Woodland management

[mel b 2,231]

1 hour ago, low plains drifter said:

Another day of rest

First few pics are branches stick in the ground from felled trees, gone about a foot deep, wouldn't fancy one of them in the back of the Gregory  

Bit of a tidy up, building the habitat piles etc

 

You don't half like hard graft dude

[low plains drifter 10,339]

1 hour ago, mel b said:

You don't half like hard graft dude

Think I'm about done for now Mel, few lighter sessions over autumn and winter, clear any windblown trees if any more hurricanes occur etc

[mel b 2,231]

24 minutes ago, low plains drifter said:

Think I'm about done for now Mel, few lighter sessions over autumn and winter, clear any windblown trees if any more hurricanes occur etc

I've got a few hard days coming up with trees that are growing on a slope,  and have half fallen down with the wet weather.  I'm not looking forward to it , and I'm waiting for the leaves to drop before I crack on with it.

[low plains drifter 10,339]

4 minutes ago, mel b said:

I've got a few hard days coming up with trees that are growing on a slope,  and have half fallen down with the wet weather.  I'm not looking forward to it , and I'm waiting for the leaves to drop before I crack on with it.

What are they conifers?

[mel b 2,231]

4 minutes ago, low plains drifter said:

What are they conifers?

Mainly relatively young oak trees. One of them is slowly getting lower and lower across the lane that runs along my woodland,  so that one has to be the first to go.

[low plains drifter 10,339]

3 minutes ago, mel b said:

Mainly relatively young oak trees. One of them is slowly getting lower and lower across the lane that runs along my woodland,  so that one has to be the first to go.

That's a shame, being oak trees, sounds like snaggy work

[mel b 2,231]

2 minutes ago, low plains drifter said:

That's a shame, being oak trees, sounds like snaggy work

Hopefully it won't be too bad.  It'll mainly be polesaw work . Simple enough , but hard going on your arms.

I had to do a bit of trimming of oak branches , that had grown , across the lane , were resting heavily on phone lines , and almost touching power lines .

That made my ass pucker a bit .

[low plains drifter 10,339]

2 minutes ago, mel b said:

Hopefully it won't be too bad.  It'll mainly be polesaw work . Simple enough , but hard going on your arms.

I had to do a bit of trimming of oak branches , that had grown , across the lane , were resting heavily on phone lines , and almost touching power lines .

That made my ass pucker a bit .

What do you reckon about the oak trunks, will they be big enough to mill a few planks out of?

[mel b 2,231]

Just now, low plains drifter said:

What do you reckon about the oak trunks, will they be big enough to mill a few planks out of?

Not on the ones that I'm planning on clearing.  They're just stragglers really that have grown in the shade of the larger oaks. I might be lucky and get the odd post , but they'll mainly be firewood. 

I do mill the odd few planks with a chainsaw , I just do it freehand.

I bought a cheap alaskan mill , and chainsaw with a 24" bar.  It's OK for soft wood , but the oak was just too much for it.

[mel b 2,231]

[mel b 2,231]

[mel b 2,231]

[mel b 2,231]

The top bench is only made from scaffold board , with an oak top.

I'm finding oak gets heavier as I'm getting older. The chunky bench must weigh close to 250kg , and I had to carry it up the hill in three pieces.

[low plains drifter 10,339]

7 minutes ago, mel b said:

Not on the ones that I'm planning on clearing.  They're just stragglers really that have grown in the shade of the larger oaks. I might be lucky and get the odd post , but they'll mainly be firewood. 

I do mill the odd few planks with a chainsaw , I just do it freehand.

I bought a cheap alaskan mill , and chainsaw with a 24" bar.  It's OK for soft wood , but the oak was just too much for it.

There's a furniture maker up here, he does the milling, not sure what saw he uses, Stihl 881 probably or the big one from Husky, I know he makes oak and walnut dining tables etc so will be using some decent kit, aye you'd need the engine and the right kind of chain for the heavy grained wood

[low plains drifter 10,339]

8 minutes ago, mel b said:

Nice grain pattern in that Mel