Feeling stressed? Anxious? Nervous? GRAB AN AXE!

[Backfromthedead]

No kidding! Especially when the saws had to be about 50 foot long!! lol. I mean look at the size of that thing.

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When i finally got to see the sequoias the most interesting part for me was that bark, it develops into a sort of hardened sheath in layers around the trunk in response to the periodic wildfires of the region. 99.9% of mature giant sequoias die before they get to a certain size, snapping in half when the canopy gets too heavy for the trunk. Its thought they can only get truly massive, like that one pictured, after surviving many successive wildfires, after those multiple bark layers effectively strengthen and stiffen the trunk enough to support the incredible bulk of the tree's canopy.

I imagine attempting to bury a typical hardware store axe in a sequoia might be a downright hazardous activity. Ive seen such axes come apart on locust logs, much less inches thick of hardened epoxy like substance. And yes, even if you didn't hurt yourself i would think you'd be in for a bit of a tackle from the park authorities.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Lol, I've never heard of smash rooms...but I can see how someone trapped in a city could enjoy that idea. I need to know that I am achieving something when I do stuff like this; producing firewood and/or removing a tree that needs to be removed for some reason. The little trees I am assaulting fill both of those needs.

It's definitely addictive; the sound, the smell, the spray of chips, the solid feedback in the handle. Splitting is nice as well; trying to get and keep to a rhythm, concentrating on maintaining that rhythm throughout a string of single-swing splits, getting a little reward at the end of each swing as the two halves fly off to the sides.

But chopping....mmmmm! A little positive feedback after every swing...but then the bonus when the tree comes down! It's a "pure and heady thrill", indeed!




Yeah, I'd have a hard time dropping a truly big tree, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. My biggest so far is only about 14 inch diameter, with a couple more in that size bracket still to go. These are poplars; they live fast, die young and have very little individual "personality"; I can't imagine how many thousands of them there are just on my little patch of ground alone. But a big tree? Different story. On my previous property, in Ontario, we had two big maple trees, each close to 4 feet in diameter. I would have moved heaven and earth to protect those trees from harm. And a tree like the one shown in Esox's post? Just touching something like that is practically a mystic experience for me; couldn't dream of harming it.

When pops built his dream home when i was a kid, there was a monster poplar tree in the backyard. Around 6' at the base, standing 2-3x taller than the 2 story home, with a sprawling canopy of thick limbs.

It died the second year we lived there...there were a number of eventual impacts with this: a financial one with the demolition of the tree, a practical one in that there was no more shade in the backyard, but none greater than the first which was that limb crashing through the roof, attic, and into the guest bedroom one windy night. It landed on the only unoccupied bed in the house lol.

Ive seen poplars as naught but nuisance since.

Maples on the other hand are an exemplary tree. Why are some trees so cool and professional about their treeing and others such hazardous idiots?

 

[jjohnwm]

Yep...poplars are definitely the Gen Z of the tree world...

Flame suit on!

 

[ken31cay]

I wouldn't want to give up the changing seasons either, but I can certainly see a lot of appeal in living where you do now. My wife and I will be travelling south for a few days in January...we're going to Minnesota!

Nice. I remember in late winter/early spring during days when the temperature rose to 45F-50F that Minnesota people (including myself) would start coming outside shirtless and throw around a football. Crazy when I think about it now. The Los Angeles area was 53F last week when we landed and it felt so freezing.

 

[Ogertron3000]

Reminds me of the same old joke my father in law used to say every single time we would chop wood.

"This axe is 60 years old, in all that time its only had 3 new handles and 2 new blades"

 

[esoxlucius]

Reminds me of the same old joke my father in law used to say every single time we would chop wood.

"This axe is 60 years old, in all that time its only had 3 new handles and 2 new blades"

He didn't happen to be an avid "Only fools and horses" fan did he by any chance, in particular Trigger! Lol.

I don't know if you're familiar with the show jjohnwm . Here's the classic broom clip. One of the best shows of all time. The character Trigger, played by Roger Lloyd Pack (rip), was my favourite character.

 

[jjohnwm]

Never heard of it! I was a fan of Benny Hill, the Monty Python crew and of course Fawlty Towers, but these guys are new to me. They seem like a perfect match for my low-brow Three-Stooges-style taste in humour.

"You are moiderin' da King's English!"

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

I've never actually touched an axe...I know, sad. Much less, I've never chopped wood. I really want to, though; I know plenty of people who do.

 

[esoxlucius]

Never heard of it! I was a fan of Benny Hill, the Monty Python crew and of course Fawlty Towers, but these guys are new to me. They seem like a perfect match for my low-brow Three-Stooges-style taste in humour.

"You are moiderin' da King's English!"

It was an extremely well loved and long running British show. The guys you see in the clip are either dead or old!

Del "boy" Trotter and his younger brother Rodney, both in the clip, are the stars of the show. Del boy fancies himself as a bit of a cockney wide boy, ducking and diving, and wheeling and dealing. And everything he touches turns to sh*t, lol.

There are loads of other great characters, but Trigger in particular is brilliant. There are hundreds of you tube clips. Trigger always refers to Rodney as Dave!! (he actually does it in the clip!).

I don't even know why he does it, but in the situations they get themselves into, and then Trigger starts calling him Dave, it just adds to the comedy value.

And it's a cockney show, so the queens English is well and truly butchered, lol.

 

[jjohnwm]

I've never actually touched an axe...I know, sad. Much less, I've never chopped wood. I really want to, though; I know plenty of people who do.

I weep for the future.

Not an indictment of you, I hasten to add. It's the way of the world today. People who think food comes from supermarkets, knowledge comes from the internet (on which anyone can post whatever drivel they wish), safety comes from the government and personal responsibility doesn't need to come at all. When I had the misfortune to be commuting into deepest darkest Toronto each day to work in the downtown core, I met people who lived in this building, worked in that building, shopped for groceries in this underground mall, got around entirely by subway...and never went outside. The whole downtown was interconnected by The Path, an intricate subterranean labyrinth of corridors lined with shops and businesses of every description. I met denizens of that area who were proud of the fact that they owned no proper winter boots or coats and had no need for them. I felt like I was accompanying Frodo into the depths of Mount Doom...

That was 30 years ago! What's it like today?

It was an extremely well loved and long running British show. The guys you see in the clip are either dead or old!...And it's a cockney show, so the queens English is well and truly butchered, lol.

Lol, I had to max out my volume and replay it a couple times to catch all of it...at least, I think I caught it...or most of it...

Mind you, I'm still working on "a bit of a cockney wide boy, ducking and diving..."