So two weeks ago we decided that it was time to finish taking down the large willow tree in our front yard. Last year we took off all the huge dead branches and stuff leaving just a very large tree trunk.
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| Just focus on the large standing part of the tree |
For several weeks Brett has been going out and cutting around the tree with a chain saw near the base. He has put in some weed killer and pulled off some bark in hopes of killing the tree. On one of these days as he was chopping away he noticed a hole in the tree. Turns out the center of the tree was starting to rot. Thus it must come down.
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| Cut around the bottom |
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| Gap growing, chained up to neighbors tree (on the left) |
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| Wedged gap to make it larger |
Brett used a chain saw and cut some large wedges from one side of the tree. Then using a chain we tied the trunk to the neighbors tree (with permission of course) and cranked it tight. Brett then proceeded over the next two hours to cut the opposite side of the tree as deep as possible with the chain saw, hammer in some wedges to spread the gap and crank the chain some more in hopes of bringing down the beast.
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| Leaning waaaay over |
We pulled the trunk to a 45 degree angle before we managed to rip out the neighbors tree :( and ours was still standing.
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| Just before the neighbors tree came out |
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| Inside the gap - hole in center of the tree |
In the long run we had to hook the chain up to our neighbors tow hitch on the front of his truck and pull the beast down.
It took about 3 hours to get both trees out and angled so that they were not blocking our driveway or going to kill the grass, etc.
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| finally down |
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| Stump we have to dig out :( |
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| Nakita and I next to the Beast |
Unfortunately....we never got to call TIMBER!
