From huge fallen tree into firewood

phoebe1989seb

Hi guys,

Just looking for some advice please on getting a huge fallen tree sawn into manageable sized chunks as economically as possible

Backstory: the tree in question (a beech, approx 60' in length, 2.5' diameter) had fallen some years before we purchased our property a year ago. The branches/crown were already long gone.

Currently it is cutting off an area we want to get on with taking/landscaping in the spring, but more importantly we want it cut, stored and seasoning for use as firewood for the future.

Our - small - chainsaw recently died and we're intending to replace, but in the interim someone we know has offered to cut the trunk into manageable chunks when the weather improves. He reckons it's a single day's work and will charge £100.

DH will then use his axe to cut into log sized pieces.

Just wondering if this sounds feasible or if we should get a real Pro in/what the likely timescale/cost of that might be?

Also, if a non-pro chainsaw of the type DH will get, is man enough for the task? Have seen YouTubers make it look easy when I'm sure it's not, lol!

Pic of (part of) tree....

https://ibb.co/r7vwHZq

Thanks in advance!

Dean000000

If you are concerned about a b&q domestic chainsaw ‘not being man enough’ or likely to break after one use, perhaps consider hiring one for the day from the likes of HSS hire.

Tell the person what you intend to cut, and in reality the depreciation on the chain/blade/motor no longer becomes your problem.

Plus, just checked online and you can get one for the day for £30 (list price) or less if you know someone with an account....

Davesnave

A tree that's been down that long will be harder to cut than a newly, fallen one. By the apparent size of it, a Titan saw from Screwfix isn't going to be anywhere near long enough to get through it either.

The other unknown is how feasible it will be to split the rounds produced without having a heart attack! You need to specify their thickness if someone else does the cutting work. Beech is OK to split, but there will be knotty parts....

Personally, I'd take up the offer from the person who feels capable of cutting the thing, as £100 is cheap, considering the potential for things to go Pete Tong. Indeed, all you need is a gap cut through for access if it proves difficult to turn the whole trunk to firewood. The beetles will love you forever too if you do that!

Justagardener

Beech is great for burning, so well worth cutting up. It is hard wood though so will give the chainsaw a hammering. Definitely hire the right size saw and consider hiring a lot splitter too it will make short work of that job. Cutting that tree into rounds and logging with an axe I would say is 3 days hard work. Probably a day and a bit with splitter.

DaftyDuck

Someone we know... might not have insurance to work with a saw on your land and you are responsible.

Extreme, I know, but worth realising!

Large, fallen, slightly rotten, slightly sunk in ground, muddy based trees are a nightmare for the underskilled. It also might be much harder to split now. What would I do? ....

I'd do it myself, but I'm getting pretty practiced. If I couldnt, I would make sure whoever did do it knew fully what they were doing, and they weren't a general gardener, for example.

We are running a chainsaw course at my place soon: wanna come along? Tutor will be brought in, certainly not me! We are about as far East of you as possible

Rotor

Dean000000 wrote: »

If you are concerned about a b&q domestic chainsaw ‘not being man enough’ or likely to break after one use, perhaps consider hiring one for the day from the likes of HSS hire.

Tell the person what you intend to cut, and in reality the depreciation on the chain/blade/motor no longer becomes your problem.

Plus, just checked online and you can get one for the day for £30 (list price) or less if you know someone with an account....

I can't find a chainsaw for £30 - on the HSS site it is £89 ( have you quoted the 'extra day' rate) and the saw they offer would be too small anyway
A quick poke around the hire sites on google and I didn't find a site with a 20" or longer blade at all

As someone else said after laying on the ground for so long it will be embedded in the soil and if it is too large to turn then a blunted chain as you try to cut the last 10% of each cut is inevitable ; so you'll need to be skilled with the sharpening file.

I don't think you have too many choices really - pay the £100 or try to find someone cheaper.

I wouldn't expect to be there more than an hour as there's nothing to take away but ther's a grave risk of a badly blunt saw to touch up in the workshop

EDIT - Just re-read the first post - if tree is 60' long then being there 'an hour' may be a little optimistic

Davesnave

Not all of the tree is neatly resting on the ground, so the other thing to be wary about would be gauging the cuts wrongly and ending-up with a saw nicely jammed between the two parts squeezing it!

phoebe1989seb

Thanks everyone

I forgot to say I had a look on Brandon Tool Hire website the other day and by the time you take into account all the add-ons it was around £100 iirc, although I think I was assuming we'd get it for two days.....

Trouble with the 'someone' we know is that he is notoriously full of BS and will no doubt stretch the job out/try to charge us more. It was DH that had the conversation with him and he may have misinterpreted what the other bloke said, ie, he may have said £100 meaning per day and DH assumed he meant it would only take one....

Dave, definitely concerned about heart attacks :eek:

Dafty, sounds good and would love to, but as you say it's a bit far! Actually, could do with running one here then everyone could practice on my trunk, lol!!!

We had a friend visit in the summer whose family are/were CF Anderson timber co. He was surprisingly knowledgeable considering he's never worked with timber personally and did make all the warning sounds you have expressed. Wish he lived locally - not east Sussex - so he could be on hand when the timber is sawn!

Think we'll seek out other quotes before engaging the other guy. I can see why the POs never removed it during their ownership now, lol!

phoebe1989seb

Meant to say, belated Happy Birthday Dave :bdaycake:

howardtog

Telephone a competent tree surgeon and ask for a quotation or his day rate.
I had a recently fallen beech tree trunk about 30ft length but much thicker 4ft tapering to 2.5ftand about six large limbs.( Your tree60 ft long but only 2.5 feet diameter seems a little thin) .It took my qualified ex professional tree surgeon now in IT!) friend and me as his labourer a day to cut it and limbs into 7" rounds.
Theres a lot of work in levering the trunk to get a full clean cut.We used a gallon of fuel in the day. The Stihl chain saw seemed none the worse but the human labour was tired!
If your man is qualified and insured then £100 for what is likely to be a full days work is extremely good value.

gamston

that size of tree, unless you are willing to take your time in cutting it up (getting your chainsaw) I would do as howardtog said get quota from tree surgeon and get it cut into moveable sizes
then get a electric or petrol log splitter, depending on the size of the cut logs you may be better with an upright log splitter, I have one of these FOREST MASTER FM8 5 Ton Electric LOG SPLITTER ok if there are 2 of you to lift heavy log up, then 1 to hold 1 to work the log splitter