A little Fall clean up

[Barryh]

Yep. Conversing via typed words VS face to face leaves a lot to be desired. We cannot see the person's face and expressions. Some folks I know type with an accent, too.

Anyhow... no harm in respecting each other, right?

Now back to trees....

The last tree I took off of our property was about a 60' sycamore. It was leaning towards our house. I have about a 100' piece of thick steel cable from a tow truck winch. I climbed up the sycamore and pulled the cable up with a rope. Then I chained the cable to the tree about 40' up. Finally, I attached it to my old 4wd pickup truck. I made the wedge cut in the direction I wanted the tree to fall and put a lot of tension on the tree with the truck. Then I made my final cut and it fell as planned. I figured the tree was not that big and the worst I could have done was drop it left or right about 70 degrees from center, but the house was safe. The tree was small enough that the pickup could pull it down. A large tree could put enough pressure on the truck to drag the truck around easily. Sometimes it is best to drop all of the branches off of the tree straight down to the ground and then start taking off bits of the trunk from the top, down. However, this is best left to the pros with climbing gear and/or a cherry picker truck. We have to pick our battles as we go.

I once saw a program on T.V. where a guy had a large tree in his back yard, over some structure and there was no where to let anything fall. The tree climber went up and fixed a rope to the top of the tree, over the house, to a truck in the street. Then he would clip drop lines to the tight rope, tie the drop lines to branches, and as he cut off each branch, the branch would zip line down to the lawn next to the truck. Very cool. He almost the entire tree that way, until all he had left was about 25' fo trunk. Not sure what he did after that, but I think he just lowered each piece down to the ground from there.

You have his number?

 

[toy]

Very helpful observation Thank-you.

Barry you probably did this but just in case, you said that you cut a wedge out to pull the tree in the direction that you wanted it to fall, when you went to the back side to make the cut through did you start your cut about six to 8 inches above the notch? You said I believe that the tree wasn't leaning towards the house but did you notice to make sure that the top of the tree didn't have more limbs on the side of the house. I had two real large trees taken down this spring the man that cut them down climbed to the top of the tree and brought the tree down from the top. He cut the limbs all off and then he went back up and brought the trunk down chunk at a time. He was real careful considering how close it was to my house, and hooked ropes to the chunks of log to make sure they went where he wanted them to go. The large limbs that could have caused damage to my house he hooked ropes to them and let them down slowly. My brother and I cut down a tree once and we went up and cut all the limbs and then we were going to cut the trunk of the tree to bring the log down. We notched the stump to make it fall the way we wanted it to and then we went to the other side and cut in well the tree binded the saw so we drove wedges in and it freed up the saw and we continued cutting. We cut it to the point that it should have fallen but it just stood there we had ropes on it and we couldn't pull it with both of us pulling. We had to tie ropes together enough to reach across a creek and hook it to my truck and pull it down. I hate that your house was damaged but I am glad that no one was hurt.

 

[Barryh]

Barry you probably did this but just in case, you said that you cut a wedge out to pull the tree in the direction that you wanted it to fall, when you went to the back side to make the cut through did you start your cut about six to 8 inches above the notch? You said I believe that the tree wasn't leaning towards the house but did you notice to make sure that the top of the tree didn't have more limbs on the side of the house. I had two real large trees taken down this spring the man that cut them down climbed to the top of the tree and brought the tree down from the top. He cut the limbs all off and then he went back up and brought the trunk down chunk at a time. He was real careful considering how close it was to my house, and hooked ropes to the chunks of log to make sure they went where he wanted them to go. The large limbs that could have caused damage to my house he hooked ropes to them and let them down slowly. My brother and I cut down a tree once and we went up and cut all the limbs and then we were going to cut the trunk of the tree to bring the log down. We notched the stump to make it fall the way we wanted it to and then we went to the other side and cut in well the tree binded the saw so we drove wedges in and it freed up the saw and we continued cutting. We cut it to the point that it should have fallen but it just stood there we had ropes on it and we couldn't pull it with both of us pulling. We had to tie ropes together enough to reach across a creek and hook it to my truck and pull it down. I hate that your house was damaged but I am glad that no one was hurt.

Toy , I'm no expert obviously. I made a 70 % wedge cut in the direction I wanted it to fall then used a felling wedge on the opposite side. Had the tree roped off about 40 ft up with a rated 4,000 new nylon rope. the tree had no lean nice and straight. We had a very slight breeze just barley noticeable. Limbs fairly even all the way up.

Like your description the tree just kind of stayed in place until I heard a loud crack and due to unseen ant damage the tree decided to drop an inch after that, everything just went south in slow motion. I yelled and the boys started pulling on the tree it slowly started going tword the house. Just way to tall to manage.

It didn't give me the chance to hook up to a truck or tractor even if I would have been able to get one back into the woods. Nothing like that helpless feeling watching as the tree hit my house.

The tree was too tall to climb up to the top without the proper equipment and notch it down in sections. I should have just called in the pro's with the right equipment in the first place. That's not the first tree I have taken down the rest went according to plan. Maybe that's were I got all of my false confidence.

This is just, the first one that was close to my house. This is the second day they have us in this high end condo like staying at a resort very comfy. I already miss my place on the mountain. Thanks to all of you guys for the verbal support does make me feel better. Good lesson for anyone with handy man ability's thinking about trying this their self. Plan it well before you leap.

 

[ponytug]

Barry,

Thanks for sharing the story. I have a tree that's been bugging me, and I will bite the bullet and have a pro do it. Being displaced is no fun.

I hope you get back to your new and improved home soon. Thank the builder for doing a great job!

All the best,

Peter

 

[Barryh]

Barry,

Thanks for sharing the story. I have a tree that's been bugging me, and I will bite the bullet and have a pro do it. Being displaced is no fun.

I hope you get back to your new and improved home soon. Thank the builder for doing a great job!

All the best,

Peter

Thanks Peter, I appreciate it. Smart move on the tree better safe than sorry.

 

[3238dpw]

I remember taking a class on caring for trees, pruning and so forth. The instructer showed us how to use some fancy tool I can't remember, but it was a glorified drill bit on a T handle. He then screwed it into a tree. Once he got thru the healthy wood, it just pushed in. He was able to tell exactly how much rot was in the center of a tree and how much healthy wood was around the outside. I try to use this method with a long narrow wood bit ( I think he suggested less than a quarter inch) whenever I can, before cutting down a tree.
It doesn't replace a pro, but it can't hurt either. I have checked the trees close to my house to get a feel for their health. He also said that a hole that small would not harm the tree because it could easily heal over.

 

[Barryh]

I remember taking a class on caring for trees, pruning and so forth. The instructer showed us how to use some fancy tool I can't remember, but it was a glorified drill bit on a T handle. He then screwed it into a tree. Once he got thru the healthy wood, it just pushed in. He was able to tell exactly how much rot was in the center of a tree and how much healthy wood was around the outside. I try to use this method with a long narrow wood bit ( I think he suggested less than a quarter inch) whenever I can, before cutting down a tree.
It doesn't replace a pro, but it can't hurt either. I have checked the trees close to my house to get a feel for their health. He also said that a hole that small would not harm the tree because it could easily heal over.

Never heard of that, pretty cool tool. Great way to measure decay. Yes woodpeckers make very large holes on these trees around here and the holes will slowly close up after a few months. Unfortunately their not so lucky when it comes to wood beetles and carpenter ants.

 

[SpringHollow]

You mention a 70% notch. I hope you do not mean 70% through the tree but a notch with a 70% angle. I notice a huge loss in control of direction in fall if my notch exceeds 25-30% in diameter of the tree.

One can also use pulleys to increase the force of the pull by the truck and to change the direction of the pull. (Hint: Use 2 lengths of rope - the one attached directly to the tree should be longer than the tree. The next rope can then have your pulleys on it. That way, the tree does not pound them into the ground). Lately, i have used my gas portable capstan winch which i can attach to another tree and get 5000 lb pull with one pulley and not worry about wrecking the truck.)

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

You have his number?

Nope. It was on TV. Maybe this old house. I searched for it but could not find anything yet.

 

[Barryh]

You mention a 70% notch. I hope you do not mean 70% through the tree but a notch with a 70% angle. I notice a huge loss in control of direction in fall if my notch exceeds 25-30% in diameter of the tree.

One can also use pulleys to increase the force of the pull by the truck and to change the direction of the pull. (Hint: Use 2 lengths of rope - the one attached directly to the tree should be longer than the tree. The next rope can then have your pulleys on it. That way, the tree does not pound them into the ground). Lately, i have used my gas portable capstan winch which i can attach to another tree and get 5000 lb pull with one pulley and not worry about wrecking the truck.)

Ken

Yes 70% angle. Sounds like you have it down to a science .