Expert: Jim Hyland - 7/25/2003

Question
Jim,

I have half of a large pine tree laying in my yard due to a high wind storm a couple of days ago that split a forked tree off.  The part that is laying there is pretty large, and it was live when it broke.  I would like to cut it into pieces, but I dont have a chainsaw.  The largest part that I would be cutting is about 2 feet in diameter.  Not sure if this would require a large commercial chainsaw or not.  Any advice?  I was thinking I could save the money of a professional tree service by doing it myself.

Thanks for being there.

Matt

Answer
A common size of chainsaw is about a 16 inch blade. This is large enough to cut this size tree. BUT if you are not use to operating a chainsaw it is dangerous work. I would find a friend who has a saw and ask him to cut up the tree. Or rent a saw and ask someone who can operate a chiansaw to help you. I can not stress enough that IF you do not know what you are doing you can get hurt very seriously with a chainsaw.