In this video we harvest a tulip poplar tree which will be used in our house. This tree along with many others was damaged in a late ice storm several years ago, and will slowly rot as its top broke out. mrchickadee.wordpress.com
As a "townie" here in the UK, your videos are such an escape. I can write thank you, or even THANK YOU, but that is selling you short for your effort your time and your skill. Thank you so much and every success and happiness to you and yours.
I am an Arborist and can say that that was a perfect 10/10 tree fell, 1 for the copy book you might say. The scarf and remaining hinge wood is almost impeccable... Well done, i cant give you any tips other than pull your saw a little earlier and walk out through your escape route as the tree is falling...
I've watched many videos on felling trees, job well done. I appreciate that you're using hand tools and not chainsaws, not that I'm a purist, but it's good to see it can still be done by hand. You work well together, thanks for sharing.
I share your thoughts. I have a fine collection of electric tools, but sometimes it's just really nice to do a job the manual way. Biggest tree I felled was about 20cm diameter, 10-12m high, so not even close to as big as this one, but I did it with an axe. I just sometimes really don't care for the noise of electric tools. Especially chainsaws and angular grinders, eh, grind my gears... 😛
What a treasure you have there, a wife that is not only beautiful, with a great smile, but who suppports what you are doing enough to get out there and do what she can to help. (and smile after doing the hard work with you) your chosen life is much to be admired. God bless!
Mr. Chickadee: I've watched Dozens of your videos, I marvel at your expertise and your patience to continue using hand tools knowing a chainsaw or a table saw or a band saw are readily available. From dovetail boxes to Framing a house all of your work is inspirational and educational. Please keep up the good work, I've noticed a lot of 2-3 yr old stuff and not much new. No matter, it's probably good for us mortals to view a wood-working master and try to catch up even just a little. You are one of my favorite woodworkers, you do with those old tools what many cannot do with their high-dollar ones. You are in inspiration.
Very nice! The tulip poplar was always the most popular tree in the Blue Ridge mountains for constructing hand hewn cabins. Always tall, straight, and abundant without the first set limbs for a while. Much easier to hew as a softer wood than the oaks. Thank you once again for sharing your time and talent with us, very kind of you.
You are a lucky man to be able to do this kind of work with your lovely wife by your side. Many husbands would be envious of such a relationship. Keep up the great work.
What a great job you did. You two make an awesome team. I like to look back to the date the tree was a sapling and read up what was happening. I've turned wood from trees that were around long before me. It's a humbling thought.
+Bernhard Hofmann Yes! This tree had some lean years and some really great fast years, you can see where it burst through the canopy after some disturbance about 40 years ago.
watching someone cutting those trees and work them without a word said is truely the most satisfying and relaxing feeling i can imagine! You Sir produce videos that are like chickensoup for my soul and than watching your handle of the ax is like warm honey drippin in a cup full of starberries! incredible work!
I agree, Hshsh. And I'm really looking forward to STARBERRY season. Each little starberry is about the size of a dime and shaped like a six-pointed star. We grow the blue ones but red ones are popular too.
You have great skills but you also have two things more important than that. You have a very supportive wife who is equally talented in her chosen mediums and you both have a very strong work ethic. Another great video, thank you.
It's nice to see that with these timeless tools coupled with skill/technique and patience that you and your wife were able to fell this tree. At least this tree was able to be used in a manner so as not to be wasted.
Mrs. Chikadee you have a beautiful smile. I'm amazed by all the talents Mr. Chikadee has and impressed by his work, now if you can get him to smile once in a while. :-)
What a beautiful woman your wife is! I've s3en her in a couple of your videos and can say easily that your marriage is a true partnership. Everyone has their own interests and hobbies. It is amazing when you both share and participate in a final goal. I was blessed to have a spouse that was like yours. Unfortunately my spouse died after a 14 year battle with cancer in September 2016. I have fun and beautiful memories of our years together and cherish them. If you argue over something or get frustrated with her, remember why you wanted to marry her.
You two are awesome together keep it up, I have said it before on other videos of yours and say it again brother your so blessed and lucky your beautiful wifey is there by your side helping and smiling all the way, I'd be lost without my beautiful wife next to me and supporting what Ever I want to do. I really enjoy your videos thank you 😊
Everything impeccable! Beautiful photography, the flow of your story, in full control of your faculties. Charlie have to be proud of of both filmmakers! ¡Todo impecable! Hermosa fotografía, el fluir de tu historia, en total control de tus facultades. ¡Charlie tiene que estar orgulloso de ambos cineastas!
if you love your job you never work a day in you life, that's is one contented man doing what he loves , a pretty little wife to share in the work, what else could a man ask for? I envy him . watch all of there vids.and nothing but admoration . good luck mr and mrs chickadee, god bless
Kudos for Mrs. Chickadee! She runs that misery whip very well! Great job, and nice precision on the bit placements whilst cutting the notch! Excellent!
Great watching you and your partner working together. Good teamwork. I am 6'2" and my wife is 5'2". Several years ago I resurrected an old crosscut saw like you used and we cut down a few dead trees on her family's property with it. It was very difficult for us to work together as well as you did. My wife took two steps forward and then two back for every pull we each made.
+pat kartes Yes, Im also 6'2" and my wife is 5' even, we feel your pain. It took much practice for us to get a good rhythm, we're getting better. It helps having a shorter saw.
Hi Mr. & Mrs. Chickadee!!! ;) I've always wanted to work with wood and build furniture, etc. - I've made a few things like a frame for my mattress and a mantle over my fireplace and made shelves that I hung up in various rooms about 48 inches from the ceiling - Also have made additions and/or changes to pieces that I already have - I love power tools and can't have enough but I like your way better; using your own power ;) - I'm a 67 yr. old girl - I found you at the recommendation of 'zack of all trades' in his video about cleaning his Grandpa's rusty axe head with electricity - Never knew a person could do such a thing - WOW - It blew my socks off - I love your videos and thank you for making them - I appreciate you and your wife - Beautiful name, Maio Chickadee - I chuckled when I read your Mom's comment - take care and stay happy!!! - monica >^..^
Awesome videos! Being an artist myself I like to put your videos on while I'm doing some 3 dimensional work. It's fun just listening to the sounds going on while creating my own stuff. Really admire the hands on work you do... and your cats.
+Saul Japuntich Ive not tested it with a caliper, I would guess it is a ribbon as its much thicker and needs more set hammered in to run well than our bucking saw which is much thinner at the spine. Its great you are a traditionalist, not many around in this world of power tool modernity.
I'm especially proud of the beard. And it means a lot to me. It's been one of my longest relationships. I spend the majority of my time on my farm working on my own. The quiet and gentle ease of the teamwork spoke to me.
Imagine the patience that went into building a house back in the day. Sometimes, they didn’t have nice softer woods like poplar and had to use things like maple oak and beech! Could you imagine sawing beech all day? Yeah they were used to it and worked a team of two skilled and strong men, but even then they couldn’t do it without extreme patience.
Very nicely done! How are you going to mill these into usable timber? Great looking axe btw, its funny to me to see how you can tell if someone is experienced and comfortable with an axe just by seeing one swing.
I've been glued to your videos most all day. Fascinating! I did have to chuckle whe you used a tractor to skid the logs after forgoing a chainsaw for the rest of the work. I figured the you, the wife, cat and pooch would yoke up and start pulling.
Great job. I wonder if the silence and slower cut help perfect the process. I'm an amateur, so every tree dropped with a chainsaw is nerve racking. I just cut a very similar size tree that was missing the top and then milled 10' x2" slabs with an Alaskan mill. It's drying eurostacked right next to the stump.
Very nice drop. I especially like the wedges, they look like they could have been hand made by you? Very nice technique. Of course, my wedges are orange plastic, and my saw is gasoline, still I applaud your man (and woman) -powered saw. The two man saws have to be difficult to come by (at least with the old quality steel). I have heard that they are out of production, and each one we still have is a treasure.
+Gareth Dirlam (Level Timber Co.) Thanks, these wedges are antique, I might try forging some in the future once I figure out how they did it. There are actually new saws being made by the Crosscut saw company, but quite pricey and I don't know of the quality compared to vintage, around here every flea market and antique store has them for 30 bucks or less, just the cost of restoration and sharpening, but thats great fun anyway!
I can't even get my wife to help with the lawn let alone fell a tree! By the way I like the socketed wedges. I was lucky enough to pick one up last year.
+Ron W Nice one Ron, maybe if you tell her the tree will become some nice furniture for her? I love these wedges, years of haunting Ebay finally paid off! Any ideas on how they were forged? Seems a pretty large job for the local smithy, but at least mine don't look factory made (drop forged), they have a square inside socket, and are covered with hammer marks. Maybe slit and forge a solid bar onto some hardy tool to give the socket then draw out the taper? Seems hard to not deform the socket that way, and hard to make the socket with the taper forged first, doesn't look to be a wrap around and forge weld like many old slicks or spears. Thoughts?
+Mr. Chickadee My wedge looks as though a flat piece of wrought iron was wrapped around the top of a wedge and forged welded. It also has a square socket. Unfortunately it has a crack forming were the piece was welded together. I will probably not mess with fixing it and use it more as a display piece because I think it is very old.
