Red Maple Had to Go

[vtsteam]

A huge storm is due to hit most of the US tomorrow with all kinds of weird effects regionally. Our temps are supposed to go up to 48 F tomorrow (very odd for winter here in Vermont) and then in 12 hours down to 8F ( a drop from 9C to -13C). That's naturally going to cause high winds, and they are predicted to gust to 38 mph (61 kmh). Also we're supposed to get heavy rain most of the day which will no doubt turn to ice as the temperature plummets in the evening. So it should be pretty nasty out, to say the least.

With that in mind I decided today that the old red maple had to go. It's a tree I've liked and spared for 20 years, even though it overhangs our parking space at a fairly steep angle. Probably partially blown over at some earlier date in another wind storm.  Its top was also broken off. But it managed to save itself, sprout anew, shore up its own trunk with buttress growth around another flaw, some heart decay, and well I just kinda liked it. It was a survivor. It put on a spectacular color show in the fall some years, by way of rewarding out forbearance.

But with a storm coming, high winds, possible heavy ice weight, it was just time to prevent possible disaster. It took less than five minutes to clear the brush around it cut the notch and drop it. I'd had to trim the buttress growth to make the notch. My 20 inch bar wouldn't reach all the way across the cut. It was a 24" tree, maybe 60 feet tall, quite straight with most of the growth just at the top.

Cutting it up and loading the tractor took most of the afternoon. Half a dozen trips backing uphill in the snow to the splitter to dump the slabs. When I took a break I sat on one chunk and traced the rings on another. I could see 21 years ago when we built the house bigger rings began, as other trees were cleared away, and more light had reached the red maple. It's last year was its best with a ring almost a quarter inch wide. That was a surprise because it was a drought summer. Sixteen rings ago my daughter was born. Three rings after that we got our dog Fletcher. Two rings ago he died.

The red maple will heat our home, maybe a few thin splits in the spring, or more likely the full cord next fall. The parking space is safe now, but looks different. Something's missing, oddly forgetful, I think what is it, sitting on one of the pieces of what's gone.

I'm ready for that storm. It better be a good one.

[crueby]

A lot of work, but would have been really bad if it fell on something important! I did the same with a big Austrian Pine tree leaning over my house a few years back.

Hopefully the wind isnt so high that the garage falls onto the tree stump!   

[Dave Otto]

You will rest easy knowing that it is not going to end up on your house.
Interesting history.


Dave

[Kim]

Great story, well told, vtsteam.

It's amazing all the things those trees live to see!

You did a lot of work to help keep your family safe.  That's a good thing.

Kim

[Jo]

Its always sad having to cut down an old friend in the garden But it will be one less concern during the coming storm.

I hope you are planning to replace it with something else, equally interesting

Jo

[Zephyrin]

 a nicely told story...
and yes, better safe than sorry!

[Alyn Foundry]

Always a sad moment when a tree has to be felled.

However the wood becomes a fuel. Not long before Vincent passed, one of the Alyn trio, He was getting supplies of seasoned hardwood. He made his own wood burner for the house but, more importantly a new furnace for casting.

Vincent dug a pit in the ground and lined it with Ganister. He had laid a 2” diameter Steel pipe that entered the pit at the bottom of the circumference. He would then fill the pit with kindling and set a fire going. Air was provided by a professional grade hair dryer. Once a good blaze was formed the charged Crucible would be placed in the centre and more small pieces of wood added before a Ganister lid with central hole was used to cover the furnace, at ground level.

Vincent was able to melt everything from Aluminium to Iron using this method and, more importantly both cheaply and quietly. Oh and being buried very safely too….

The photos are of Vincent’s half scale Crossley and Petter engines, all the Brass and Aluminium parts were made in his “ backyard “ foundry.

   Graham.

[A7er]

Graham,
I was convinced that I had given up on casting. But a post like yours......

[vtsteam]

Happy holidays, all and thank you!

Chris, how did you get the Austrian pine down? That must have been tricky. No garage here though my tiny workshop is adjacent to the parking space. Less at risk than the cars would have been, from the angle of the lean. It won't fall over itself as it is steel rebar reinforced concrete block -- the rebar is in the poured openings, and mesh along every mortar layer! Why?, it was once a HAHSA outdoor wood furnace containing 11 tons of sand over the firebox as heat storage. Now it's a dinky workshop.

