GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: chainsaw

Is This How To Cut Down A Tree? – GF Video
When you are learning how to cut down a tree, its best to start with trees smaller than this one, but even after doing this for years, I still make mistakes. Thankfully, nothing bad happened this time. Watch the video to see. And then check out the safety gear that is a must have for chainsaw safety.

Here are the basics of how to cut down a tree:
- Use and wear safety gear. (list here)
- Plan the cut, study the tree.
- Plan your escape route.
- Use a sharp chainsaw chain, new is best.
- Wedge your back cut.
- Be very careful.
There are many posts on how to cut down a tree, here I’ll touch on some of the techniques I use.

If you don’t wear safety gear, you need your head examined.

Plan your exit from the tree 45 degrees from the back of the tree. Make sure you have a clear path, with no obstacles to trip on. Turn off your chainsaw after making your cuts and before you start your exit.

I use a 70 degree wedge cut that cuts the front 20% of the tree. The wedge faces the direction you want the tree to fall. Some will cut the bottom of the wedge flat level, I think the longer the tree stays hinged, the more control it has, so I cut the bottom part of the wedge lower.

Not a perfect hinge, but it worked.

The back cut is ideally about an inch above the center of the wedge cut. In this chainsaw video, that didn’t happen. Going forward I am going to chalk or spray paint the cut lines on the tree before I start. When you are actually cutting the tree, it can be hard to make sure the chainsaw stays level.

I use plastic tree felling wedges to keep the tree from pinching the saw or worse, falling back on itself. You can use wedges for several types of tree felling cuts. Be sure to use plastic wedges that are designed to be used with chainsaws, metal wedges will damage the chainsaw if you happen to touch saw to wedge while working the tree.

A sharp chainsaw chain is so important. Dull saws can hurt you and the saw, and hamper your tree felling. I will buy a new chain for a large tree.

Learn about the must-have safety gear when felling trees here

If you have the least bit of hesitation, don’t do this. Hire a professional to cut down the tree. You can then go in and cut it up for firewood.
April 29, 2016
Backyard Stump Removal

The large mulberry tree had to come out. The neighbors complained about the berries that littered their yards each year, and got tracked into their homes by the feet of kids and dogs.

So down came the tree, and what was left for me to deal with was about 5 feet of tree. Time for the 20″ bar chainsaw and a lot of sawdust.

This tree was one tree that had two limbs right at the base, and those limbs kinda fused at the bottom of the tree, and it was my job to cut this as flat as I could. I’m not good at level cuts – it always seems to look good while you are cutting, but by the time you get to the other side of the cut, its not.

Why is that?

To keep the bar of the chainsaw from getting pinched by the cut portion of the tree, I drove a wedge in to keep the cut open. I had forgotten my plastic wedges, so a metal wedge had to do. One usually uses plastic wedges so if the chain touches the wedge, the chain is not damaged. Metal wedges are bad for chainsaws. But I paid close attention to keeping the saw away from the wedge.

I did do the smart thing and bought two new chains for the saw before starting this project. It is amazing how quickly a chainsaw will cut through a tree with a new chain. wow.

Plus look the wood shavings it left behind, a clear sign of a sharp chain. If your saw is putting out dust rather than flakes, its time for a new or sharpened chain.

We have several chainsaw videos here for your to check out:

August 15, 2014
Cutting Firewood With A Chainsaw – GF Video

We dropped a tree that was dead last fall, of course we made a video about that click here, and we needed to cut the tree up into firewood for the wood stove at the camp, so I had my phone camera with me while we worked. So out come the chainsaws, safety gear, and camera. It took a while to cut this hardwood cherry up, dead wood can wear out your chain quick.

In this video we use a peavey to move the tree and the logs. Its a great tool to have, makes it much easier to roll stuff and save your back. We talk some about using the peavey here.

The most important thing when cutting firewood is to keep in mind what it is going to be used for. This is for a woodstove, so we measured the wood stove opening and then marked the tree accordingly to make sure each log was just the right length to fit in the stove. Don’t want to do all that work and then find out the firewood wont fit, not a good thing.

This tree had been dead a year, so it was good to be split and ready to burn. If you are cutting down a fresh tree, let the firewood dry a year, I say. We used a hyrdraulic wood splitter to break up these big logs, there’s a video about that in the links below.

I keep two or three newly sharpened chains with me when cutting down trees or firewood. There’s nothing worse than a dull chain, your saw will overheat, and you wear out your saw and yourself. Chains are cheap, buy a few, and sharpen them regularly.

Always keep safety in mind when using a chainsaw, they are dangerous tools. Note that I am wearing a helmet, ear protection, eye protection, chainsaw chaps, and steel toed shows. Links below to sources for these items. Be smart and be safe.

Click Here To Watch All Our Chainsaw Videos

An all in one helmet is the #1 piece of gear you need:

Click Here to Shop For Chain Saw Gear

March 10, 2014
How to buy a farm, Tyler buys a small farm – GF Radio 327

Tyler tells his story of how to buy a farm. Tyler recently bought a small farm with a 3 stall barn and house on 2 acres, and he tells us about the house buying process. If you are thinking of buying a small farm or just buying a house with some land, or just want to hear us talk, listen on.

Tyler walks us through his house purchase, and how important it was to hire a good home inspector, and work with a knowledgeable realtor. Tyler’s new house is called a flip, meaning it was bought by a developer or contractor at a lower price, perhaps at a foreclosure, and has fixed up the house for resale.

A flip sale may not sound like a good idea, but thinking about it in another way, you’ve already got someone to do a bunch of the repairs that need doing.

Now being a farmer, Tyler went out and bought a chainsaw, and did the right thing and bought chainsaw chaps and safety gear. Good for him.

The Garden Tractor Dilemma: what to tractor to buy? and what attachments. Eric weighs in on whether to buy a rototiller that attaches to the back of the tractor or to get a standalone rototiller. Eric votes for a stand alone rototiller, the back of tractor rototiller seems like more work.

We move on to storm chasing, as Tyler is CEO of Allison House, the severe weather data company. Rick asks Tyler about the radarscope app , and what is the difference between the different radars available on the app. Tyler and Rick go into probably more detail than the average GF listener wants to know about radar tilts. But if you are into storm chasing, this might be interesting. Tyler uses big words like ‘step function improvement’ . Let me know.

January 21, 2014
Chainsaw Cutting Firewood

Chainsaw Cutting Firewood this weekend, we dropped a dead cherry tree and we’re now using a chainsaw to cut the tree into firewood. For this to work, we use a timberjack, also called a peavey, to move the tree sections. Save your back, buy one of these chainsaw tools!

Chainsaw Cutting Made Easy

A timberjack, aka a peavey, is a simple tool that helps you wrestle large trees and logs. To cut help the chainsaw cutting firewood, it allows you to cut 2/3 of the way through the logs, then turn the logs over and finish the cuts. The whole goal here is to keep the chainsaw cutting to avoid the dirt under the log. Keep your chainsaw chain out of the dirt! Dirt in the chainsaw chain, bar, and clutch is a bad thing.

In the photos you can see how we have first cut the tree into sections, we then did the 2/3 cuts through the logs. Be sure to measure the firewood length. How wide is your fireplace or wood stove? Firewood for wood stoves is usually not as large as fireplace firewood. Learn from my mistakes on this one…

I cut this tree into manageable lengths first by finding parts of the tree that weren’t sitting right on the ground. In other words, where the tree isn’t making contact with the ground. This allowed me to make a full cut while keeping the chain and bar out of the dirt.

Read more about using a timberjack or peavey in this post here.

Here are videos we have made about using a chainsaw:

Cutting Down A Tree with a Chainsaw

Using A Chainsaw to Cut Firewood

How to ( Or How Not To ) Cut Down A Tree

You can buy a timberjack here

October 6, 2013
Cut Down A Tree With A Chain Saw : GF Video

How do you cut down a tree with a chain saw? Watch this GardenFork video. Watch us cut down a tree with a chainsaw safely. Be very careful when using a chainsaw or tree felling, if you don’t know what you are doing, hire a professional.

Tree felling like this is pretty straightforward, there were no houses nearby, and the tree was already leaning the way we wanted it to drop. The wedge cut was fairly shallow, and the back cut was a bit off, it should have been a more straight cut just above the wedge cut.

Going forward, we will be using more plastic wedges, which are driven into the back cut as the cut goes deeper into the tree. The wedges keep the tree from binding the saw, and help to push it in the direction you want it to drop. Do not use metal wedges. The metal wedges can damage the chain of your chain saw if they come into contact with each other.

And again, safety is paramount here, watch all our how to chainsaw safely videos here. Chain saw chaps are a must, I recently saved my leg from a nasty cut from the chainsaw because I had chainsaw chaps on. The chaps have a material in them that will bind the saw if the saw tears open the chaps, which are protecting your legs.

I use an all in one helmet that has a face shield and ear protection, plus i wear steel toed boots, long sleeves, and gloves. Be Careful OK?

Click here to watch all our chainsaw vids and related posts here

Let me know any questions or comments below:

July 19, 2013
A Logging Tool For Part Time Loggers

After the hurricane, there were several trees down on the road to the camp, so I rounded up a few friends and drove up to the first downed tree, a large white pine.

One friend brought along what he called a Peavey, which looks like a large tool from the 19th century, which it probably is. But its an amazing tool to have when cutting down trees.

