Falling trees

[bacpacker]

Spent the day at my parents, helping my step dad cut a couple of pine trees that he was worried about falling on the house or garage. We cut the first tree after hooking a steel cable up in the tree and pulling it thru a shive and pulling off in a different direction with the tractor. I made the notch cut in the direction we wanted the tree to fall and went to the other side and cut into the tree and it fell right where we planned.

We then got everything set up to cut the second tree and stopped for a break. Dragging a 100' 1/2" steel cable is a PITA. Anyway I cut the notch and started making the final cut to drop it. My dad was keeping the slack out of the cable. While I was cutting the tree started popping so I pulled the saw out and got away from the base. Nothing happening, the tractor was moving downhill, but the ground was wet and leaf covered so we couldn't get enough pressure on the tree to bring it on over. So I got back to sawing and the dam tree settled back on the cut I was working on (away from the notch) . We had enough weight and force against the tree to keep it from falling toward the house, but had no way to pull it the way we wanted it to go other than the tractor and we were in danger of losing that. We did still have about 3" of tree left to cut thru.

We tried everything we could and nothing was working. I had ran out of ideas to try and my step dad ( who usually has an idea for about anything ) admitted he had nothing left either. We ended up calling a tree service to come out and take it down. Which they did after climbing 60-70' feet up and tieing off to it and pulling it in the same direction we wanted to drop it.

Lesson Learned: ANYTIME you are cutting a tree take a very long look at the build of the tree, which direction are the bulkof the limbs are hanging off of, is their any wind blowing and what direction is it blowing from, and in particular where your escape routes are.
I'll freely admit this episode scared the crap out of me today and has given me a much greater respect for planning every step in extreme detail before dropping a tree. Even with perfect planning and cooprative weather there can still be things that go wrong.

[Sniper-T]

I spent a summer working initial attack in Northern Alberta... We spent two weeks training how to drop trees, then got flown in by helicopter, and dropped in front of a forest fire to stop it. it is a science to drop a tree against the lean... but it can be done quite easily. forget about the single notch., as that only works with a straight tree... if a tree has a natural lean to it.... it is not uncommon to cut 5-7 notches, to 'straighten' a tree first, then cut the drop notch.

If you have a chance to take a 'course' on tree felling.... take it! MONEY WELL SPENT!!!

NO, I wouldn't try to drop a wrong leaning tree beside a house without a pull... but I HAVE done it a bunch of times without needing the pull

KUDO\s to you for realizing you were in over your head and calling for help... There are too many pics on the net of people who damaged things unnecessarily!

T

[bacpacker]

I've never heard of multi notching. Gotta look into that. We do take safety to heart when cutting trees. It's too easy to get hurt or tear shit up if you don't. Sometimes happens when everything is right.

[nepreneaux]

and with only 3 inches left to cut, what did they charge you? The ones in my area would have gouged you fiercely.

[helomech]

Wow, glad no one got hurt and nothing was damaged. I have been clearing the trees around my pond, and welded a spike to the forks of my tractor. I can burry the spike in the tree, and with that I can control the tree with the tractor. Makes it much easier on me.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii247/helomech1973/home/IMG_0781.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii247/helomech1973/home/IMG_0779.jpg

[bacpacker]

They charged $400, i was expecting more. It wouldn't have but maybe half if we hadn't made a emergency call.

How high can you get your foks Helo? We had a cable pulling the tree but it wasnt near high enough in the tree to counter act the mass of the tree. Thats what got us in trouble.

[helomech]

Twelve feet, I think. We had some very big pine leaning towards the house, and the tractor pushed them over center with ease. The 4wd on the tractor gives it a lot more push.

[GunnerMax]

all you need to get is an old set of utility pole workers spikes and a rope. I have climbed using those spikes before. I dont believe they would be much. Check out craigslist? They are also mentioned in Apocalypse Law book. I might get myself a pair :)

[Sniper-T]

^ those things take practice, and training. I took the hydro course a million years ago, and while I could climb easily enough, I could not seem to spike in properly to climb back down. on course we had a fall arrestor and harnesses... IRL you wont. don't add a fall into the works.

BP: you caould have added another notch to the fall side of the tree. cut upwards at a tight angle (70-80 deg), that would have helped force the lean, and taken it off center in your favor.

[bacpacker]

Gunner the guy that come out to take it down used spikes and went up the tree like a monkey. I'm not the best at doing heights, plus it would a took me a year to get my big ass up the tree. I would like to get some, but I figure it wouldn't be the safest thing I could do.

Sniper the guy doing the cutting made a high angle cut up into the notch and pulled it over after that. I've been cutting trees for years and still have tons to learn. just one more thing.

I went back up and helped my dad clean up the trees and brush. We got to looking at the stump and found we only had 2 small areas holding the tree. The tree was 21" on the stump, my saw bar is only 18". I had cut in what I thought was pretty straight and had went around to the other side to cut the excess out up to where the main cut stopped. That's where we ran into problems. Looking today we had one area about 2" wide by about 4" into the tree from the bark. The other side was about 3" x 3". The center was gone. It was actually worse than i thought at first.

We ended up with 8 nice saw logs and found a guy that has a WoodMizer that will come out and saw it on site. $175/1000 board feet. We have two other smaller pines to take down and will have him out. In the mean time I gotta figure out a cut list for future projects. :)