Yesterday I went to our cabin to work some more on clearing the area where we wanted to plant new trees. Except for the wind, I couldn't have asked for a nicer day. It was warmer outside than it was in the cabin. Although the wind was keeping the bugs down, I hauled out the screens from the shed, inserted them, and opened the windows.
Before I left Duluth, I stopped Denny's Lawn & Garden to buy a new saw chain to replace those that I thought were too far gone. The darn thing was nearly $20!
As I was leaving, I thought I should ask for advice on what I might be doing wrong to have such bad cuts. I described how I could cut easily at the far end of the saw but not close to the motor. Tom Zemow said it could be the bar is worn out. I replied that could be true because all the paint is worn off. "OK, how much?" "About $46." Well, my checking account is getting low, I better pull out my credit card. Tom couldn't find any for my saee fw on the shelf and raided a new saw for the bar.
Shortly after I arrived at our cabin, I installed the new bar. But I used the same chain as I had used last in Episode 9. Before I put it on the new bar I wiggled it on the old bar; it sure wiggled a lot from side to side. When I put it on the new bar it hardly wiggled at all. I may do some really productive work today.
Off to cut up the next felled tree. Buzz, buzz! It went through the trunk like the proverbial knife in butter. Proof once more that one has to ask the right questions. The new chain would not have cut any better than the old chains.
I delimbed the two trees that had fallen opposite the direction I had wanted but not into the spruce, so I thought. These two had their branches tangled with each other and some of the brush they had fallen into. Cut, toss aside, cut, toss aside.
Bad news! One of the trees had fallen on a smaller spruce that I had not seen in the tangle. It might survive because although it was bent it was not broken; the only damage appears to be some needles scraped off near the top.
With a faster saw, I thought I could go back to cutting rounds, but as I looked around I realized I would not get done by time to go home. So, I cut four-foot bolts or longer, depending on thickness. I'll finish these on a saw horse some other time.
I did pause from sawing to see how easily some of these rounds split in warmer weather. I tried two and although they didn't split with the first whack, they did so with two or three. That is two or three whacks in the same place.
With many pauses for water, one for lunch, and another for some chocolate, I got all the downed trees cut up by about four. Oh yes, I had to refill the gas and oil three times and a couple of times I wondered if the saw would even restart.
Rather than get all the wood out of the way, I decided to cut the stumps flush with the ground. That means lots of work on my haunches which means that the saw is not always cutting in straight line. This work took a lot longer than I had hoped. I think I only got four stumps out of twelve or fourteen cut down before I decided I should pack up and head home.
This means we still have lots of moving of brush and piles of cut wood before we can plant the trees. We can plant around the stumps and cut them later. It's just a nuisance to work around them.
AccuWeather says it will be in the mid-60s and partly cloudy Saturday. I hope they are accurate.
