Felling a tree for the first time

[3RRL]

Gary,
Great picture!
On the other hand, also shows the seriousness of what could happen.

I am no lumber jack even though I have felled many myself. But still don't claim to know how to do it.
I would be scared to give advice because anything can happen. Just check with Murphy's Law.
Regardless of YOUR plan, the tree has one too. I would not use a vehicle to pull a tree of size over, though.

 

[flINTLOCK]

I cut many ashes that were up to 24" diameter and 75-100" tall. I could generally drop them in the direction of lean. Occasionally, no obvious lean was detectable. I attached 3/4" nylon rope as high in the tree as possible, usually by using much smaller rope tied onto 4 oz fishing sinker to throw high and use that to pull heavier rope up the tree. Other end of rope looped and attached to come-a-long. Cut directional notch first, then cranked on come-a-long as much as possible, then cut felling cut. Always being careful to stand to the side of the tree while cutting. I bought a 24" bar for my saw so I could make completed cuts from one side, rather than have to jump to other side to finish cut. Always hammered plastic wedges in cut as soon as bar was deep enough for wedge to clear. Advance wedges as you advance the cut. Don't cut all the way through. Leave a hinge. Never had a problem with misdirected felled trees. Lucky I guess.

 

[VABlue]

A tree on the edge of my septic field arched over for several months, the top of it was actually on the ground before it broke about 20-25' up. It didn't break completely off, though, and was still somewhat arched. I cut off the part on the ground, but that still left about 30' to cut down. When cutting down the rest of it, it refused to lean despite a wedge cut. Not knowing whether it would snap off, slide off, fall on me, etc, I stopped cutting and stayed away from it. I eventually chained the fallen side to the drawbar and pulled. The tree came down safely (pulling, it could only go one way), but the drawbar now has a nice ~5" U-shape to it where the trunk spun over and lifted up as the tree fell. It was safe enough, but the next time I see a tree arching like that I'll cut it down before it goes too far...

 

[motepoc]

I have not cut down that many trees, so don't have that much experience, so not sure how this will sound coming from a novice. But why are we cutting the tree down all at once. I have always limbed a tree out and then cut it down in sections. No matter how it leaned or where it was ( close to a building, vehicle or whatever) I would cut the pieces small enough for me to be able to predict where it was going to fall, and was right better than 99% of the time. Again, this is coming from a novice.

 

[scott_vt]

With all my experience I won't try to fall a tree that has any chance of damaging anything important. That is expert time and that I am not. The above one, I knew could hit the house, I was trying to avoid damaging a fence - it didn't work.

Harry K

Afternoon Harry,
Very good advice !!! I have been cutting my firewood for many years also, doesnt make me an expert, close to house or other valuable structure, call a real expert with insurance !

 

[madpogue]

Yeah, "residential" tree felling is a whole separate art form. I've taken down a few 20-30 ft trees on our woods edge, but back in town, we and our back-neighbor had to have several trees felled, and called the local guys. They spent a LOT of time in the buckets, limbing them down before the main felling, using those arborist (eg Stihl 192) saws you can use with one hand. Watching them lean out of those buckets, one-handing those saws, the word "swashbuckling" came to mind. But their whole focus is on having as short a tree as possible, with as little canopy as possible, to "fell". Very different set of priorities than field/woods felling.

Town or country, I would shudder at the thought of using a vehicle to "pull" a tree down. In the chainsaw safety class I took, they spent a LOT of time on "escape routes". With "normal" felling, you plan to escape at 45 degree angles from the release cut; this is just in case the base of the trunk shoots "backward" as the tree comes down. But I couldn't imagine having anything of value in the semi-circle surrounding the expected direction of fall. I could imagine having a tension device pulling in that direction (nylon strap, cable, chain, etc.) to assist the release, but it better be something you're willing to sacrifice, or at least presume it's gonna be pinched in somewhere, and can do without until you get the felled tree limbed down.

 

[flINTLOCK]

THAT'S RIGHT. I ALWAYS HAD TO CUT THE COME-A-LONG AND ROPE FROM THE TREES BRANCHES. (SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS)

 

[deerhunterf350]

This post reminds me of a Tree I helped a Friend take down at his parents lake house, almost 10 years ago.

His Dad is a "KNOW IT ALL" , told us to use a 1/2" nylon rope, we said NO, he said YES, so we did. Tied it to the Trailer hitch of a Suburban, 4 wheel low. The Dad was standing on the porch 180 degree opposite the Surburban, I was Driving, My friend was clear of danger . Right as the tree started falling toward the Surburban the rope snapped, It sounded like a 22 rifle going off , " POP " . So the Tree is down, I get out of Sub. look up on the Porch and there is the DAD bent over holding his chest. The Rope had snapped back and "Coiled" up on his chest. When he took his shirt off it looked like he had been whipped , A nice red line swirled around on his chest. Knowing he was "OK" , My friend (Son of the "Know it all") looks at the Dad and says, " I TOLD YOU, that rope was not strong enough " .

