# Speaking of getting rid of trees........



## Fordfarm (Dec 27, 2005)

All this talk of getting rid of trees has prompted me to post part of the solution I came up with. The previous owner of the place let the cedar trees engulf the place. I tried pulling, which worked, but was slow and required 2 people. Chain saws were always needing sharpened and it was a REAL pain crawling around on the ground. I decided I needed a tree shear. All of the ones I found for sale were big bucks -$1500 for a used one that would have to be modified. Taking all this in to account, I decided to build one. I scrounged for all the parts, except the hoses and came up with this. It will cut 10" diameter Cedar trees and 3" diameter Hedge or Black Locust. I haven't really tried it on anything bigger.


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## John-in-Ga (Sep 22, 2003)

Great shear to cut 10” diameter Cedar trees and out of scrounged parts! 

Cedar trees we have in Georgia are evergreens and not all that plentiful, certainly not pest in my area. I haven’t had to deal with many, but think ours or hard wood even if not of the “hardwood” family of trees. 

Your Cedar must be fairly soft as you can cut a 10” cedar but only a 3” Black Locust?

What are you going to use the land for where you are sharing these trees? I’m having trouble seeing how you could plowing up the ground or cutting hay among 10” stumps that surely are left after you shear off a 10” tree. Is the land where you are shearing these trees already pasture land? Will you be able to “bushhog” as soon as you get the trees sheared or will you have to wait for the stumps to rot? Then my questions are how fast does Cedar, Black Locust and Hedge stumps rot for you? Do you have to “treat” them to keep them from sprouting?


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

Can you explain more of the design and mechanism for this device? I personally have never seen a tree shear in person nor in action. Let me know...Looks like it works like a charm!

:clap:


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## Archdean (Jul 15, 2004)

Great ingenuity there FF, your projects are always to the point!! 

Cedar trees that he and I cuss are not the same as one visualizes when one talks of Cedar IE. Shake shingles and the like!! they are pest's beyond description and ruin pastures etc. in short order!! 

In short just like rats for us midwest inhabitants not to mention they loath people and will make you loath them back in short order.   

A link that does not even bother to show them!! These are not what he is shearing !!

:http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?ID=43 

FF suppose I could rent you invention for an afternoon???


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## Fordfarm (Dec 27, 2005)

Well- I have only tried it on 3-4" Locust and hedge! It would probably go bigger, but I need it on the Cedar trees, so I ain't pushin' it! Here is a photo of some of the trees I am getting rid of. They are Eastern Red Cedar and Western Red Cedar. They grow 60'-70' tall, and 2' thick, if you wait long enoungh! I can cut them about 4"5" above the ground, and they usually rot in a year or so. I am trying to reclaim pasture, but I do "hog" over them - the cedar stumps hog pretty easy.


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## John-in-Ga (Sep 22, 2003)

Fordfarm,

My wife says shearing those cute little Christmas trees off at the ground would be like shooting Bambi.
spinsmile


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## Fordfarm (Dec 27, 2005)

Those "cute little Christmas trees" are like weeds! There are plenty of them to go around, and they grow like wildfire! As for Bambi - there are plenty of those around, too!


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## Archdean (Jul 15, 2004)

> _Originally posted by John-in-Ga _
> *Fordfarm,
> 
> My wife says shearing those cute little Christmas trees off at the ground would be like shooting Bambi.
> spinsmile *


Tell your wife to decorate one and then itch till New Years as for "bambi" GF says off the road and in-to the freezer!!!

Dean/Diane


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## Fordfarm (Dec 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by John-in-Ga _*Fordfarm,
> 
> My wife says shearing those cute little Christmas trees off at the ground would be like shooting Bambi.
> spinsmile *


John - if you look at thel ast photo I posted. My Dad used to bale hay on top of that far hill 35 years ago. Now rabbits can't get through! The tallest trees are Cottonwood (some 100' tall) , Ash, Elm, Oak, Hackberry, Locust, Hedge (Osage Orange), Maple, Mulberry and probably a few others! They are actually in a couple of ditches between the hills.


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## CatDaddy (May 30, 2004)

Hen, you're cuttin' 'em down & I'm plantin' 'em.

Today, I put in 2 satsumas & a lemon tree to go with the sassafrass I planted last weekend. 

Also put in a couple of thornless blackberry bushes. I'm gonna grow them espallier style using an old piece of weld-wire horse fence. It ought to make berry picking easy for the girls. They _love_ picking berries.


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## Fordfarm (Dec 27, 2005)

Yeah - my wife is talking already about planting trees in the Spring! Only they WON"T be conifers!


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Looks like you're set up for moving it with forks?


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