Tractor assisted tree felling.

[dodge man]

A come along. Nope, don’t go that route. You put the tension on, cut the tree, you immediately get slack in the come along and it falls the way it wants to. You need something that keeps pulling once it starts to fall.

I have hired out trees near my house or building. They use a bucket truck or climb them. I hate heights and it bothers me just to watch them do it.

 

[ruffdog]

If the line is hooked close to the top I’ve pulled hundreds of bigger trees than that. But you don’t want to just hook the strap as high as you can reach.

I agree and have always preferred dropping the entire tree vs piecing it out. Big trees mean I will get out the 35ft extension ladder to get a hook way up in the tree. You have lots of leverage that way and it doesn't take much pull to start it going. Cut the hinge just right, locate the pull rope correctly, and time the pull right....easy peesy.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve been around my fair share of tree removal and for a low risk tree we just push it with the loader. For residential trees we usually strip the trunk and then drop it. We only cut chunks off the base when there’s no possible way to drop it whole.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Felled lots of trees with a rope. Make it long and srong enough and keep up the tension as it begins to fall.

Never forget that old Elm tree with my Dad and a brand new tractor in 73. Sixty foot tree and 30 feet of chain. Too lazy to get more. Oh it won't hit the tractor.

I do like a building amoung trees. But see any country homestead owned by seasoned people in the know, and you won't find a tree near their buildings.

 

[John_Mc]

It is possible to fell a tree 180˚ from it's direction of lean with just a chainsaw and some felling wedge (no ropes, cables, or tractors required) and to do so with a high degree of accuracy. If this is a skill you'd like to develop anyway, you are in luck, because one of the better chainsaw instruction organizations in New England, Northeast Woodland Training is based in Middletown Springs, VT (probably not too far from you, if you are in southern VT). They offer instruction throughout Vermont - In fact, they have some coming up in Rupert and in Hartford in May (and some other ones further north before then).

I've been through their training and it's a great way to expand your capabilities and increase your safety when working in the woods. I've seen chainsaw novices drop trees on a target stake driven into the ground 40 feet away after taking their level 1 class, and hitting the stake in a direction significantly different than where the tree "wants" to go in their level 2 class.

My suggestion for you would be to start with their level 1 class (their relatively new "Basic Use and Safety" class is aimed at people who have no interest in tree felling - it's really just a basic intro to using a chainsaw class). If you are serious about it, consider signing up for the Level 1 and Level 2 classes, then decide if you want to go further based on how those go. Descriptions and course outlines are on their website.

However, no matter how good the instruction is, tackling trees against their lean in an area right next to some "high value targets" (i.e. your shed and propane tanks) is probably not the best idea fresh out of the classes. You'll want to spend a fair amount of time actually using the techniques on similar trees in lower-risk situations to develop the skills to handle what you describe in an area where the consequences of a mistake are more serious than dinging up a tree that you wanted to keep.

Perhaps the most important skill any chainsaw user can have is the judgement to know when to walk away because the job exceeds either their skill level or the capabilities of the equipment they have at hand. Given your descriptions in this thread, I think you are on the right track to tackle the easy ones yourself, and hire someone to handle the higher-risk felling.

 

[Sebculb]

A come along. Nope, don’t go that route. You put the tension on, cut the tree, you immediately get slack in the come along and it falls the way it wants to. You need something that keeps pulling once it starts to fall.

I have hired out trees near my house or building. They use a bucket truck or climb them. I hate heights and it bothers me just to watch them do it.

Okay, you're correct but you can work around that. Tie a cable or chain that would pull the tree directly away from the cabin if you were to tighten it up. Use your tractor as an anchor if you think it is heavy enough.

This cable is not to pull the tree away from the cabin in the other direction, but rather to make it pivot and fall at a right angle to the cabin. You can pull on it a little with a come along or heavy duty ratchet strap if you want, just to help it but you're not trying to make the tree fall in that direction. Make sure it's a strong cable or rope or chain.

Then you use a come along and another rope or cable to encourage the tree to fall in the right angle direction you want it to go. Ropes, especially good climbing rope can be useful for this cuz it's got elasticity and keeps pulling for a bit. But sometimes the force applied by a cable is needed. You decide.

Sometimes I use a length of chain to tie the tree to its stump if I think it's gonna want to misbehave and jump around. Cut the notch in the direction of perpendicular to the cabin you want it to go.

If you anchor a tree in three places it'll go where you want it to with little room for error. And for the price of tree services I imagine you can get two come alongs and a lot of cable and save money and have them to play with later.

 

[bcp]

Okay, you're correct but you can work around that. Tie a cable or chain that would pull the tree directly away from the cabin if you were to tighten it up. Use your tractor as an anchor if you think it is heavy enough.

This cable is not to pull the tree away from the cabin in the other direction, but rather to make it pivot and fall at a right angle to the cabin.

That's what many people miss. A single rope or cable doesn't determine where a tree will fall, but only where it won't fall. They often fall at a wide angle from the rope.

Bruce

 

[the viking]

I use different approaches for different situations. Have taken down many trees with snatch blocks and cable using assorted tractors for the pull. It takes skill and sometimes courage to do these and if you have any doubt don't do it. Some trees you just have to take down from the top and piece by piece. I still occasionally work with some guys on weekends to do the nasty ones. I pull the lead lines and do clean up or whatever is necessary to get the job done. At 70 years old I limit my activity to the ground. I have no hesitation to drop large trees that are no danger to buildings or property and have a mill to make boards if the tree is suitable. Here is a job I helped out on a few months ago. We took down 4 large oaks that were leaning over a friends house that the insurance company said had to go before they would renew the homeowners policy.

 

[Thing]

This posts reminds me of the time my dad decided to cut a huge cherry tree hanging over our garage. He hooked up our jeep to a long rope well down and in the direction he wanted to pull the tree. My brother was about 17, so my dad had him operate the jeep while he cut the tree notch. I should mention there was about 6 inches of now on the ground. As dad cut, he yelled to my brother to back up. The jeep didn't move. My dad was screaming back up. back up. The engine was revving but the rear tires were just spinning. Evidently, my dad had neglected to put the Jeep in 4 wheel drive. Almost in slow motion that huge cherry tree started to fall...... landing, squarely, right in the middle of the garage. The garage was totally destroyed along with a canoe, our bicycles and other various and sundry pieces of equipment. I guess the moral of this story is...... If your gonna try this. Make sure you have a tremendous amount of tension pulling that tree in the "correct" direction first. With enough tie offs to prevent it from falling onto your shed. Thanks

 

[PILOON]

I have dropped my fair share of trees using a 3/4" poly rope and come-along or my PU or tractor to apply tension.
Poly has a % of elasticity (maybe 10%), enough to generally steer or pull it to where U want it to go.
Heck I've actually seen a tree sort of jump a few feet away.
Naturally a lot depends on the degree of lean.
Sometimes a rope will simply act as a retainer and cause a left or right fall vs away onto a house or whatever.
A ladder is often your friend as generally you want to tie as high as possible. (or climbing spikes)