Happy Heavenly Birthday To Dear Old Aunt Bessye...,

...  born on this day in 1892. The only reason I always remember her birthday is that Dad was born on October 27.

Sixteen Is A Scary Number For Schip People

 

We had three sixteen year old Schipperkes in the house at the same time recently. Old Buster has been with us for more than a year as a permanent foster, and he is now showing signs of dementia. Sapphire, on Susan's lap recently lost her owner, and friends of the family are fostering her. We had her for twelve days and gave her royal treatment because she was suffering from heart failure. Blayde, also sixteen is suffering from a collapsing trachea, so he requires a gentle touch to keep him going. Two days after we returned Sapphire to her regular foster, she apparently had a stroke and soon passed. Our old Skipper made it to eighteen, and we hear of a few Schips that get past twenty, but sixteen is the number that puts me on edge.

Plenty To Do!

 

We pulled all the posts and trellises out of the garden, burned the cardboard mulch and dry vines, tilled it for next spring, and put away all the hardware in the north barn. Today Susan has been cutting peppers and vacuum sealing them for the freezer. Tonight we split a load of firewood after sunset.  We are rapidly building our stacks of wood, and maybe we can coast through January and February. We will be cutting more black cherry and cherrybark oak this week, and we have three standing dead black oaks with dry wood up in the tops. Those should make some good chainsaw videos.  "No rest for the wicked, and the righteous need none." so Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam: Case 150 Pulling The Sled

 Pulling a load is the whole idea behind the design of the Case 150. You really need to watch for Kory Anderson's posts and take in a show with his big engine. I wonder when he will begin marketing casting kits so steam enthusiasts can build more of these beasts. Thank You, Merle for the pick!

Cleaning Off The Garden

Susan had a great garden this year and we picked a bunch of good peppers to enjoy today before we pulled the plants. The posts and trellises are all out and the fence is opened so we can bring the tractor in for Fall tilling. There is still plenty of work to do. We have many loads of wood that we need to work up to store at the house and out in the barn, and we will be mowing leaves to bits soon.

The Last American Power Tool Company, Dayton, Ohio

Jay Leno's Cadillac

 

Morning Visitor

 A herd of deer will break and run if the dogs start barking at them, but a single deer doesn't really care as long as I don't make any funny moves.

We are getting some colors now.

Tuesday Torque: Leon Bollee La Voiturette Motorcycle

 This rare beast is the 1897 model, with electric ignition. Earlier models had a burner at the head for hot tube ignition. Rare beasts, indeed! Thank You, Merle!

Here is an 1896 model, with hot tube ignition.

Busman's Holiday

Here is a big sweetgum tree at the Carmi Rifle Club that went toes up on us last year, and we have been waiting for grass cutting to be over and done with before we cut it. Trees have to be cleaned up immediately if grass needs to be cut, so we let it stand through Summer.

Mike Rowe Photo

Mowing is all over with for the year now, and the weather has been perfect for working outdoors, plus one of the club members volunteered a tractor to push wood around. This weekend was the Free Range Days that the Carmi Rifle Club does every Fall, so we had an audience, too!  Free Range Days gives hunters a great opportunity to use the range for sighting their firearms, and it introduces people to the range, which is a great place to shoot with a bunch of good people. 

Mike Rowe Photo

This tree had a significant branch making back weight, so it was not without risk, given the shelter that resides between the cargo containers. We cut a plug out of the trunk of the tree to verify that the wood was solid and strong before we started in earnest.

                                                                            DMW Photo

There was not enough room on the west side of the tree to bore cut with the saws, and the tree was a bit too wide at the stump for the 28 inch bar on 572 XP. I made diameter reduction cuts on the west and east sides so I could reach through, and I still had enough length on the open face for a proper hinge, which needed to be 20 inches long or a bit more. It came out at 21. The tree diameter at breast height was 24 inches, so a hinge thickness of 2 inches or slightly more was needed. 

  

                                                   DMW Video

How far back was this tree balanced? We had 30 inches behind the hinge to the back of the stump, so the tree segment size is 30 inches. The tree stood a bit over 70 feet tall, but those upper branches were dead dry, so I rounded down to an even 70 feet. There are 840 inches in 70 feet, divided by 30 equals 28 segments. That means for every inch you raise the bottom segment, the top of the tree moves 28 inches. We started out with several single wedges, then double wedges, and the final wedging as we approached the balance point was two 1 1/2" wedges, plus a third wedge of 1 1/4" inch, minus the 3/8" saw kerf, or almost 4 inches total. That is 112 inches give or take, or 9 feet that we moved the top of the tree before it went over. The absolute limit for a 50 segment tree with good wood is around 10 feet of back lean, and a 30 segment tree is more than that, around 12 to 14 feet if you have enough wedges and endurance to swing a maul.  Nine feet was enough for me.  Store these lessons in wedging away for future use.  Always measure and run your numbers for back leaners before you start cutting. 

                                                                              DMW Photo

 Grade your stumps and be critical. The hinge thickness was 2 1/4", so we had plenty of strength for wedging over.  The cuts from opposite sides did not quite meet, but bypassed so the tree went over OK. Susan did not shoot video, but kept watch to be sure all the spectators stayed out of the danger zone.  Many thanks to Dawn and Mike for the photos and video. More chainsaw is planned for Monday, so, Back To The Old Grind!

PS: The dry top wood went into the annual bonfire and wienie roast Saturday evening.