Author Topic: Red Maple Had to Go  (Read 1781 times)

Offline vtsteam

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Red Maple Had to Go
« on: December 22, 2022, 10:11:31 PM »
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.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2022, 10:15:40 PM by vtsteam »
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2022, 10:16:20 PM »
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!   :paranoia:

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2022, 10:18:25 PM »
You will rest easy knowing that it is not going to end up on your house.
Interesting history.


Dave

Online Kim

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2022, 11:25:14 PM »
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

Online Jo

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2022, 07:37:11 AM »
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
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Offline Zephyrin

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2022, 12:04:54 PM »
 a nicely told story...
and yes, better safe than sorry!

Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2022, 01:15:28 PM »
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.

 :cheers:  Graham.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2022, 01:22:58 PM by Alyn Foundry »

Offline A7er

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2022, 03:27:02 PM »
Graham,
I was convinced that I had given up on casting. But a post like yours......

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2022, 03:52:54 PM »
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!
« Last Edit: December 23, 2022, 04:14:57 PM by vtsteam »
Steve

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2022, 04:00:46 PM »
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.
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2022, 04:39:03 PM »
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.

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2022, 04:46:50 PM »
Changing fast. Now 20F and falling, snowing too. Quick change in last 10 minutes!

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2022, 05:21:43 PM »
Talk about "flash frozen"....!  :ROFL:

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.  :cheers:
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #13 on: December 24, 2022, 12:42:55 AM »
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!

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #14 on: December 24, 2022, 02:32:52 AM »
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.
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #15 on: December 24, 2022, 02:37:36 AM »
As usual, an hour drive west of here in Buffalo its whiteout conditions, everything is shut down, a real mess, wind and snow off lake Erie.

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #16 on: December 24, 2022, 02:42:21 AM »
For us NOAA is now predicting 6F and winds gusting to 31 mph.

I'd hate to be on top of Mt. Washington in NH right now! I can't even imagine..... A few winters ago they were the  second coldest place on earth one evening! And they get hurricane force winds.

Brave souls up there in the manned weather station.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2022, 03:02:53 AM by vtsteam »
Steve

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #17 on: December 24, 2022, 02:52:08 AM »
Looks like the winds have died down now temporarily on Mt Washington, until what we have here hits them (they are farther east) but it looks like this morning at about 8:00 A.M they had a wind gust of 150 mph on a 117mph average wind speed!

https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/current-summit-conditions.aspx
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #18 on: December 24, 2022, 03:18:19 AM »
Looks like the winds have died down now temporarily on Mt Washington, until what we have here hits them (they are farther east) but it looks like this morning at about 8:00 A.M they had a wind gust of 150 mph on a 117mph average wind speed!

https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/current-summit-conditions.aspx


Oh. My.   Nope.  Just nope!   :paranoia:




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Offline steamer

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2022, 05:40:34 AM »
At 230 yesterday afternoon it was sunny and very wet and 55F.    10 hours later we have snow on the ground, and it's 15F.. and the wind is blowing pretty hard.....

Dave
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Offline TerryWerm

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2022, 11:53:18 PM »
All day yesterday and this morning all roads in SW and West Central Minnesota were closed. They are all open now, but some still have very poor visibility and icy conditions, no travel advised. Lots of blowing snow and 30+ MPH winds. By next Wednesday it is supposed to be in the 30's, so our January thaw is coming early. Old fashioned winter around here this year, lots of snow followed by cold temps and lots of wind. Reminds me of when I was a kid!
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Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2022, 09:03:11 PM »
On the news they showed some pictures of houses that are right on the shore of Lake Ontario in Buffalo, the high winds coming off the lake made for huge waves around 25 feet, when they crashed on the rocks at shoreline they generated a massive amount of spray that flash-froze on the houses there since the temperatures were so low, around -10F. Amazing photos!


Offline internal_fire

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2022, 09:45:48 PM »
On the news they showed some pictures of houses that are right on the shore of Lake Ontario in Buffalo, the high winds coming off the lake made for huge waves around 25 feet, when they crashed on the rocks at shoreline they generated a massive amount of spray that flash-froze on the houses there since the temperatures were so low, around -10F. Amazing photos!

Could be just color balance with a photo full of white, but that ice sure looks dirty. Probably brought all the crud on the rocks and shoreline with it.

Gene

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2022, 09:51:10 PM »
The lake there is fairly shallow, the waves probably stirred up a lot of silt from the bottom too. A real mess!

Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #24 on: December 30, 2022, 11:22:36 AM »

Chris, I’m confused.
I have a friend that lives in Buffalo near the banks of Lake Erie. Are there more than one Buffaloes? Obviously towns.  ;D

Amazing photo though. I haven’t personally witnessed as much heavy snow and ice since the winter of 62/63.

 :cheers:  Graham.

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #25 on: December 30, 2022, 01:27:49 PM »

Chris, I’m confused.
I have a friend that lives in Buffalo near the banks of Lake Erie. Are there more than one Buffaloes? Obviously towns.  ;D

Amazing photo though. I haven’t personally witnessed as much heavy snow and ice since the winter of 62/63.

 :cheers:  Graham.
Whoops, reread my post and saw that I said Lake Ontario, should have said Lake Erie. Ontario starts north of there on the downhill side of Niagara Falls. I am close to Lake Ontario, and mistyped.

Offline Lew Hartswick

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #26 on: December 30, 2022, 02:11:55 PM »

Whoops, reread my post and saw that I said Lake Ontario, should have said Lake Erie. Ontario starts north of there on the downhill side of Niagara Falls. I am close to Lake Ontario, and mistyped.

Having spent the best part of two years just outside of Lockport at a radar site in 52-53 I was about to jump all over that Buffalo and Lake Ontario  but you got it fixed before I read this thread. :-)  Anyway I missed the winter between 52-53 by going TDY to Kessler in Missisippi so don't have any real first hand experience of that sort of weather there. :-)
   ...lew...

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #27 on: December 30, 2022, 03:31:14 PM »

Whoops, reread my post and saw that I said Lake Ontario, should have said Lake Erie. Ontario starts north of there on the downhill side of Niagara Falls. I am close to Lake Ontario, and mistyped.

Having spent the best part of two years just outside of Lockport at a radar site in 52-53 I was about to jump all over that Buffalo and Lake Ontario  but you got it fixed before I read this thread. :-)  Anyway I missed the winter between 52-53 by going TDY to Kessler in Missisippi so don't have any real first hand experience of that sort of weather there. :-)
   ...lew...
I was going to blame it on being too early in the morning, but it was middle of the afternoon!   :shrug:   Guess I needed a nap!   :Lol:

Offline internal_fire

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #28 on: December 30, 2022, 03:38:41 PM »
I saw this photo on another website. The location is Fort Erie, Ontario, on the northern shore of Lake Erie. Just a few miles west of Buffalo.

Gene

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #29 on: December 30, 2022, 03:42:37 PM »
I saw this photo on another website. The location is Fort Erie, Ontario, on the northern shore of Lake Erie. Just a few miles west of Buffalo.

Gene
Huh - thats just over the border in Canada, the reports I saw they made it sound like it was in Buffalo - typical precise reporting!  Guess it doesn't matter as much that I typed the wrong lake, they had the wrong country!   :ROFL:

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #30 on: December 30, 2022, 04:36:16 PM »
Here in Vermont we just think of everything west of us as New York state, except if you go too far you hit California.

Here if you want to say something is huge, you just say "big as New York", as in "she had a diamond ring as big as New York."

We do know Canada is like upwards.
Steve

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #31 on: December 30, 2022, 05:21:05 PM »
Here in Vermont we just think of everything west of us as New York state, except if you go too far you hit California.

Here if you want to say something is huge, you just say "big as New York", as in "she had a diamond ring as big as New York."

We do know Canada is like upwards.


 :lolb:   :ROFL:


Down in New York City they think Rochester and Buffalo are in California..   :Lol:

Offline RReid

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #32 on: December 30, 2022, 08:17:53 PM »
As a kid I wondered why "Westerns" were almost always set somewhere well east of us?
Regards,
Ron

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #33 on: December 30, 2022, 08:38:10 PM »
As a kid I wondered why "Westerns" were almost always set somewhere well east of us?


 :lolb:

Online Vixen

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #34 on: December 31, 2022, 12:39:55 AM »
Some days it gets pretty cold here as well.   :Lol: :Lol:



Nice even air flow, no boundary separation. The hallmark of good design

Cheers   :cheers:

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Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #35 on: December 31, 2022, 01:14:09 AM »
 :ThumbsUp:

Offline crueby

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #36 on: December 31, 2022, 01:27:27 AM »
Great picture, looks like a troll doll wig on the emblem!

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Red Maple Had to Go
« Reply #37 on: December 31, 2022, 02:17:54 AM »
or frost flames
Steve

 

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