Drop 6” to 8” dead standing tree with a bow saw - PEP BB woodland.sand.deadbow

It was a beautiful fall day here on my homestead today so I decided to take advantage of it and do some tree work, harvesting a bit of bounty that will heat my home eventually!  I have a stand of ash trees that have been all but killed by the emerald ash borer.  Technically most of the these trees aren't dead since after the borer kills the above ground part the root life of the tree works to put out new suckers and shoots.  I'm trying to save some of the healthiest suckers, in essence coppicing the tree.  So far the suckers haven't been attacked by the bug.  Anyway, as far as the job of cutting the tree down is concerned though these are dead trees where I have to watch out for brittle limbs wanting to drop on me and the like.

I'll include 3 photos.  One of the tree I'm dropping with the hand tools I intend to use, a cross cut saw, a bow saw, and loppers to trim back some of the suckers that would be in my way.  One shot will be of the wedge cut out, before I began the back cut.  The last shot will be of the downed tree.

Added note, I did most of the work with the crosscut saw.  Using it alone I can now see why a 2 person saw would be a huge improvement for this type of work.  Much of my effort was spent trying to hold the weight of the saw at the right angle until I had it sunk into the tree deep enough where the tree itself supported the weight.  A second person on the other end would have eliminated, or at least greatly reduced this issue.

Edited to note:  Thanks for the BB certification and advice on notching.  I seem to have a hard time getting my notches how I'd like, never getting the angle wide enough.  After doing the tree work today I think I realize what I could do differently.  Instead of starting with the flat cut then struggling to get the angled one to meet it I should try doing the angle cut first where it will then be easier to line up the flat one to meet it.  If the weather is good tomorrow I'll try this approach on the next one.

I was asked to try out the katana boy saw, time to drop a dead tree!

Here's  my dead tree felled.

How about this?

Here is my BB submission!

Tree Standing with my Saw:


Wedge Cut:


Video of me cutting back against the wedge cut:


Measurement:


Tree Down:

I took the plunge and bought myself 5 acres.  Much more to follow.  Hopefully I can make a full thread out of my future progress, in the meantime...

The folks in ages past must of been jacked, this was a workout (this an many others).  Where it was cut had some rot and came away when I was sawing so the dimensional picture is circumference (c/pi = d)... roughly 6.4"

Exercise is a great thing! Still in the woods as I post this.

Here is my submission for the Woodland Care - Sand - Drop a Dead Standing Tree with a Hand Saw BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
  - Your chosen tree to cut
  - Action shot about halfway through felling the tree showing your wedge cut completed
  - Fallen tree
  - Measurement across the stump showing the diameter