Be careful cutting dead/standing trees...

[oldnslo]

Tree was not dead but still rotten on the bottom. Cut it down last Saturday. Wife and son both were standing well away from while I did the felling. Stump is 42 - 48" at the cut line, approx 80 foot tall. For extra safety to prevent barber chair I wrapped my come-along around the two branches about 15 feet up and wrapped two 2" nylon straps around the trunk about one foot above where I cut. Still made me more cautious that a long tailed cat in room full of rocking chairs.

 

[s219]

I think one of the most important parts of felling happens without any saws, tools, or equipment needed, and that is studying and analyzing the tree and situation. Unfortunately a lot of people completely skip over this step. Without a doubt, I spend significantly more time on prep than the actual cutting/felling when dealing with snags, hangups, leaners, or dead trees.

With rare exceptions, I do not get anywhere underneath a dead/rotten tree with a chainsaw. Those are machine-felled only, with ropes/pulleys setup such that I'm working in the opposite direction of the fall. It's just insanely risky to put yourself directly in harms way, where even just the vibration from a saw can trigger the widow maker to live up to its name.

Here's a rotten tree I pulled down with my tractor (tree off to the left).

Look what the top does once it starts going over. Imagine if you were underneath with a saw....

 

[check]

Here's one that went down by itself, during that last big storm up here. Stood tall for many many years, and looked completely healthy.

Luckily, it fell right between 2 buildings! (Fortunately, no stump to dig out.) It's a nice snowy day out right , so I think I'll go out and burn it.

 

[ultrarunner]

My tractor saved my life at least once.

I'm driving my CAT D3 Dozer along a trail I had made a few years prior and all of a sudden boom and I can't see anything but tree...

The vibration must have been the last straw as a fairly large tree decided at that very moment to topple... the base was at least 20' away up a bank... the center was hollowed out.

After checking to see I was OK... made my way out of the cab and walked home to get my saw and spent the rest of the morning cutting my dozer free...

 

[firec]

I bought a Fransguard log winch for this reason. If I'm nervous about a tree I do my cuts and finish by pulling it over. 170' of 5/8 steel cable gives me a safer feeling than trying to pull it with truck chains like I used to. It's a safer feeling but always be careful

 

[edkemper]

That's not safe.

There are a lot of things that aren't safe to do, but we do it anyway. Boys will be boys. Especially when they have a stake in it.

Later this week, I'm getting my old $2000 dozer with 6 way blade and it runs well. It'll do 'bout anything I need to push over. If I can't, the neighbor has a bigger dozer. The right tool for the job tends to delay visits to the hospital. Know what I mean? 62/3 years has taught me something.

 

[ultrarunner]

There are a lot of things that aren't safe to do, but we do it anyway. Boys will be boys. Especially when they have a stake in it.

Later this week, I'm getting my old $2000 dozer with 6 way blade and it runs well. It'll do 'bout anything I need to push over. If I can't, the neighbor has a bigger dozer. The right tool for the job tends to delay visits to the hospital. Know what I mean? 62/3 years has taught me something.

What kind of Dozer are you running?

It's been less than a year since I parted with mine and I do miss it!