Box elder blues, part one

We have 5 box elders that are in the fence line and way too big to handle easily and in one case, hollow. I've been leery on taking them down because the fence doesn't give me an easy escape route in case I predict wrong on the cut or it ends up more hollow than I thought.

In this case, the tree on the east fence needed to come down. With late winter winds, I could see the tree rocking but as I hoped the winds would drop this down, I worried that a branch would crack someone's skull.

 

 As you can see, a couple of broken branches hang against the "dying" trunk. Some of the tree was still alive but the top was pretty much gone. One shame with taking this tree down is that I would be removing habitat and food supply for woodpeckers:

 Without knowing how much good wood was in this, I decided to hook a rope to a point just above the hole shown above. This choice was more because that was where I hooked it than a conscience decision. I gave it a yank:

 

I came down way too easy and this is why:

With only a couple of inches of live wood about 5 feet off the ground, there wasn't a reason for this tree to be standing.

 

And a little up close to that rot:

After digging into the trunk, I found that there was nothing keeping me from the other side:

It wasn't just rot, we found a carpenter ant colony from the ground to about 12 feet up and dispatched them with a dose of insecticide. All we need is for this colony to spread to our stored lumber or to our buildings. The neighbors' are just up the hill and wouldn't appreciate those black ants invading their homes.

With the top of the tree on the ground, it makes it more manageable. I turned my attention to the trunk at the fence.

While the newest strands of barbed wire were at the edge of the tree, I discovered a hidden surprise:

Thirty or forty years ago some farmer decided it was a good idea to staple the woven wire and barbed wire to the tree. Fence staples are not kind to chain saw chains and I hit these dead on and as I cursed the former owner and his folly, we chopped out the middle until we could remove as much of the metal as we could. These are hidden dangers that not only ruin chains but cause kickbacks that could have caused a serious injury.

David over at True Blue Sam has a handy video for chain sharpening that I certainly need.

The stump is now at the ground level and soaked with Tordon. With our luck, it will take years before this tree is finally dead but everything within a 6 foot radius won't grow. The rot continued down into the root system and was filled with ants.

On this past Sunday I put the wood chipper to good use on the branches 2" or less and spread this over the aronias. The dry branches turned into wood shavings while the rest of the wood will be burned as soon as I get a chance.

One down and four to go.