You don’t need to be a logger to own a peavey, its super handy to have when cutting trees or clearing an area. What the peavey does is make moving logs and downed trees very easy.

The Peavey has a large hook and a pointed end, and using simple leverage, allows you to move logs or turn a tree that is lying on its side. You engage the hook on the side of the log and push up on the handle. The engaged hook allows you to turn the log, thus moving it. With practice you can turn the log with the peavey too.

Engage the hook of the peavey, then turn the log

With the peavey, you can cut a downed tree into lengths. First cut 2/3 of the way through the tree at firewood sized intervals, then using the peavey, you can rotate the tree and finish the cuts without getting the chainsaw chain in the dirt. Keeping your chainsaw chain out of the dirt is very important, it dulls and damages the chain.

I have a variant of the peavey called a timberjack, its a peavey with a T bar attached that allows you to raise a log or tree up off the ground to cut it up without getting the chainsaw chain near the ground. Neat tools. To order a peavey, click here

Do you use logging tools when cutting up wood? Let us know below:

November 6, 2012
Chainsaw Wont Start – Chain Saw Repair : GF Video

Chainsaw wont start? Wondering how to fix a chainsaw and the chainsaw to start? Watch our how to fix a chainsaw video and you will be on your way. Chainsaw repair is not hard, and if you’re ready to go out in the yard and cut down some trees, your chainsaw has probably been sitting in the shop all winter. Follow these simple chainsaw tune up steps, and you will have your chainsaw running in a few minutes.

We have to talk about chainsaw safety here as well. Chainsaws are the most dangerous tool a homeowner can own without a license. I have a few friends with scars from using chainsaws improperly. Chainsaw chaps, a helmet, face shield, eye protection, steel toed boots are all mush-haves for safety.

Sharp chainsaw chains is key in cutting up trees and cutting firewood, you can sharpen your own chainsaw chains, but I suggest you have them done at your local small engine repair shop, they have the right equipment to set the correct cutting angle, a hand file can’t do that.

There’s more tree felling in my future, we have a few white pines on our property that need to come down, lest they come down on our house or garage, one of them is already splitting down the trunk, so we need to deal with that one soon.

Watch all our how to cut down a tree chainsaw videos here

June 12, 2012
Always Outsource Floor Sanding, OK? : GardenFork Radio

How not to sand a wood floor is just part of this week’s GardenFork Radio. We also talk about hydroponics, aquaponics, composting, chainsaw safety, and some new viewer mail! Call our Listener Voicemail 860-740-6938

Mike's Bag Garden

June 30, 2011
How to Chainsaw Tree Logs

Here Eric shows you how to use a chainsaw to cut up tree logs into firewood. Keep in mind Eric is not a professional lumberjack, just your average DIY guy who likes to use his chainsaw to cut down trees, and cut the logs to fireplace length. Use this information at your own risk. Always follow all the safety instructions that came with your chainsaw.

Proper placement of the chainsaw relative to your body, especially your legs and feet is real important here. Think about how the chainsaw may slip down, or up and what part of your body it may hit, which would be a bad thing. What may seem like a comfortable position to hold the saw, especially while you are kneeling to cut up trees, may not be the best way to do something. Steel toed boots are a must have when cutting firewood.

A sharp chainsaw chain is mandatory, if your chainsaw is spitting out fine sawdust while cutting, its time to switch out the chain with a sharp one. A sharp chain makes large wood shavings when its cutting, not fine wood dust.

You can watch all our how to cut down a tree chainsaw videos here
Do you have some chainsaw adventures to share? or some more safety tips on the proper use of a chainsaw? please let us know below

June 23, 2011
How ( or how not to ) cut down a tree with a chainsaw

Safety First when using a chainsaw, it is the most dangerous tool one can own without having to be licensed or have a permit to carry.

A few quick tips: wear ear and eye protection, steel toed boots, work gloves, and if possible, a hard hat. Read the instructions that came with your saw, the booklet that came with my Stihl is quite good.

Full disclosure: I am not a professional lumberjack, just a DIY guy who wants to get people to pay attention to the proper way to use a chainsaw. One thing that is not in the video, but you should wear a helmet with a face shield and ear protection built in. I bought one for about $45, so go do it, one piece of equipment takes care of your head, eyes, and ears.

There are more than a few opinions on how to cut down a tree, I’ve changed the method seen in this video, in this how to cut down a tree video, i use a slant cut on the back side of the tree, and i now use a straight cut just above the front wedge cut. Slant cuts can cause the tree to twist when it falls, which is a very bad thing.

We have more tree felling, cutting down a tree, chainsaw use videos here on the site, watch them all.

February 1, 2007