Dropping intertwined trees

[CobyRupert]

I've been cutting between 10 and 20 cord/yr since 1980. I don't consider myself a professional but I do mostly know what I'm doing. I have a rule "do not touch a hazard tree". I did it a couple times and then scared myself almost to death on one. Came very close to dropping a huge locust across an occupied trailor house. 2 stupid women wouldn't even leave the trailor when I asked them to. I had it rigged to pull backwards from a slight lean but it didn't want to cooperate, I'd cut a bit deeper on the back cut, pull some, gain a bit of cable, repeat, repeat, etc. Worst 20 minutes of my life. No more, If it is a hazard, i.e., can cause damage when it falls, I call a pro in. I've done that 4 times now to remove what looked easy trees from around my house but not worth the risk.

Good advice.
Yep, I think your method is better than trying to coordinate the cutter with the puller (who's probably a 100'+ feet away and can't hear anything over the chain saw)
Full disclosure: Don't take my advice. Two weeks ago I had a tree go 90 degrees and the top 'clipped' the power line. No damage or injuries, but blew a breaker on a pole about 1-1/2 miles away and put 24 houses out of power for 3 hours. Let me tell you, by the time the utility crew searched the line looking for why their breaker blew there was no tree to be found!
My fault, but not my fault, but ultimately was. Prior to that tree, I'd cut 3 leaner trees using wedges (plan A) and a block and tackle (back up plan B) by myself. Going slow. Stopping. Wedging. Taking up slack. Rinse, repeat. All went well.
Then "Help" showed up and I got cocky. I figured with them pulling I had nothing to worry about and could speed up the process. Well, I cut the hinge too thin too quickly on a maple. It snapped the hinge and they weren't pulling , well not enough anyways.
Again, my fault for trusting them.
In 30 years of cutting thaaaat was a first. And hopefully a last.

 

[turnkey4099]

Good advice.
Yep, I think your method is better than trying to coordinate the cutter with the puller (who's probably a 100'+ feet away and can't hear anything over the chain saw)
Full disclosure: Don't take my advice. Two weeks ago I had a tree go 90 degrees and the top 'clipped' the power line. No damage or injuries, but blew a breaker on a pole about 1-1/2 miles away and put 24 houses out of power for 3 hours. Let me tell you, by the time the utility crew searched the line looking for why their breaker blew there was no tree to be found!
My fault, but not my fault, but ultimately was. Prior to that tree, I'd cut 3 leaner trees using wedges (plan A) and a block and tackle (back up plan B) by myself. Going slow. Stopping. Wedging. Taking up slack. Rinse, repeat. All went well.
Then "Help" showed up and I got cocky. I figured with them pulling I had nothing to worry about and could speed up the process. Well, I cut the hinge too thin too quickly on a maple. It snapped the hinge and they weren't pulling , well not enough anyways.
Again, my fault for trusting them.
In 30 years of cutting thaaaat was a first. And hopefully a last.

Tryng to pull it down with a truck is not a "good thing" ONce the tree starts to fall, the truck is NOT going to keep up with it. I fell one fairly big fur just off the corner of my back porch, very slight lean/weight towards the porch. I cut all the bnranches off the porch side I could reach then cabled to a very stout anchor and added 3 5gal buckets of water to the middle of the tight cable. It worked but I do not recommend it.