Winch

[oldballs]

In my rope method.......the rope is quite longer than the tree. Thus with me in the truck and the other guy on the saw, the truck only guides the fall to start. It does not fight the direction and there is no tension on the truck.

 

[kco]

I use a pull line to bring large trees down on a regular basis and have found that I have to rely on the tractor or truck to move fast enough to keep the line tight enough to guide the fall. Having 2 people is an absolute must - one on the saw the other on the pull line driving the tractor.

I actually prefer using 5/8" bull rope (11K lb breaking strength) because I can toss a throw line into the canopy then use that to pull the larger rope into the tree and put a bowline (slip knot) in. This lets you get leverage MUCH higher in the tree which is a lot safer (as long as you dont pull too hard). I then secure the other end to my skid steer through a redirect (large pulley at the base of another tree) so that I am pulling outside the fall zone.

I use a similar method with a 150' 10mm(about 3/8") rope from my climbing days and a 6" snatch block. There is a lot of stretch in the light rope. When making the back cut you can watch the cut open. If needed you can go back to the tractor and reapply tension for the amount the top has moved. I cut alone and find it a controlled and safe way to fall trees. My trees are fairly straight forward--fir, spruce, pine and birch to about 70'. So there are no massive side branches or tops to make the natural fall direction hard to judge.

Where I don't need too much height to attach the rope and I can get the tractor to the tree, I climb in the bucket to attach the rope. Where more height is required I use my belt and spurs (from lineman days long, long ago) to attach the rope as high as needed. A timber hitch works well as it is easy to remove.

An advantage of a long rope is that it puts a lot of pat52rl's suggestion("throw a bit of nylon into the equation") into the equation. The 150' length means I can sometimes pull without the snatch block. But I'm in hilly terrain with winding trails so a snatch block is often required.

Most of my trees are straight forward and I can just fell the tree. But I always make sure my tractor is far back just in case it goes completely wrong. My dog is smart, she leaves the area whenever the chainsaw is running and returns once it's off.

A thick forest presents other hazards. One must be aware of existing dead branches and broken branches caused by felling. Check the canopy before you go back in. It is also not uncommon for me to misjudge and have a tree hang on an adjacent one after cutting. Watch carefully when skidding them out. If the butt snags on the stump or a root it can quickly stand the tree back up and perhaps over on to you. It isn't safe until the whole tree is on the ground.