From that day on, Rope is only used for Human Pulling of Limbs .

Dan

 

[VABlue]

It amazes me that people will stress a rope like that and then stand in it's line of recoil when it parts. When I was in the Navy we had specific instructions and many hours of training on rope handling when manuvering the boats. Always - ALWAYS - stand of to the side of anything under stress. If it parts it can go right through you. Your friends dad was extremely lucky, but I suspect everyone knows that after the fact.

 

[Matt_W]

I had a giant elm tree leaning towards my house that unfortunately died of dutch elm disease. 2 1000 gallon propane tanks to the right, my house straight away and a phone pole to the left. I would never attempt to cut this and thought I would have to pay to have it taken down and dearly! Then I remembered that I had a utility right of way on the pole line. Called the electric company and said it was leaning towards the wire. Well it kinda was but more towards the house. Came home from work and it was down!!!
What a relief... Cost nothing!
My son said the had a bucket truck, trimmed off some limbs to weight it the right way then dropped it!

 

[Jay4200]

What methods do you use to fell a tree and have yuou ever been lucky or unlucky felling a tree. Sorry I did not take any pictures. David

I dropped several big (100'+, 2-3ft diameter) pines last year. I had a neighbor help me - he is a tree guy. He tossed a cord using a lead-shot-filled bag way up into the top of the tree, then pulled a climber's rope into the tree using the cord. Once the rope was tied off, we had a pull point that was 70+ feet up. The rope was tied to a convenient object in the direction we wanted the tree to fall (but well farther away then the tree was tall), then made a "knot come-a-long" to winch the tree over and generate tension. After a wedge cut was made in the direction of the tensioning rope, I hung on the rope to add even more tension, and he back-cut the tree. Every one fell w/in several feet of the target.

I also dropped a dozen small trees (less than 40' or so) recently - I just dig a bit around the roots with my backhoe, then grab around the trunk with my 'hoe bucket and and rip it down, root ball and all, then drag the whole thing off to the burn-pile.

JayC

 

[turnkey4099]

With all my experience I won't try to fall a tree that has any chance of damaging anything important. That is expert time and that I am not. The above one, I knew could hit the house, I was trying to avoid damaging a fence - it didn't work.

Harry K

Ooops. That should have been "I knew it could _not_ hit the house".

Harry K

 

[hitekcountry]

Another important factor to consider that can increase the danger is the condition of the tree. It’s possible to have a tree look healthy on the outside and yet be rotten to the core.
A rotted tree is going to make up its own set of rules.

This tree fell on its own, luckily there wasn’t anyone in its path at the time and I’m fortunate it didn’t hit my building. One of my renters called me and tells me “a tree just fell and crushed my truck”.

You can see in one of the pictures that the trunk was pretty much split vertically at the base. Anyone trying to cut down a tree like that is not going to be able to create any kind of hinge to direct the fall.

 

[davidseaquist]

Wow thanks for sharing the pictures. Thanks everyone for sharing your posts and the safety warnings David

 

[john_bud]

Hitek,

So, who pays for the damage to the truck? Just curious.

jb

 

[hitekcountry]

Hitek,

So, who pays for the damage to the truck? Just curious.

jb

Yea good question… My first thought was that the neighbors insurance would pay for the renters truck and the clean up of my property since it was the neighbor’s tree. Then the insurance adjuster (neighbors) asked if it was obvious prior to it falling that the tree had a problem or if there was any indication it could be dangerous and my answer was no. The truth was that no one was aware the tree had a problem. The decision of the adjuster then was that it would be classified an “act of God” and that each person would be covered in this circumstance by their own insurance. I checked of course with my insurance and they agreed that that was a well established precedent.

So the neighbor needed to cover the damages to his property which is only half of the cost to repair two 8’ sections of fence between his property and mine and that’s it for him because none of the tree was any longer on his property.

The renter needed to recover the loss of his truck through the comprehensive portion of his auto insurance. Problem with that was he didn’t have insurance on the truck.

I had $1K deductible and the insurance would pay the rest except that there was only $500 allowed to go to clean-up. So repairing the fences (the tree also took out a section of fence on the other side of my property) would probably not top $500 and a max allowed for clean-up of $500 against the $1K deductible, means it’s all on me.

There’s way more to this story than I can get into here but I cut up the tree and cleared it all out and rebuilt the fences on both sides, the neighbor where the tree came from paid for materials, the neighbor on the other side gave me a bottle of vodka. I didn’t bother to tell him I don’t drink.

The renter sued the neighbor in small claims court and sued me too at the same time just to cover all bases I guess. He did win against the neighbor but he didn’t get anything from me.

Oh yea the tree was a 65ft tall silk oak.