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Felling Trees

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#562 ·
Steve Urquell said:
I'm no pro but there are times I feel unsafe felling certain dead trees and I will cut and pull them down rather than risk being under them when they go. I hope this is useful to someone in my shoes.

This is a 16" cherry I mow under and those big dead limbs (big one 12" in diameter) had me worried so I knew this needed to come down. It is on a slope, leaning one way while the big limb is hanging out the opposite way

Tied it up for a cable pull. I made a cable lifter out of an old extension pole and loop a cable around the trunk with my pull cable hooked to it. Let's me pull from 16ft up the tree while setting the cable from the ground.
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Tried a Humboldt notch for the first time.
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Made a back cut and then started pulling it. It resisted and I cut a little more and drove some wedges in the back.
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When this tree hit the ground the limbs shattered so I felt justified that I had put in the extra work to pull it. Someone better than me might have just dropped it but I didn't want to risk a dead limb falling on and killing me.
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That tree seemed to have a decent lean in the direction you wanted it to go, but I always say do what makes you feel comfortable, safety is the key!

FWIW, most of the time I put a rope around my trees and have my sons / wife give it a good tug when it's almost ready to go, just to be sure it goes where I want it to go.

just my $0.02
 
#564 ·
tnt_motorsports said:
That tree seemed to have a decent lean in the direction you wanted it to go, but I always say do what makes you feel comfortable, safety is the key!

FWIW, most of the time I put a rope around my trees and have my sons / wife give it a good tug when it's almost ready to go, just to be sure it goes where I want it to go.

just my $0.02
Click to expand...
It's hard to tell from the pics but the trunk actually leaned about to the right of the direction I dropped it. The huge limb pointing opposite the lean complicated it but the main reason I pulled it was to ensure a limb didn't fall on me.
 
#565 · (Edited)
tnt_motorsports said:
FWIW, most of the time I put a rope around my trees and have my sons / wife give it a good tug when it's almost ready to go, just to be sure it goes where I want it to go.
Click to expand...
That's how I was taught by my FIL. But, there are tons of YouTube videos showing people (and small vehicles) getting dragged by those lines when the tree goes where it wants to anyway.

That's why I've started anchoring the other end, usually to a larger diameter tree than the one being dropped. I use a come-a-long to do the pulling.

EDIT: If anchoring, it's vital to use a strong enough line (and any hardware such as shackles), as that will be the weak link. There may be forces of hundreds (or more) pounds in play here.

Mike
 
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#566 ·
mikeinri said:
That's why I've started anchoring the other end, usually to a larger diameter tree than the one being dropped. I use a come-a-long to do the pulling.
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I try not to use stretchy rope as the come-along needs to have a long enough pull to overcome the amount of stretch on the rope. If you have a cable grab and the rope is long enough to tie the free end after stretching it, then you can reposition for a subsequent pull. You can also reposition if you use chain with grab hooks.


To gauge how tall the tree is to calculate how long of a rope is needed, I hold a stick vertical at arm's length with my thumb at the base of the tree and then turn it horizontal to eyeball where the top of the stick lines up on the ground. That obviously was not done on that Facebook video.
 
#567 ·
Those are great suggestions! I've often wished I had a second / tandem come-a-long, to keep pulling after the first one is maxed out.

Mike
 
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Discussion starter · #568 ·
c5rulz said:
Gotta laugh @Jere39, You are now dealing with dirt covered cable skidded logs like I do every day. :LOL:

BTW, good move on not attempting to cut the trees on the lines. I never want to see friends of mine use the words chainsaw and ladder in the same sentence.
Click to expand...

I will never regret the cost of someone who knows what they are doing to take the limb weight off those lines. Just got the bill from the Electrical Contractor though, and in that case it was nothing I could have conceivable done, it was nice round match to my February Social Security direct deposit. Guess my wife's SS deposit will have to cover groceries this month. Lucky it's a short one.

And, while these logs are dirty, that is where I run my TracVac loads of leaves down over the hill side. So, there is about 2' of decomposing leaves under those logs. Dirty, but not gritty dirt that makes a sanding slurry to cut through. I hope!
 
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#569 ·
Here's one to show ya it doesn't always go as planned. Rotten tree leaning over my fence. Set up for a pull. For safety I tensioned the cable prior to notching and shook it to make sure the top wasn't going to fall off then backed the tension off.

