Manual Hoist for Felling?

[ropensaddle]

The higher you get the rope into the tree, the less power you need to pull/guide it. Just today I used my come-along winch to guide fall a cedar that was leaning and heavily branched in the opposite direction, and its only rated at 4 tons and I bought it new for about $25. But by getting the rope about 2/3 way up (I have climbing spikes) it pulled just fine right where I wanted. Getting it higher would only make it that much easier.

But certainly, cedar isn't black locust, but the height principle is the same. Also, de-limbing what you can on the opposite side before felling helps a lot too.

That's a double edged sword yes the higher =less pull but it also means you need to take up more slack to keep pulling! I find 25 feet up and beefy pull better as the tree will move much further with enough initial pull applied at that height. Of course other variables come to mind the 20 ton winch I used to have I had no worry's felling leaners straight against lean and butt binderd together to prevent chair! The madson i'm not as confident and usually use my 10k winch now at a bit higher height on leaners but still pulled opposite of lean. If I have to fell a leaner to the side etc. I prefer to snub it behind and a bit toward side im felling it to and add a pull line toward direction intended. This will swing it should the hinge break mid fell.