question on felling a tree

[Sigarms]

Have a dying 25' weeping cherry I want to take down.

Looking at the tree, the main trunk slopes to the 10 o'clock position. However, I want the tree to fall going towards the 3 o'clock position.

I've taken down some much larger trees, but I've never taken down a tree going against the angle it was leaning, and was wondering if I'm making a moutain out of a mole hill?

 

[Richard]

I'm not giving any advice on how to take it down, but I had a tree leaning towards my house that I wanted taken down. What to do...

I finally got some help!

I cut the notch in the tree and left the hinge thicker than I would normally make it. My thinking was I wanted the hinge strong enough to hold the tree and let the force of the backhoe break the hinge slowly, allowing me to help guide the tree.



On another note, our neighbor (wifes cousin) wanted two trees taken out next to his house. I ended up leaving the tree intact. I dug on three sides of the root ball, keeping the part opposite of the house intact in the theory that it would help anchor the tree from falling towards the house, but the other side (dug up) would allow the tree to fall away from the house. In this specific circumstance, it worked.

 

[Midniteoyl]

It will try to fall towards the 10 o'clock if its leaning hard, or spin that way.. I'd tie a rope as high as I could and tie it off under tension towards the 3 o'clock..

I just tried to fell a tree that was leaning towards the pole barn. Even though I cut the notch on the other side, it still tried to fall into the barn... The rope did the trick...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Often a dying tree will not 'hinge' well and can snap.

Just paid a guy $200 to get a huge tree (heavily trimmed last year and it died in August) on the ground starting from the top using a bucket truck. I thought about using either end of the backhoe but with the house and deck at risk as well as ME I did it with the billfold method.

 

[gwdixon]

Not sure what you mean by "making a mountain out of a mole hill". Do you mean dropping to 10 o'clock is going to be a problem or is not at all acceptable? Or do you mean that you are going to notch it to fall to 3 o'clock and wonder if it will work?

I recently cleared several acres of 40' to 80' eucalyptus that was leaning every which way. Some of it was next to a road with telephone/electric lines and others were near buildings.

The most successful way to insure a correct fall of a leaning tree was to pull 180* of the lean with a cable attached about half way up the tree. For severe leans we used a pulley to multiply the force of the tractor's pull - straighten up the tree and pull it over. Any angle less than 180* seemed to result in the tree falling the way it leaned.

This method would have your 10 o'clock tree pulled in the 4 o'clock direction. However, you can notch the tree in the 3 o'clock direction to try to get it to fall exactly that way. After notching, the tractor (in low gear) is used to tighten the cable and pull while the cutter backcuts the tree just above the notch. Oh, use a minimum 50' cable on a 25' tree for safety.

In a worst case the tree can only fall 90* off line (toward 1 o'clock or 7 o'clock). Safety police can come in here and point out that if the tree falls completely the wrong way it could pull the tractor backwards. It never happened to me but theoretically it could.

If you still don't have a tractor you could try it with a pickup truck in low gear.

 

[Sigarms]

Or do you mean that you are going to notch it to fall to 3 o'clock and wonder if it will work?

Right there.

I"m thinking I'm making a moutain out of nothing.

Have plenty of good rope and pick up truck.

Tree could actually fall to the 10 o'clock side, just would destroy some bushes that I'd prefer to keep.

I'll let the rope and truck due to work.

 

[Kyle241]

Agree with others. A rope or cable and use tension to gradually make it fall the way you want it. I recently cut down a 60yr old ash that was right beside my new garage by tying a heavy duty rope half way up in a notch and to my Kubota. I put tension on the rope by backing up the Kubota, then notched the tree on the side I wanted it to fall, then starting cutting from the other side enough to weaken the tree. I then got on the Kubota and started backing up slowly watching the top of the tree for movement and it finally gave way coming down exactly where I wanted it.

 

[CobyRupert]

Just remember:
1. Don't cut throught the hinge.
2. As the tree starts to move , or hinge, the rope will quickly become slack, maintain tension or gravity will take back over and the tree will fall in an unintended direction. Whoever is operating the rope needs to keep an eye on the slack (sag) in it and keept tight all the way to the ground. Timing is critical.

 

[Egon]

You could wait for a day when the wind is favourable and help guide it.

 

[Swiftriver]

Just don't do what my neighbor did. Pull on a 40' tree with a 25' chain with his freshly painted pickup. That didn't work out so well. He wasn't laughing at the time but now we get some good laughs out of that episode.

