Felling the ash and the large oak

I felled the 40-foot ash quite easily, taking off the larger, lower branches first, then cutting and hauling the main tree down in the direction I wanted it. It came within about 10 feet of the gate into the yard.

It was easy enough then to strip it down, sawing it quickly into manageable pieces for fire wood. Ash is the best firewood grown on any scale in the UK, both in terms of the heat it produces and also in terms of drying out quickly. Oak is good too but takes twice as long to dry out.

Felling the oak was another matter. I needed help. A farmer with a tractor joined me. Again, we stripped the lateral branches and then went for the main trunk.

We had to cut it low to keep the centre of gravity close to the ground for safety. And we used the tractor to pull it over as we cut through the trunk.

And it worked, coming down exactly where we wanted it. But it did take a lot more cutting up.
The logs were split within about three weeks – surprisingly easily with my maul (a wide-headed axe for splitting logs).

But we also left 18 complete rounds from the main trunk of the tree, each between 9 and 14 inches high. These will be used as steps going in to the wood from the yard. A nice touch, I hope.

The smaller, 40-foot oak is still standing. I could chop it down now but I have nowhere to store the wood. So it will stand - I hope (!) - for one more year.