Why not to just let some jerk from Craigslist drop your tree

[joshuabardwell]

According to the video description, this was a "professional" faller. Given that he didn't cut off the back-leaning limbs OR put a backup line to guide the fall, I have to wonder if he wasn't just some guy with a saw who figured it was an easy way to make a buck.

 

[rekees4300]

Looks like he had it notched properly and was driving wedges on the correct side. Apparently it must have been severely leaning toward the house, in which case a pull line was needed. What was really needed was a true professional tree removal service with lift truck so that huge tree could be cut from the top down in sections.

 

[mikehaugen]

Wow... love the commentary!

 

[Deere Dude]

Someone who knew what they were doing wouldn't have been fooling around with an axe. I hate to laugh at others misery, but that gave me a chuckle.

 

[creekbend]

Wow... love the commentary!

You do mean when He shouted "Timber", don't you?

 

[mikehaugen]

You do mean when He shouted "Timber", don't you?

No it was the four letter word from the cameraman... lol

 

[rekees4300]

I assumed the guy had cut the notch with a chainsaw then was driving wedges onto the back cut but you may be right that the idiot was just using an axe. Kinda hard to tell from the video.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Someone who knew what they were doing wouldn't have been fooling around with an axe. I hate to laugh at others misery, but that gave me a chuckle.

I don't think it was an axe. I think he was driving wedges with a sledge.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Looks like he had it notched properly and was driving wedges on the correct side. Apparently it must have been severely leaning toward the house, in which case a pull line was needed.

The person who shot the video thinks that there were a lot of branches on the back side. A little more subtle than a leaner. If it was a leaner, then the faller was truly an idiot. If it was branches, he was just an amateur.

 

[JimRB]

The few months I worked for a tree service the boss would run ropes up the tree, tie it to the truck and tension the tree the direction it needed to fall. I cannot remember if it was one rope for each truck or just one rope. One rope for each truck would be safer. Trucks were one ton trucks with dump beds to hold chips.

 

[Larro Darro]

Hope the homeowner checked the guy's bond. It looks like he had cut two notches. One is up higher than he's working. Anytime there are structures involved, you use a line. He could have put one on right up until the last swing of the sledge.
Once when my wife was helping me cut firewood, I misjudged the way a tree wanted to fall. It was a very tall oak and my Jeep with a trailer was too close. And there was no real road. We had just came through the woods. But I stopped sawing in time to get the vehicle moved. I had to cut a couple of smaller trees to make my escape. After that, my wife didn't help me with firewood all that often.

 

[TomSeller]

With either a leaner or tree with heavy branches on the wrong side, those little wedges would never offset the natural way that tree wanted to fall. It should have had restraint ropes or have been limbed and the trunk taken down in sections. That job is what pros are for.

I am surprised he didn't have his wife out there pushing on the tree away from the house. It would have had about as much effect.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I am surprised he didn't have his wife out there pushing on the tree away from the house. It would have had about as much effect.

You mean like this?

 

[rekees4300]

He said not to let it fall on the bush and that's what he did.

 

[joshuabardwell]

He said not to let it fall on the bush and that's what he did.

I just have no idea how he thought that one person, pulling on a line, was going to be sufficient to change the direction of the tree's fall.

 

[TomSeller]

I just have no idea how he thought that one person, pulling on a line, was going to be sufficient to change the direction of the tree's fall.

Right and that tree had enough lean to have barber chaired on him. Plus the angle of the pull was way off.

 

[Leejohn]

I tied to my truck's rear one tiime with a very large tree and when it came down the truck's rear lifted up and took off.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Right and that tree had enough lean to have barber chaired on him. Plus the angle of the pull was way off.

Yup. I don't think you can pull a tree effectively ninety degrees to the direction of its lean. Best-case, you're going to end up pulling it a few degrees off course, but not from 12-o-clock to 3-o-clock. Seems to me, if you absolutely had to drop a tree that way, you might could cut the hinge such that it tore away from one side first, causing a twisting effect. But that's undoubtedly a very advanced move, and I suspect most arborists who would have been capable of it are in the ground now, since nowadays we basically just use a bucket truck and take them down from the top.

 

[Larro Darro]

I don't think these guys knew about hinges and such. He spent more time setting up the camera than thinking out what the tree would do.

 

[MoKelly]

I always find it amazing these things are videotaped and posted online for the world to see. Are these folks proud of their accomplishments?

MoKelly