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When I notched it it was dust inside. I backed off and pulled it down....
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On the fence corner. :giggle:
Luckily all it did was pop the top rail out of the cap and I easily popped it back in. Trunk of this was dust inside.

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What could I have done better? Took a more aggressive pull opposite of the lean. I was pulling in the pathway I had and to a tree I could reach with my cables and chains. My back cut was crap but TBH when the trunk started blowing up when I notched it I wanted away from it as quickly as possible and I put the top of the bar on it and made a quick cut.
 
#570 ·
I mentioned in the other thread that it looked like the face cut was slanted towards the fence?

It's down, you're safe, and the fence was an easy fix. I'd say you won...

Mike
 
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#571 · (Edited)
mikeinri said:
I mentioned in the other thread that it looked like the face cut was slanted towards the fence?

It's down, you're safe, and the fence was an easy fix. I'd say you won...

Mike
Click to expand...
It was pointing towards the pull. As I notched it it was blowing up since it was dust. As it began to fall it was headed towards the pull but took a turn towards the fence as the cable slacked. You can hear me speed up trying to bring it towards me.

ETA: watch at :20 how the trunk twists on the stump and turns towards the fence. There was no hinge (due to the rot)to keep it in alignment.
 
#572 ·
Are you looking at a different video? The one above is only 37 seconds long, the tree is down before 35 seconds. Looking at the bark on the tree, I honestly don't see it twisting.

The face cut is facing the direction of the pull, but doesn't look level. Kind of like an open mouth smile when someone is laughing hard and tilting his head to one side.

Just what I'm seeing, doesn't mean I'm correct, of course.

Mike
 
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#573 ·
Last time Mike. My time was off. It's at 24-25 secs the tree begins to twist counterclockwise. I literally watched it happening as I was pulling it and tried to speed up to continue the pull in my direction. There's no hinge to hold it on the left and what was left of the hinge on the right is what causwd it to twist. and the left side of the trunk falls off.

As far as the notch. The trunk fell apart when I cut it. There isn't any accurate notch as it is all dust inside. You can see here where the side of the trunk away from the fence is blown off. That's where it twisted off but it's only about a half inch thick or so.

Cut a notch in bag of sawdust to get an idea on this.

 
#574 ·
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#575 ·
@Steve Urquell

For a change I won't be an arm chair quarterback. That trees was rotten and technique really wouldn't make a lot of difference. Glad you got it down safely.
 
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#576 ·
c5rulz said:
@Steve Urquell

For a change I won't be an arm chair quarterback. That trees was rotten and technique really wouldn't make a lot of difference. Glad you got it down safely.
Click to expand...
Thank you sir. Could have pulled it more to the left as I said in the first post but hey, it all worked out. Main thing is the top didn't fall on me.

I will say when I notched that trunk and it literally blew apart I was feeling the need to be anywhere but under it so the rest of the notching and felling cut were...hasty
 
#577 ·
Totally understood. I hear you on the sawdust / mush. You're right, no technique would have made much difference (other than avoiding being under it at all).

Like I said, it's down, you're OK, and so is the fence. Win, win, win...

Mike
 
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#578 ·
Steve Urquell said:
Thank you sir. Could have pulled it more to the left as I said in the first post but hey, it all worked out. Main thing is the top didn't fall on me.

I will say when I notched that trunk and it literally blew apart I was feeling the need to be anywhere but under it so the rest of the notching and felling cut were...hasty
Click to expand...

That would have been a good candidate for a bore cut technique as the trunk would have been better supported until the trigger was cut.
 
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#579 ·
c5rulz said:
That would have been a good candidate for a bore cut technique as the trunk would have been better supported until the trigger was cut.
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I am surprised that the tree didn't break before I cut it. I put a lot of pressure on the pull and shook the cable HARD to make sure the top didn't break off when I was under it then backed it off to cut it.

When I stuck the saw on it it really surprised me as it basically disintegrated. Maybe I will bore cut any standing dead from now on.
 
#580 ·
Steve Urquell said:
I am surprised that the tree didn't break before I cut it. I put a lot of pressure on the pull and shook the cable HARD to make sure the top didn't break off when I was under it then backed it off to cut it.

When I stuck the saw on it it really surprised me as it basically disintegrated. Maybe I will bore cut any standing dead from now on.
Click to expand...

Standing dead trees make me very nervous. You need to be looking up even more so on dead trees as debris can fall out just from vibration of the saw.
 
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