Lumberjacks! I need advicePlease!

[garacuda]

Years ago when this wasn't part of my back yard, this old Pine tree held targets for all sorts of firearms practice. Now I need to remove it so it won't someday fall on my new carport that's going in next to it. The side to the left is dead........and that's the direction it has to fall, or it hits the house and my wife gets mad, or it hits a fence and my neighbor gets mad. I can deal with the neighbor.

Question to you more experienced lumberjacks; If I tie a cable about 15' up on the tree and put tension on it in the direction I want it to fall (pulling with tractor) will the rotted/dead part at the base cause it to have a mind of it's own as I saw through the back (solid) side? Or will the pulling override any wild tendencies it may cause by being dead? The double tree behind it goes next, but I'm not too concerned about dropping it straight, it can only reach the fence, but I think I can convince it not to.

All thoughts and ideas are welcome.

Well, I can't seem to get the photos to load in the post. I will try it again from work and see what happens. The dead portion is at least half across and just as deep. The base is maybe 14"-16" .

Thanks for any input.........photos in the morn, I hope.

 

[BHD]

the higher up in the tree, the better,

but use caution if the leverage is not adequate, it can pull the tractor or truck all over the place, (one is better to use a 4 wheel or front wheel drive, as when one puts tension on the chain or cable it start to lift the car/truck/ tractor rear off the ground,

I like a heavy truck with an automatic transmission as one can put tension on the line and not be slipping the clutch, and make sure the line is longer than the tree so the tree does not come down on the pulling unit, some times operating in reverse is better with a two wheel drive, (two factors, one can see the working progress, and the pulling wheels do not loss traction as tension is increased, with the high point of connection, in the tree.

 

[newbury]

Really need pics and a sketch of the boundaries. Are you dropping a 20' pine 15
from the house or a 100' pine 15' form the house?

When I've done that type of work (50' maple w/ lot's of danger areas to hit) I got up the tree in a ladder and topped and limbed it partially, greatly reducing the danger. Still hit a chainlink fence.

Other trees will grab a limb and twist a falling tree around.

/edit - and when you write "the base" do you mean the diameter at the ground or at chest height?

 

[bcp]

The rotten section can change how the tree hinges as it begins to fall, making it tend to go sideways.

The cable tension should continue to pull the tree as it falls, not relax as soon as the tree moves(as if it has a fixed anchor.)

If it is rotten enough and your truck or tractor is strong enough, maybe try to pull it over instead of sawing, to better control the direction. Steady pull, don't jerk.

Bruce

 

[CobyRupert]

My 2 cents about using cable to direct fall: Once you then start cutting and the tree moves, the cable goes slack and gravity then takes over and tree can the fall up to 90 degrees away from direction of "pull". So, you must keep applying tension as you cut the tree to keep slack out of line. BUT, too much tension and you will barberchair the tree, (Look it up on youtube. This is a very bad thing.) Not notching the front side will also cause a barberchair. You will definitely want to put a notch on it. Avoid using dead wood as your holding wood /hinge.
Couple ways to lesson the chances of barberchair caused by deadwood or a cable's pulling up high on the tree is to strap a chain around the trunk right above where your cutting to hold the trunk together instead of splitting. Or if your comfortable, research a Plunge Cut that leaves a holding strap.

 

[PlumCrazy814]

Good Luck. My Experience has been with some large (80 foot) Oaks and pulling with a 30 HP 4WD 2000 Lb. tractor. You can pretty much get them to go away from where you don't want them to go but you need to consider what they might hit that will alter their course. I used 2" steel cables and 4" fiber lift straps. Notched the fall side then sawed from the opposite side. If the tree is half dead, your bets are off with the possible exception of pine. Some Pines, depending on species, can easily be pushed over with a front end loader because some don't root deep.

 

[CalG]

If there is risk, My experience is to truss that tree like a chrismas turkey! Don't rely solely on a single controling cable. Attach pivot lines that are tensioned with come alongs or chain falls to solid fixed objects. The "pulling line" is an added member.

I dropped a pretty good sized maple out front of the house this winter. about 30 inches at the butt ;-) 90 feet tall and "field grown" for the past 30 years, so it was full of growth.
The felling direction was opposite the big weight up high. the felling direction was also away from the house which was only about 35 feet ;-)

I had two chains to nearby trees as "keepers" and "tensioners" with 1 ton cable come a longs to give the tension. Then the 1/2 inch cable was secured up as high as I could reach on a 25 foot extension ladder. This to the 2 ton chain ratchet pull that was around behind a nearby hemlock with the cable redirected through a snatch block. I pulled that ratchet handle till I thought the tree was going to come over without a saw cut!

The box cut went fine, I always plunge the back cut on the big stuff. The HINGE WENT TO NEARLY NOTHING before I heard any sound.
At first cracking of wood, I set down the saw and lifted the muffs. Earily quiet! No signal that all those tons of maple were getting ready to lay down for a rest.

I ran over to the chain ratchet and started hauling in chain. I could see the top coming my way, but it was slow. I was certainly trying to move up stream! Sweating bullets! Still not a sound. Usually there is a stream of cracks and pops to let me know that things are going my way. Not this one.

A few more tugs on the ratchet, and a couple on the come a longs resulted in a great snap at the butt. The tree started coming my way. I ducked for cover around the hemlock, and it was a good thing I did. The maple dropped RIGHT ON TARGET, but it knocked off some good sized limbs high up the hemlock as it passed by. Good sized ones too, as in 4 inch stuff. Those limbs broke off and fell down like spears and worse. Quite a racket all in all! (Though I am positive the falling and breaking and crashing and smashing would have been entirely silent had I not been around to hear ;-)

So, All I'm saying is to double up your security. The "Belt and Braces approach is often just enough!

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I need to see the tree. Work on photos.

img commands in brackets work as well as attachments from your local computer.

 

[CalG]

I could snap a photo of the stump, but the "tree" is all worked up to fire wood and in the shed '-)
All except the small limb wood and the uglies, still in a rough stack where it fell.
(Couldn't have got the first 20 feet of rounds on the splitter without the loader, even the halves were too heavy !)

 

[jlgurr]

The best advice I can offer is hire an insured professional to drop it then you can spend your time to cut it up afterwards instead of repairing the house or fence. It will be money well spent. Speaking from experience, unfortunately.