 

[dmccarty]

Besides using the rope or a cable you can cut the hinge to help guide tree fall in a given direction. I have done this just to see if it works and it does. If I remember right, right you have the hinge thinner in the direction you want the tree to fall. I read about this somewhere and tried it on a couple of trees that would not hit anything when the trees fell and the technique works. The change of direction you need is pretty extreme though.

There is a house that has a tree hanging over the power lines the supply a couple dozen homes. Maybe just maybe, someone would could climb the tree, tie and cut off sections to swing away from the power line. Maybe. A year or two back a wind storm blew the top out of another tree at that house and took out the power line. If I had been the homeowner I would have taken the opportunity to cut that leaning tree down since the power lines were already on the ground. Now we just wait for another wind storm...

Good Luck,
Dan

 

[s219]

As noted, you can put a rope on it and make a strategic cut to set the direction of fall. But this is rife with complications, so be very careful and don't be surprised if things go wrong.

I have had good luck felling to the side of a lean, so if you can keep it within 90 degrees of the lean, you should be OK. 90 degrees from 10 o'clock would be 1 o'clock (or 7 o'clock). Going for 3 o'clock is pushing it, you are almost exactly opposite the lean, and there will be nothing to prevent the tree from twisting and turning and landing off to the side anyhow. Do not be surprised if it falls to the side on its way down (make sure there is nothing valuable there).

Basically, leaners have a 180 degree cone around the lean (+/- 90 to each side) where felling is controllable. The closer you get to the edges, the riskier it gets.

All bets are off if the tree is rotted or hollow, in which case you won't be able to control the fall direction at all. That type of tree will need to be cut up from the top down. Finding this out when you make your face cut is too late....

 

[Midniteoyl]

It only a 25' tree fellas

 

[rekees4300]

It only a 25' tree fellas

Give it a couple whacks with an ax and push it over by hand. I've got weeds > 25'!

 

[dmccarty]

I once cut down a little sapling that was 6-8 feet tall and maybe 1/2-1 inch in diameter. It was in the way, and I was walking through with the chainsaw, so I just leaned over and cut that sapling down. For some reason that sapling hit me in my head on the way down and rang my bell. If I had not been wearing a chainsaw helmet, I might have needed stitches and at a minimum, I would have had to sit down for a while. As it was I just shook it off and kept working after standing still for a few moments. I have cut down a gazzilion saplings of that size.

Even a little bitty tree deserves respect when cutting down.

Later,
Dan

 

[schmism]

25' tall... trim the limbs up on the side leaning toward the house with a pole saw. this puts extra weight on the side you want it to fall to.

tie a rope around it, pull in direction of fall with truck/tractor/atv.

fell "tree" useing wedges.

Ive been cleaning up my old pasture that is overgrown. Im pushing down 4-6" trees with my FEL on my tractor. in excess of 25' . not even "hard"

 

[Sigarms]

It only a 25' tree fellas

Conservative estimate, but only about 20' from the house (7 o'clock position) LOL

Tree came down no problem with rope and the truck.

I really shouldn't say no problem, as I wasn't thinking and my v notch wasn't as low as I would of liked. Ended up using a wedge and giving the truck (w/100' rope lol) some gas and it came down right where I wanted it.

 

[Pilot]

Glad is came down OK.

So many comments about using rope bother me. Next time you go where they sell rope, check the safe working load and breaking strength ratings. I use cable.

 

[RSKY]

A long, long time ago I saw a cable being used by a dozer to pull a stuck tractor. The cable broke! I am a firm believer in using a heavy chain when possible. Much safer.

As I have passed 55 I have become less brave but much smarter (safer).

 

[PILOON]

I have felled awkward trees using 3/4" poly rope (have a 100' length) and my 4x4 pickup.
Poly stretches about 10% and makes a great bungee cord (elastic).
I tighten plus enough to bend the tree a bit then do the notching. The driver pulls at the same time the final cut is made and the trees simply jump off of the stump in the direction pulled.
Had wood trees (maple and birch) respond well to this system.
If I can't get the line located as I like I have a dedicated pulley made from a small wheel that I chain around a conveniently located healthy tree to change the direction of pull.
Generally I tie the rope at about 12 ft high or more.
Only once did I have a mishap ! (forgot to be in 4WD,LOL)