wood chipping

Chipping Alders… A lot of Alders

Last weekend we had wood chipper issues but since then we bought a new belt (plus a spare) and were up and running again. This particular afternoon was cloudy with a chance of rain so we thought we had better take advantage of it. The landowner has a beautiful location for a cottage, right on the lake. This picture was taken last Saturday when we first arrived at the site.

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A tangled mess of alder!

This plot of land used to be the site of a community center many many decades ago. At the front of the land you can still see a partial rock foundation. We also found lots of pieces of metal, including a large metal spring.

First things first, we take the chute off when we travel. One less thing to go wrong. So when we arrived Jim had to re-assemble the chute to the chipper.

wood chipping,alders
Getting set up

When we got there this time, her work crew had hauled 75% of the branches to the side road.

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Looks worse in person

Jim had backed the chipper onto the side road and we got started. We quickly realized that the wind was blowing the chips in the opposite direction of where we wanted them, and they were landing on our truck. So Jim turned the truck and chipper and we drove the truck inwards. Crisis averted 😉

There was a small ditch between the road and land. That quickly turned into a wet muddy spot. Had to switch to rubber boots.

This picture shows you where the wood chips were landing. We were aiming for the homeowners land. The chipper can easily throw the chips 20 or more feet. This picture also shows you how hard I was working, and my beautiful footwear.

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Standing in the ditch

Don’t let my calm, yet charming, storytelling vibe fool you. This was a lot of work with a few minor injuries. Mostly to Jims face. You see, the branches were hauled to the roadside, but most of them had to be untangled and turned around to go in the chipper. The ends of the branches hitting you are like a whip, not that I would know anything about that. Even above the roar of the chipper I heard a few choice words.

We plugged away, with only a couple of minor showers, and at the end of 3 hours we were a little over half way done.

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Sawdust anyone?

This weekend we will get this finished and move on to our other chipping job. That one is spruce trees and branches, totally different.

Have a great weekend.

Later

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