ROPS Cam: Hazard Tree Takedown

[s219]

Here's a short movie of a cherry tree takedown I did today, which I recorded with a camera on the ROPS. The tree is on the left side of the camera view.

I used 150 feet of 5/8" Sampson rope (breaking strength of 16,300 lb) run through a pulley block so that the action was well away from the tractor, and the pull direction (and direction of any potential throwback) was 90 degrees to the direction of travel of the tractor.

As the tree breaks apart, you can see why this one was unsafe to get underneath with a saw, but there was also a bad lean to deal with and I was trying to get the tree down without disturbing some nearby keepers, so a tractor and rope made the most sense.

The main trunk was 90% rotten, and I didn't get any firewood out of it. There was a big sucker that had sprouted from the stump, which I went after with another pull. That netted a few decent pieces of firewood.

Hazard Tree Takedown with Tractor - YouTube

 

[Garybake]

Was that cherry hollowed? The way it splintered I imagine so. We have 20a thick w/cherry trees and a lot are hollowed making it dangerous to fell w/chainsaw. Branches break of mid drop so your not safe on any side of tree.
Great Firewood!

 

[s219]

Boy was it ever hollow! The main trunk (about 16" at the base) was hollow, with only one small vertical strip still live wood. Even the sucker trunk was hollow at the bottom, though that was only about 6" diameter.

Amazingly, the base of the stump was solid and all live wood. I imagine it will send out some shoots.

Cherries just don't seem to do well around here, but it is great firewood. Fairly hard too.