- Joined
- Feb 7, 2014
- Messages
- 11,432
I've been wanting to get rid of a smallish evergreen for a year or two - it was part dead, and in an annoying spot.
Yesterday morning I decided it was time to take it down. I'd been looking for an opportunity to run the BK4 through its paces; so off we went. I knew it wasn't the right tool for the job...but I gave it a whirl anyway. I made some decent progress at first; but it stalled well before the job was done. Luckily, I had an axe handy to finish the job.
Once the tree was down, I automatically began de-limbing it with the axe - then I caught myself. The BK4 was back in action. I enjoyed the outing; BUT there was a lot of wasted effort. I didn't mind too much - heck, I needed the exercise.
With the de-limbing done, it was play time. Sectioning the the felled tree by chopping with the 4 was an exercise in futility...so I began batoning through it. Then, I took a section and, using the 4 as a draw knife, scraped the bark off it. I didn't stop with the bark, though, I just kept peeling long strips off; turning, and turning, until it wasn't stable enough to continue. I decided to leave the rest of the sectioning for another day (and a chainsaw); so I batoned through the few pieces I'd taken off, then moved to the stump.
Once I was tired of that, I took a small section and did a rough feather. My hands were shaking a bit (up for about 8 hrs without eating + lots of impact while gripping) so I didn't even try for fine and fancy shaving; but I'm sure the 4 could have done better had I been so inclined.
Here's what it looked like, in this morning's sun.
It cleaned up pretty well, though
At least I knocked a little of the new off of it
Yesterday morning I decided it was time to take it down. I'd been looking for an opportunity to run the BK4 through its paces; so off we went. I knew it wasn't the right tool for the job...but I gave it a whirl anyway. I made some decent progress at first; but it stalled well before the job was done. Luckily, I had an axe handy to finish the job.
Once the tree was down, I automatically began de-limbing it with the axe - then I caught myself. The BK4 was back in action. I enjoyed the outing; BUT there was a lot of wasted effort. I didn't mind too much - heck, I needed the exercise.
With the de-limbing done, it was play time. Sectioning the the felled tree by chopping with the 4 was an exercise in futility...so I began batoning through it. Then, I took a section and, using the 4 as a draw knife, scraped the bark off it. I didn't stop with the bark, though, I just kept peeling long strips off; turning, and turning, until it wasn't stable enough to continue. I decided to leave the rest of the sectioning for another day (and a chainsaw); so I batoned through the few pieces I'd taken off, then moved to the stump.
Once I was tired of that, I took a small section and did a rough feather. My hands were shaking a bit (up for about 8 hrs without eating + lots of impact while gripping) so I didn't even try for fine and fancy shaving; but I'm sure the 4 could have done better had I been so inclined.
Here's what it looked like, in this morning's sun.
It cleaned up pretty well, though
At least I knocked a little of the new off of it
