Really Paul!
Did they load those fatties onto a truck and cart them off or what?
They sure brought all the right equipment with them.

I've got one other water oak that needs to be brought down too. Not nearly as big or as sprawling those others I posted and in a clearer area to drop it. Tempting to deal with it my self, almost. It may have some usable timber in it. May try to rig up an Alaskan mill for it, again need a larger chainsaw. I'm working my way up gradually.

Cheers Richard

I just got a quote to take down two oak trees in my backyard leaning towards the house. Same $3200 as Paul but mine are about half as tall and round😒 Seems like I need to get more quotes.

They used a truck that had it's own boom and claw mounted between the cab and the box. I was going to get a pic of it but he got away before I could get one.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0bMU3hOzY

Next time call this guy. Save you a ton of money.

Climbers (at least around here) are a helluva lot cheaper than bringing out the expensive equipment....but I ain't doin' that...they're skilled and nutz ;). Tree quotes are like car salesmen....some are honest...others well....

And city rates verses "country" rates...BIG difference here...YMMV. Honestly...I would always find a good climber/team... if at all possible...maybe that's just here...I dunno???

Yer gonna split those twigs ;)? Ain't gonna matter much....my hands don't like splitting no mo'...but a sharp axe, wedge(s), splitting maul, sledgehammers, hydrauluc wood splitter....whatever it takes. I split a 4' huge red oak...storm uprooted by the 20' rootball into chunks small enough to haul a few months back....only a dozen or so huge ones, and no all at once....no mas...I have retired :)

I had an 80 foot blue spruce crack during Hurricane Floyd back in '99. It wasn't too near the house but would have taken out the power grid for the whole street. So the arborist brought in a crane, secured the top of the trunk after limbing, then just straight cut the bottom and lay the trunk down into the street for slicing. $1900 including grinding the stump.

that must have cost you a small fortune..

Where I live, the topography of some areas is changing due to the accumulation of wood chips throughout the county.

A county crew was taking down four giant, nearly-dead silver maples. Each one easily 40". The 20-yard dumptruck was brimming so it needed emptying. 20 yards is too much for my little loader so I had to pass. Free, delivered.

Actually even some of those pieces are a little big for the burn box in the stove I'm getting set up. This little sucker must weigh over 300 pounds. Lots of cast iron and jacketed with stone pieces.

I'll have plenty of big stuff to deal with when the big oaks come down.

But for now it's about getting this small hardwood ready for the stove.

Cheers Richardhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1518969744.jpg

I heated exclusively with wood for five years up here. There was at least one constant woodfire in the house for 7 months each year.

Me and the kids would play in our PJ's while just outside, with a 3/4 of an inch of transparent separation from us, were extremely dangerous mid-winter blizzards. The southern-facing wall of the entire kitchen, living/dining room was glass.

I have a dead pine out front about 30' tall maybe 8" in diameter that needs to come down this year. I have 3 60-70' pines about 24" diameter, within 20' of the house that shade it well, but also drop limbs/cones/needles all over the ground and roof. I have to clean gutters several times a year.

If you don't mind sharing, what did processing the 2 trees cost you ?....I haven't started getting quotes yet.

Pine wood makes wonderful camp fires, or backyard fire pit wood, because the sap is like an accelerant with lot's of popping/snapping, and a good hot (short) fire. I have burnt a small bit of pine in my indoor woodburner, but be careful about the creasote that can build up in the chimney from burning it.

Any tips on how to find a climber?

I got a quote to take down 5 trees a few weeks ago that was around $7000. 2 huge pines, two very large sweetgums and a storm damaged water oak. Access is difficult and 4 are near my house. I really don't mind the ground work part and I was actually researching climbing the water oak myself until my wife found out my plans and put a stop to it.

The other risk is carbon monoxide. Our fireplace does not draw very well and sometimes getting it started ends up with the smoke going the wrong way namely in to my rec room. With marginal carbon monoxide poisoning that was the last time I used the fireplace. :eek:

Try opening a window just a crack. The chimley might draw better.

What about this for the first few minutes?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1519061514.jpg

(I think this is how it works)
1). If you have a small starter fire in a large cold chimney, the heat and vapors go up and quench on the sides of the stack and then fall back down into the fireplace/room. So you need to burn kindling and tinder at first, and maintain a hot clean fire, until the entire square tube warms up enough.

2). The flue/choke divides the verticle tube so the fireplace area heats up quicker. Thus this mass of hot air keeps an upwards pressure and prevents reversing of flow.

$3200 including stump grinding and complete haul-off.