Temps have hit 54F here even more than the 48 predicted. I'm curious how Rochester is faring? The stream on our property is already at flood stage, since there was 8" of snow already on the ground, and it rained overnight. This is going to be a mess when the temp drops!

Dave, I did get a good night's sleep last night! The sound of the rain was soothing rather than threatening, since we were prepared, fuel, groceries, wood for the fire, the tractor covered, gassed and the plow on. Listeroid genset ready to start. Not to mention a pretty Christmas tree all lit up!

Kim, I always feel that way when I cut a large tree. I always look at the rings and try to see where and when things I remember happened. Generally that's toward the outer edge. I live on a forested hillside. Most of our larger tree neighbors have seen many generations come and go.

Jo, I live in basically a forested wild, so no problem replacing it, since nature does that at an amazing rate itself! Already growing around that stump were saplings of red oak, American beech, black birch, Canadian Hemlock, striped maple, beaked hazelnut, witchhazel, and eastern cottonwood. That's within a 10 foot radius of the stump that I can see. We battle the invasives every summer also trying to get a foothold here: winged eunymous, tartarian honeysuckle, buckthorn, oriental bittersweet, Chinese barberry, Japanese Knotweed, and worst of all, multiflora rose.

But for sure, the red maple will be succeeded by others now opened to light. I kind of like striped maple, for choice. It's native and not too tall, and somewhat unusual.

Zephyrin, thank you kindly!

Graham, that's really interesting to hear about your brother's work casting in a pit, and also, what fabulous engines he made!

About 20 years ago when I was building my first lathe, a Gingery, we were burning some downed pine limbs at my parents-in-law's yard, and I decided to try to melt some aluminum in the fire if I could. I prepared a small sand mold and put a crucible full of scrap sprues in the coals, and no problem, even without a blast, I had molten metal in about 20 minutes.

Later I built a short cupola furnace using firebrick and ganister, and tried to do an iron melt using homemade charcoal, but I found charcoal wasn't energy dense enough, and burned out before the iron charge had done much more than fuse together in the well. This later became my first oil furnace and was successful in that. However, melt times were extended, because of the high mass of the lining taking well over an hour to heat up. Now I have an insulated furnace that begins to melt iron 10-20 minutes after lighting.

Wood would be a wonderful fuel for me because I'm surrounded by it here (67 acres), and it is not a fossil fuel. I do suspect a wood fired pit furnace would take a couple hours to heat up to iron melting temps, like my older above ground version. But I'd still like to try it, so I'm definitely keeping in mind what you've said for next summer!

My present little steam engine is intended for steaming with wood, you can probably understand the reason why wood is of interest to me for these things!

[vtsteam]

A7er, our posts crossed, but yes do continue casting if it appeals to you. I think it's a great part of the fun. Less so, like other aspects of these hobbies if it becomes too specialized via an enforced sense of "right and wrong" as opposed to just learning and exploration as one gains experience and skill.

[crueby]

The austrian pine was about 25 foot, fortunately there was room around it to work. I started by taking all the branches off, leaving the trunk, then took the trunk down in sections. Made a big pile out at the curb. A small chain saw made quick work of it. It was still healthy, but the soil there is very sandy and the wind storms had started it leaning and pulling up the roots.


No snow here yet, but it is getting very gusty. Temps have dropped just to freezing, expecting to be around 10F by evening.  Out in Midwest some places have seen temps drop 50 to 60 degrees F in a matter of hours.

[crueby]

Changing fast. Now 20F and falling, snowing too. Quick change in last 10 minutes!

[vtsteam]

Talk about "flash frozen"....! 

Well Chris, we get our weather here second-hand from you out in western NY, so I guess we'll be seeing that in a few hours. 

[crueby]

Wow, down to 4 F, still falling.  Really glad for the inside workshop! Not much snow on the ground,  it seems to be just passing through with the high winds, someone east of here is getting it all!

[vtsteam]

Same here, little snow fell but wind is howling and now 14F and dropping.

I guess they call this an arctic bomb cyclone, technically. Supposedly this one is a once in a generation size version.