I hate willow

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806
Location
New Springfield OH
My brother calls me up last night, says bring the big saw (075 stihl) tomorrow, got a big tree to take down. :rolleyes:
So off I went this morning, over to big brothers, Had breakfast (farm fresh eggs, buckwheat cakes, fresh smoked bacon and sausage, lots of coffee and fresh whole raw milk)
Get that out of the way and off we go to see a member of his church. Thats when I found out it was a willow tree :doh: I knew I should have asked. The trunk was only about 8 feet high, before it branched out in a gazillion different directions. But it was also about 5 feet in diameter. Stupid thing had branches on it where big enough that the big saw wouldn't have cut in one pass straight down through. Getting the branches lopped off was a pain, never knew just quite when they where going to fall. Then it took me almost an hour to whittle the butt off. wet, stinky and nasty.

I know one thing, after man handling that 075 all day I am definitely buying a Husky 372XP one way or another. That Stihl will where you out
 
Well this Canuck knows what a Cricket bat is, I played that in High School, fun learning to catch that HARD ball barehanded when someone really nails one :D
 
I knew they were willow and I knew they were hard and lightweight. I remember when we got new bats each year, we would spend hours pounding the darn things with the ball, to season them or some such thing. The Coach told us it made the bats better, compressing the fiber or some such thing, all I know is it was not a fun task to have to do.

I just checked, the willow they use for Cricket bats is not the same as our "Weeping Willow"........

  • The Cricket-bat Willow (Salix alba 'Caerulea'), often referred to simply as English Willow, is grown as a specialist timber crop in Britain, mainly for the production of cricket bats, but also for other uses where a tough, lightweight wood that does not splinter easily, is required. It is distinguished mainly by its growth form, very fast growing with a single straight stem, and also by its slightly larger leaves (10-11 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide) with a more blue-green colour. Its origin is unknown, but it may be a hybrid between White Willow and Crack Willow (Salix fragilis).
  • The Weeping Willow (Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', syn. Salix 'Tristis') is a hybrid between White Willow and Peking Willow (Salix babylonica, syn. Salix matsudana).

Also found this

Growing Willow for Cricket Bats

Interesting!
 
That's great, Stu.

Years ago I visited a cricket bat factory in India while on holiday there. The willow came from England to be made into bats before being shipped back again.:huh:

The interesting bit is the handle. It's made from a length of rattan cane split into 3 or 4 pieces and fastened back together with a slither of rubber (old bike inner tubes) between each piece.

There is a lot of old rubbish talked about the correct stance and technique to be used when wielding a cricket bat. We had an American lad in our class at school and he simply adopted a baseball player's stance. He was fantastic! They wouldn't put him in the school team though, as his way of playing was considered 'bad form'!
 
I'd have thought Ash or Beech for Cricket Bats... :rofl:

I just picked up a cricket bat-sized piece of beech in my workshop and... ...no - it's about three times too heavy!

As Stu says, English Willow is very light, hard, and also flexible, making it perfect for a bat. Or as a weapon of self-defence. Or offence!

By the way, what are baseball bats made of?
 
I turned one out of ash for my BIL about a year ago, (wasn't real pretty or functional), after seeing one on a website somewhere...I think that's what most are made out of?:dunno:
 
There is a lot of old rubbish talked about the correct stance and technique to be used when wielding a cricket bat. We had an American lad in our class at school and he simply adopted a baseball player's stance. He was fantastic! They wouldn't put him in the school team though, as his way of playing was considered 'bad form'!

Too funny!
 
Personally I think Willow should be outlawed. Anyone who plants the tree should be executed, and anyone who allows it to grow into a tree on their property should be forced to cut it down, chip it up, then be tarred and feathered. That would be a fair treatment I think.

What a useless tree. I know it never rots (hence the name Weeping Willow...for the caskets that were made out of it, not for the sweeping branches as most people think) but it has no place on this planet in my opinion.

As for the chainsaw, I was impressed. I have a 046 Stihl and like it a lot. I have had it for years and it still runs just fine. I would be leery of the 372 Husky. I had one and huffed a piston in 9 months time. The Huskys turn up faster (more RPMS) but don't last as long due to their single piston ring. Stihls have 2 and get more compression and run cooler and last a lot longer.

Chainsaw_and_Axe2-217x140.jpg
 
Problem is a Travis, a 75cc Stihl isn't in my budget. We're talking almost $900. I know couple loggers running the 372's and really like them. Husky is discontinuing them due to they won't meet EPA emissions. They are going to continue supporting them since they have so many on the market.

