How would you have removed this tree

[MF283]

I'd say if he had messed up, we wouldn't be seeing a video, luck, skill wins a lot, just looking at the surrounding, i'd say they didn't have the $$ to pay for a high price outfit.

Ronnie

 

[RobS]

My guess is the buildings were slated for demo anyway. Good skills but easily could have gone poorly...

 

[motownbrowne]

I did google it and I wouldn't make the back cut the way they did in all of the unsafe videos., they were much too sharp a slant and right to the point of the notch. The cut should end up above the point of the notch so that you still have a hinge.... and yes, so I don't have to use wedges. No need on a smallish tree like that. If it were a windy day or even a slight risk of that tree going the wrong way, we would climb it and put a long bull rope in the top and pull it along with the notch.... not trusting a wedge to send it the right way... not around houses... in the woods maybe ok. I agree he looked like he had droppod a lot of trees in the woods.

Climbing and setting a rope is always a good idea, but there's still no benefit to a sloped back cut. It certainly doesn't encourage the tree to fell one way or another.

 

[Ford850]

That's how the loggers do it here, and is almost an art to watch them.
It looks like a couple buildings they might be taking down anyway. Both have simple metal roofs with no fascia boards, soffits or gutters. The deck is falling apart. The power drop line from the pole was already disconnected and is coiled on the deck. At the end of the video you can see there are dozens of downed trees with a skidder right up close to the building.

 

[LD1]

I would have made the cut on the back side, away from the notch, above the notch about 2 inches and slanting down toward the notch. That way I wouldn't have to use wedges. I think he was lucky, thats all. I have dropped and watched my brother drop 100's of trees in his tree service. Who has their saw on the side the tree is going to fall? He is just lucky it didn't pinch the saw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk0JSn5WDTE

The slanting back-cut thing is not a good method. It has no benefit, it prevents you from using wedges, and makes it unnecessarily difficult to line up the back cut with your hinge. If you're felling trees, there's no reason not to have wedges on your belt. They are great tools. What exactly do you think making the back cut on a slant achieves?? Google it, it's been thoroughly explained why it's not safe.

Regarding this video, I agree with the poster who said that the guy is a professional felling this tree at his home or the home of a friend. No way Joe Schmoe takes this one on and nails it like that.

I agree, no benefit to a sloped back cut. IT does nothing to prevent saw pinch. The notch cut and natural lean of the tree determine if a saw is gonna pinch. Wedges are assurance and can guide a tree to a precise location if you are good. Or can overcome a little natural lean and fell a tree in a direction other than it would normally want to go.

Have felled hundreds of trees myself. And the only thing a sloped back cut does is leave an ugly stump, and an ugly log

 

[Egon]

I agree, no benefit to a sloped back cut. IT does nothing to prevent saw pinch. The notch cut and natural lean of the tree determine if a saw is gonna pinch. Wedges are assurance and can guide a tree to a precise location if you are good. Or can overcome a little natural lean and fell a tree in a direction other than it would normally want to go.

Have felled hundreds of trees myself. And the only thing a sloped back cut does is leave an ugly stump, and an ugly log

If chained up right the sloped cut end drags easier!

 

[Ed of all trades]

When I first started I had an old logger tell me not to throw a tree where it will go easy. Always throw it to one side if you have room, that way when you need to you know what you are doing and what you can't do. Ed

 

[/pine]

When I first started I had an old logger tell me not to throw a tree where it will go easy. Always throw it to one side if you have room, that way when you need to you know what you are doing and what you can't do. Ed

I've cut my share of trees but whenever I get a chance to cut a healthy tree in an open area I always like to steer them a little away from their natural lean...specifically for honing felling skills...

 

[PhysAssist]

when I say he was a professional faller I am talking about a logger, not a tree service person. Notice the flat butt on the log, this is the way that they work it here, that tree did not fall that way by chance. He did cut it from the back side, and used his wedges to make sure it wasn't going to lean back on th saw. He also stopped cutting when there was an inch or so of hinge wood left and started tapping on the wedges at that time. I have seen this technique used years ago when I worked as a forest technician for a timber company, we are around fallers who could pretty much lay trees wherever they chose to. As one told me years ago, you can put a tree anywhere in about a 180 degree arc in the direction the tree naturally leans in.

Now how would I do it? I would hire a tree service that was licensed and bonded, to come out and take it down in pieces. Any damage they would be responsible for. The going rate around here for that is about $8-10K.
I will not comment on the lack of safety gear, looks like his hardhat was laying on the deck nearby.

I agree with the technique which you describe, as the only relatively safe way to fell that would be in pieces- preferably with a crane to lower them, given the lack of nearby trees to rigcfalling lines from.

Thay said, both the guy who felled it, and the guy who hired him (prolly paid in beer and consumed during the service) were both idjits risking life, home, (etc) to save money.

I also agreed with quicksandfarmer's comments about the end results if I had tried it the way the guy in the video did.

Someone else's comments about thecwisdom of building structures so close to a solitary tree left from a forested area also ring true.

To add to that, there is no way that those buildings weren't causing root compression and increasing the potential threat caused by that massive tree, so getting it out of there was a great idea, just not something I would've wanted to try.

BTW, I have an ironclad rule cast in reinforced concrete, resting on virgin bedrock: no cameras are allowed to be active while I am doing anything stupid, potentially dangerous, OR felling any trees.

It would be bad enough to get seriously hurt, killed, or cause massive damage and destruction, without having to watch, or allow my family and purported friends, to watch (and ride me unmercifully about it) it in perpetuity.

Egon,
Great video find, thanks for sharing it.

 

[2ndhalf]

I agree with the technique which you describe, as the only relatively safe way to fell that would be in pieces- preferably with a crane to lower them, given the lack of nearby trees to rigcfalling lines from.

Thay said, both the guy who felled it, and the guy who hired him (prolly paid in beer and consumed during the service) were both idjits risking life, home, (etc) to save money.

I also agreed with quicksandfarmer's comments about the end results if I had tried it the way the guy in the video did.

Someone else's comments about thecwisdom of building structures so close to a solitary tree left from a forested area also ring true.

To add to that, there is no way that those buildings weren't causing root compression and increasing the potential threat caused by that massive tree, so getting it out of there was a great idea, just not something I would've wanted to try.

BTW, I have an ironclad rule cast in reinforced concrete, resting on virgin bedrock: no cameras are allowed to be active while I am doing anything stupid, potentially dangerous, OR felling any trees.

It would be bad enough to get seriously hurt, killed, or cause massive damage and destruction, without having to watch, or allow my family and purported friends, to watch (and ride me unmercifully about it) it in perpetuity.

Egon,
Great video find, thanks for sharing it.

Entertaining write up .. thanks for that :laughing: