Little tree trimming yesterday with Stihl Chain Saws

[fj40charles]

We trimmed my friend's large Live Oak tree yesterday. The base of the Tree is over 4 feet in diameter. Tree was planted in 1968. Three people working completed this job in about 4 hours.

I took my saws to do the job. Stihl MS 200T (14" bar), 026 (16" bar), MS 361 (20" and 25" bar), and Echo PPT 260 Pole saw (14" bar).

Largest branch required using the 25" bar. Used the 20" bar for the medium sized branches, but most of the work was done with 200, 026, and pole saw.

Posting some pictures of before and after.

D'Animal, I know these are twigs by your standards, but this is about as big as we get in Texas.

 

[fj40charles]

more pics...

 

[fj40charles]

For tech...

I purchased Stihl chaps and an Forestry Helmet system. The helmet has a screen to keep crap out of your eyes as a built in ear muffs for noise reduction.

This helmet was very nice when cutting branches/brush on the ground. Kept crap out of my face.

Very comfortable to wear.

Forestry Helmet System - Protective Head & Ear Gear | STIHL

 

[D'Animal]

Nice combination of equipment and looks like a fun was to spend the morning. I'm glad to see you are using the PPE.

Did you take the tree completely down?

Trees grow balanced in realtion to the stabilizing root systems. If you take all the weight off of the street side of the tree, it is now a cantilever and aiming for the house.

 

[fj40charles]

Nice combination of equipment and looks like a fun was to spend the morning. I'm glad to see you are using the PPE.

Did you take the tree completely down?

Trees grow balanced in realtion to the stabilizing root systems. If you take all the weight off of the street side of the tree, it is now a cantilever and aiming for the house.

Some people might consider PPE to be an expense. Using the chain saw is considered to be one of the more dangerous sport, so I figured I needed all the help I can get.

I remember your comment about taking multiple saws to do a job. Much easier and safer to use a small saw for little branches instead of trying to use "one size fits all" approach to the job.

We did not take the tree down. What you see is what we ended up with. My friend wanted to cut the large branches because it was over the neighbor's house and driveway. He was worried about ice collecting on the canopy and breaking should we get a bad snow/ice storm. Personally, I would have thinned out the smaller branches to reduce the canopy density. We discussed this option, but it was not my call to make.