The 075 is a beast, and yeah it has a lot of compression, in fact if you aren't careful it will kick you like a rented mule. But it has to weigh 50 or 60 pounds.

I did buy a new MS270 a couple weeks ago and really like it. with the exception of two things
1 no adjustment on the oiler, it's factory set.
2 No compression release. I don't have a problem with it but the wife has a hard time starting it. She can start the Husky 55 just fine though since it has a compression release on it.

The coolest things on it,
IT has a 2 barrel carb
and the winter/summer selector. in winter mode it pulles warm air from around the jug and heats the carb

The 372XP won't get used near as much as my MS270 or my Husky 55. It will be for felling and bucking what the 55 or 270 won't cut.
 
Weeping Willows.......?

The willow trees in my granddad's yard would weep in the summer time, in really hot weather, they would drop a very, very fine mist of water, like the lightest rain I've ever seen, just moist air really, totally refreshing on a hot day to sit under a weeping willow.

I'd never heard the name related to caskets :dunno:
 
As an old wood chuck and peg leg I am here to tell you there are several good uses for willow. My first legs were carved from Willow. Strong yet light weight.

Willow makes nice secondary woods in furniture and yet it is versitle as it takes stain so well and hides the true grain making it copycat many species. So don't PooPoo Willow too bad, aside from taking a long time to dry oput and having top be careful of massive checks if you are too quick on the drying, and it is not good for firewood and quick to spalt.... It is a pretty good product.

I learned to walk on willow so I am partial to its glory
 
Problem is a Travis, a 75cc Stihl isn't in my budget. We're talking almost $900. I know couple loggers running the 372's and really like them. Husky is discontinuing them due to they won't meet EPA emissions. They are going to continue supporting them since they have so many on the market.

The 075 is a beast, and yeah it has a lot of compression, in fact if you aren't careful it will kick you like a rented mule. But it has to weigh 50 or 60 pounds.

I did buy a new MS270 a couple weeks ago and really like it. with the exception of two things
1 no adjustment on the oiler, it's factory set.
2 No compression release. I don't have a problem with it but the wife has a hard time starting it. She can start the Husky 55 just fine though since it has a compression release on it.

The coolest things on it,
IT has a 2 barrel carb
and the winter/summer selector. in winter mode it pulles warm air from around the jug and heats the carb

The 372XP won't get used near as much as my MS270 or my Husky 55. It will be for felling and bucking what the 55 or 270 won't cut.

You ever thought about getting the 046 Stihl? I think it is a M46 now or something, the M designating it as passing the emissions test. Its got plenty of power for my needs and is not to big, nor to light, but only 72 CC's in size.

I think I have a 55 Husky or something. My FIL gave it to me. I always swore at Husky and swore I would never get another, but this thing is so small I use it all the time for carpentry related stuff. I hate to admit it, but I kind of like it. I just don't expect it to live a long, healthy life.
 
It's the ms460 now, $789, Not a bad price but it's still out what I have budgeted. There was only so much money to spend. I could have gotten the MS460, but part of the money went to buying a 100 feet of saw chain and a breaker and a spinner.
I'll make that money back over time, but with in the neighbor hood of a dozen saws in the family to maintain it was a wise move.

That 55 has been a good saw. It's cut a ton of wood.
 
As an old wood chuck and peg leg I am here to tell you there are several good uses for willow. My first legs were carved from Willow. Strong yet light weight.

Willow makes nice secondary woods in furniture and yet it is versitle as it takes stain so well and hides the true grain making it copycat many species. So don't PooPoo Willow too bad, aside from taking a long time to dry oput and having top be careful of massive checks if you are too quick on the drying, and it is not good for firewood and quick to spalt.... It is a pretty good product.

I learned to walk on willow so I am partial to its glory

All good points Bill, It's just a pain to cut down. Been my experience so far that you never know how it's going to react on the hinge. Which makes it dangerous
 
Just a few more facts about Willow... :)

The Willow tree is a source of salicylic acid which led to the invention of aspirin.

The smaller Willow shrubs that grow near fresh water in northern climates do an excellent job of smoking fish and other meats if you peel the bark off of it and season it properly... mmmmm :D:thumb:

Oh yeah, I live at a place called "The Willows" :rofl::rofl::D:dunno:
There are 11 Weeping Willow trees on the property and they make me money because I have to prune them a couple times per year... ;):D

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