Curly willow

Anyone who is familiar with wood cutting knows that it is rather hazardous to take a chain saw up twenty feet in a tree to cut the topsof trees. They are heavy, hot and highly dangerous. It is similar to taking a wildcat full of speed up to the top of a tree up a ladder and trying to make it do the tricks you wanted it to do, without, of course, knocking you out of the tree with burns or severe lacerations. I normally use a bow saw, very low-tech, but needing lots of clearance. I have been very successful using an electric Remington saw that works great if you have somewhere to plug it in, and are able to wrangle the cord up the ladder. I recently bought a Riobi battery powered chainsaw and I was doubtful as to how the battery would perform. I can say that it works great where electric power is not available. I often go deep into a woods to cut maple saplings and it works well to cut twenty or so three inch maple saplings and it works well twenty feet up, although it is not nearly as powerful as my Mc Cullouch. I would have a hard time hauling the McCullouch into the woods and I would not even try to take it up a ladder. It is scary enough to go twenty feet up, without such a violent distraction. It would be like taking a bobcat up a ladder. At any rate, today went smoothly and I was able to fill my van with large twenty foot long branches into my van and haul them to the shop. Now I will need to bundle them all up to satisfy the needs of my customers for the next year. I will need to repeat the work of the last few days four or or five more times as curly willows have become nearly half my sales. Little to report on the wildlife front. Lots of titmice at the feeders.