While walking through my woods the other day I found a standing-dead cedar that was 27ft tall. Since it was already dead I figured I needed to cut it down and put it to use somehow - no point in letting it stand there rotting.
I got it down, eventually*, and dragged it back to the house w/ my tractor. Then I set about de-limbing w/ the maul...rough but I'll clean it up later. The next day I started debarking it. The best tool I could find for the job was a mini pick-axe. It was light and easy to swing but for some reason my hands don't like old wooden handles.
7 blisters later and it's finally debarked. It took me about 2 hours (spread over 4) and the total usable length is 25ft. It should make a decent pole for my plastic barrel vawt. Not quite as long as I would've liked but free is free.
* My chainsaw needed a break and then decided it didn't want to start back up so I climbed the tree that was an inch from falling (don't try this at home kids!) and attached a strap from the tree to the tractor. The strap broke but the tree came down. Then the branches dug into the ground so I couldn't pull it - I had to use the tractor to roll the tree first. Lots of little time-wasters and minor frustration but well worth the effort.
