Felling a dead tree with a chainsaw - PEP BB woodland.sand.deadchain

A few trees that I cut down this last week for firewood. I only cut down 4 trees, the photo file names are the order in which I loaded them on the trailer.

Felled a dead tree today with a chainsaw as a Boot.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- drop 6” to 8” dead tree with a chainsaw.
- Trees larger than 8" diameter are ok if that's what your woodland care plans require to be cut

To get certified for this BB, post pictures or video (less than 2 min) of the following:  

 - Your chosen tree to cut
 - Action shot about half way through felling the tree showing your wedge/notch cut completed
 - Fallen tree
 - Measurement across the stump showing the diameter

I have a dead box elder tree on the corner of my property near my chicken run. Before it came down and caused any damage, I figure I would get ahead of the curve on a calm day. Christmas Eve was the ticket! I cut the wedge and the tree slid down to the ground and stood against the bigger tree. I did another cut about midway and the top swing down and laid on the brush pile. I ended up limbing it up, I was hoping to salvage some wood but most of the log length was rotted. I think this will end up in some kind of huegal project.

Several aleppo pines have died after a one year drought (240mm in 2023).

My frirst ever tree cutting had to be an easy one.

Since this one had grown in diagonal, there was no doubt about its trajectory.

It had a much larger bark than expected with external carbon marks from the 1985 fire.

This is a dead-standing tree along my canal line. It's got a multi-stem trunk, each at lease 6 inches in diameter. I treated each trunk like a separate tree.

I helped clear some trees during the PTJ for the Humus Well project. Thanks for the instruction, Elliot! And thanks to Eve for the action shots!

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- drop 6” to 8” dead tree with a chainsaw.
- Trees larger than 8" diameter are ok if that's what your woodland care plans require to be cut

To get certified for this BB, post pictures or video (less than 2 min) of the following:  

 - Your chosen tree to cut
 - Action shot about half way through felling the tree showing your wedge/notch cut completed
 - Fallen tree
 - Measurement across the stump showing the diameter

This was a bigger than required tree to fell and I was a bit nervous. It was not as scary as I thought.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
 - drop 6” to 8” dead tree with a chainsaw.
 - Trees larger than 8" diameter are ok if that's what your woodland care plans require to be cut

To get certified for this BB, post pictures or video (less than 2 min) of the following:  

attachment 1   - Your chosen tree to cut
attachment 2   - Action shot about half way through felling the tree showing your wedge/notch cut completed
attachment 3   - Fallen tree
attachment 4   - Measurement across the stump showing the diameter

At Wheaton labs, I cut down a dead tree using a chainsaw.
Below are the photos of the tree to be cut down, the shot of the wedge cut, and the felled tree with the measurement showing at least 6" in diameter.

Yay me! I used a chainsaw for the first time thanks to PEP! I probably would've just let the guys do it, but these badges are inspiring me to try new things.

This dogwood tree once spanned about 40' wide across the front lawn of my childhood home that's being sold. It was planted by my parents when they bought the house, and it died over 50 years later when my dad died. Freaky, and sad.
That's why you see that it's been de-limbed little by little, as sections died, dried & cracked, and became hazardous.

So: An experienced friend taught me how to use the chainsaw, and he also got on a ladder and removed some bulky outstretched limbs that may have caused the tree to fall unpredictably. I practiced on those on the ground, and then I cut the trunk myself.
I was told to make the back cut near the top of the wedge cut, because if I made it even with the bottom of the wedge the tree might kick back when it fell, especially because of the weight of the oddly outstretched twisty limbs and the already-leaning-angle of the tree; the tree doesn't go up, it goes out in crazy directions, therefore some limbs were removed for safety purposes before I cut the trunk. The main point was accomplished: to learn to use a chainsaw, learn about the angles, get it to fall where I wanted, the safety of it all, and make the main cut.