imperfections. Same with the base in order to build/attach whatever legs he turned on his lathe. He loved to finish with clear varnish, and that brought out the beauty of the wood grain. Those were some projects to see!

Finally, Dad did one project for me that we gave to my supervisor at my job. My supe had a special rock on his desktop, about 1/2 the size of our famous Henry mugs. He told me it was a piece of the torn-down Berlin Wall. Neat souvenir of a difficult "edifice." Well, I had an idea on how better to display it other than just "sitting" on a desktop. Reluctantly, he let me take the rock, and I showed it to my Dad. He took a larger branch from one his tree takedowns, and made a display case for the rock. He cut and smoothed a base on the branch with an angle maybe 30-35 degrees. Then he dug out by hand a "cavern" into the branch so the rock would fit snugly and completely within the tree branch. Encircling the rock, he smoothed out the front/face of the branch, and cut a piece of clear plexiglass to hold the rock in place. I asked my boss to write a mini-description of his rock, and I made signage on my computer like you do to describe an exhibit in a museum. We placed that description just below the rock underneath the extended bottom of the plexiglass. Of course, my Dad finished the branch "rock holder' with varnish, screwed the plexiglass into the wood to hold the rock securely, and we gave it back to my boss. The special rock sure looked great on his desktop, and he was most astonished and pleased at the unique display case. I know my description above is a little hard to envision -- it was hard to describe for me. Just wish I had a picture of it as the project turned out really neat.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share another memory.
And thanks again, Sir Henry, for some great photos.

what model Stihl were you using

PT7 wrote: He [my Dad] knew wood inside out, and loved working with it.

Wonderful story, PT7. Thanks for sharing it.

CT_Shooter wrote:

PT7 wrote: He [my Dad] knew wood inside out, and loved working with it.

Wonderful story, PT7. Thanks for sharing it.

Squatch too.

Josey Wales wrote:Very nice! Any plans for it Sir Henry?

Some of the rounds are in neighbors back yards as tables. One neighbor is sanding and varnishing some.

JEBar wrote:what model Stihl were you using

Confession time: I paid a crew $1,200 to take it down.

Sir Henry wrote:

JEBar wrote:what model Stihl were you using

Confession time: I paid a crew $1,200 to take it down.

for a tree that size, you didn't come out to bad at all .... we used to run a tree cutting service and use Stihl saws .... I've never run one with a bar the size of the one in the picture, it would be interesting to do so

JEBar wrote:

Sir Henry wrote:

JEBar wrote:what model Stihl were you using

Confession time: I paid a crew $1,200 to take it down.

for a tree that size, you didn't come out to bad at all .... we used to run a tree cutting service and use Stihl saws .... I've never run one with a bar the size of the one in the picture, it would be interesting to do so

Only one guy knew how to run that bar and make a flat cut. He was good at it too.

Sir Henry wrote:

JEBar wrote:

Sir Henry wrote:
Confession time: I paid a crew $1,200 to take it down.

for a tree that size, you didn't come out to bad at all .... we used to run a tree cutting service and use Stihl saws .... I've never run one with a bar the size of the one in the picture, it would be interesting to do so

Only one guy knew how to run that bar and make a flat cut. He was good at it too.

proof of his work can be seen in your pictures of the cross sections .... I'd love to have been able to operate that type of saw/blade with his level of expertise

The guy that did it was only 21 years old. I talked to him and he went out cutting with his father when he was in grade school. His boots cost him $600. They were great for climbing a tree but he could barely walk in them.

Yep Climbing boots are great for climbing but not for walking. Soles have the cush of concrete. I still have my Red Wing pole climbing boots I bought in the early '90's for phone pole work.

We've been getting some tree work done here too. Private road with 5 homes on it. A bunch of white pines line the entry road. About 30 mysteriously died a year or so ago. We think an adjacent property owner sprayed weed killer on them when spraying his overgrown fence. Anyway 3 days ago we had a tree service take them down and get rid of the mess. While they were here several of us decided to get them to do work on our own properties. I think they may be back out tomorrow to take out about 12 big evergreens for me. A couple are dead and a few need thinning. I could do it but I have enough to do right now. Worth the money to save me some time.

Like a lot of things. Tree cutting is young mans work! Especially if it involves climbing with saws.

You mean like this guy?

Exactly! That boy has more brass than my Henry!