One of my pecan trees had a bad blight last year. A couple of large limbs have been dead for about a year now. I want to cut them off, but I want to use a hand saw.

I am posting to ask if anybody can recommend a particular saw or particular type of saw that will do best the job on hard pecan. I need to cut two limbs, about twelve inches in diameter.

 

I recommend a battery powered chain saw. Make 2 cuts per limb. The first cut is 1 foot from the trunk. The second cut is at the trunk. The weight of the 1 foot section is not large enough to tear the 1 foot limb from the trunk before the cut is complete.

 

If climbing a tree I prefer to use a hand pruning saw. It's safer than handling a chainsaw in a tree and if the saw is sharp it can cut quickly and easily. For limbs larger than about 9" I use a chainsaw but I'm always using it while standing on a stable surface.

 

By hand, definitely a pruning saw. They have more aggressive teeth wider kerfs for dealing with green wood. If you can get close to the cuts you can get one that fits your hand. Or you can buy the same type of blade on a pole, conveniently known as a pole saw, so that you can reach them from the ground or across from maybe a more stable limb. Either one is available at your local hardware, big box, or garden center.

 

You dont mention how high up the branches are but cutting a 12" dia branch with a hand saw /hand pole saw is going to be nearly impossible plus I would not want to be anywhere near that branch when it decides to come down.

I would seriously suggest a gas powerd pole saw or get a local company to come out and take them down for a couple hundred dollars!

 

Pictures would help.

*****

Bud

 

Do not stand on a ladder while you are cutting the limb.

 

What do you mean by hand saw?
- Bow-saw (doable with a new blade)
- Pruning saw (bit of work)
- Pole saw (heck of a workout)

How high up is it?
Is it mostly horizontal or mostly vertical?
Is there anything valuable that the branch can hit?

When you're cutting a dead branch, you basically remove material until you have 1 of 2 common cross-sections of remaining wood-

1- vertical ▌ the remaining wood will usually fail suddenly; "pop" so that the entire branch drops straight down, tips and base hit the ground at the same time.
2-horizontal ▬ this will usually fail slowly and "flop" so that the tips droop to the ground first, then the base drops as you finish the cut.