Thread: Rope for guiding trees

So your not talking about ski rope. I couldn't see that stuff working.

I bought some 5/8 nylon braided rope off ebay, could be very similar to what the OP is describing. Have used the same 150' section to guide 50 or so trees. Pulled many back against the lean to get them to drop where i wanted. Now that said I would not trust it if property or people would be put in harms way. Also these trees are 18" diameter or less, sometimes just man powered but most of the time it was tied to my 1/2 ton 4x4.

Good rope dropping takes 2 good guys (or gals) to do it right. Obviously, the saw guy needs to know what he's doing, but having the truck/tractor/whatever manned is just as important. If something starts to go wrong, a good seat guy will catch it and almost always be able to pull out of it. If there's no one there but the parking brake, bad things can happen.

Del's got a lot of good rope advice there.

Most of savage's stuff is good also, but you won't immediately see movement when starting the back cut on bigger trees.'

If you go the sell some and buy better, what is the cat's meow for me is 3/8" Amsteel Blue. Tough, stronger than 7/8" 3 strand rope, light (and expensive). It doesn't stretch a whole lot though. I have 150' with eyes spliced on both ends. I use big screw shackles to attach it to the tree and the tractor. Having a stout line is no good if you hook it on with cheap hardware. I've got a stout CMI pulley block for redirects as mentioned too. It makes life a whole order of magnitude easier when you can't get in for a straight pull.

Wes Spur has a pretty decent price on it, didn't check other sponsors, shop around: Samson Amsteel Blue: Super High Strength Rope

IF, it's the real mccoy, and 5/8's is common and popular for yachts to 40', you won't experience much stretch at all, you don't want stretch when securing, that's what a spring-line is for when tying to anything stationary. Tidal skippers require different techniques than inland skippers.

That price is off the truck cheap, keep half, sell the rest at 80% market value and you'll be in beer for the year. Never thought my charter experience would come in handy in this neighborhood. The lines I kept from my last rig get used for this type of thing and they are meant for tough duty, think about the environments they have to stand up to.

I know a lot of guys use rope, but don’t anymore; I’ve had too many of them break unexpectedly… ropes that appeared to be A-OK. I use nothing but galvanized steel cable, either aircraft grade or the cables used for guying radio towers (pretty much the same thing). By-the-way, “boat rope” or marine grade rope ain’t all that strong (it needs to “give-way” before parts of the boat or dock do); it is designed to be abrasion resistant when wet, rot resistant, remains flexible after repeated wetting and drying, and is usually low stretch (ever try and raise an anchor with a rope that stretches?)… Standard work/utility rope of the same diameter will normally be stronger. If you want the ultimate strong rope go with what mountaineers, rock climbers and arborists bet their lives on.

Not all steel cable (or wire rope) is made the same; take 3/16 diameter for example, most of the stuff you’ll find in the hardware stores and such will be 7x7-3/16 (7 strands of 7 wires each) which is stiff and hard to work with, but aircraft grade is 7x19-3/16 (7 strands of 19 wires each) and much more flexible… characteristics closer to rope. The aircraft grade is rated for higher working loads, higher shock loads, higher ultimate breaking strength, and flows through pulleys much better. Steel cable (or wire rope) will hold moisture inside so ya’ gotta’ use galvanized or it will rust internally where ya’ can’t see it and break unexpectedly just like internally rotted rope.

7x19-3/16 galvanized steel cable is amazingly tough stuff… I’ve stalled my winch and also brought my pickup to violent stops many times using it, but never broke the cable. I keep three coils of it, 25 ft, 50 ft and 100 ft with “quick-switchable” grab hooks on the ends. I also keep a 75 ft coil of 1/4 inch aircraft grade cable for really heavy situations where I want to be more than damn sure it ain’t gonna’ fail (like around power lines)… 1/4 inch is a bit harder to work with, but piece of mind ya’ know?

Purchased the rope today. $40 it was only 1/2 in and had alot of stretch. I cut about 50 ft for me. Brought the rest to my work and sold it to them for 30 cents a ft. $230 up, to buy a real rope. Not bad for an hours time.

Whatcha using for guiding rope?

At the moment 150 ft 5/8 rope. But it's well used and I don't trust it near houses anymore. Time for something new. I can't remember where I got the rope, but it was perfect. Has about 20 ft of stretch, I can take the truck and give a good pull, park the truck and cut. there is tension for about 1/3 of the fall. Almost always use block and tackle, just seems to work better.

The info on aircraft grade wire rope is helpful .

Am I the only one smoking funny weed here ? Rope felling ? Give me a break.

Look at the size of falls done on large DBH wood -- > 36" --- in the PNW: they never use "rope". Just good professional felling. How much torque is in say a 24" DBH hardwood that a 3000lb line could take ? And you're going to tie off with a ladder ?

Talk to a local arborist about HOW they use lines.

Spend the time and $$$ planning the cuts and escape route, using wedges for leaners( no, you fool, not "wedgies" ), learning to aim the fall with proper cuts, and good safe felling.

It needed saying.

Oh yeah: cable and line under tension do break. Literally can cut one in two. Kommandant out.

Originally Posted by cnice_37

Whatcha using for guiding rope?

Originally Posted by stihly dan

At the moment 150 ft 5/8 rope. But it's well used and I don't trust it near houses anymore. Time for something new. I can't remember where I got the rope, but it was perfect. Has about 20 ft of stretch, I can take the truck and give a good pull, park the truck and cut. there is tension for about 1/3 of the fall. Almost always use block and tackle, just seems to work better.

That is a link posted in green.... Not a question!

Originally Posted by logbutcher

Am I the only one smoking funny weed here ? Rope felling ? Give me a break.

Look at the size of falls done on large DBH wood -- > 36" --- in the PNW: they never use "rope". Just good professional felling. How much torque is in say a 24" DBH hardwood that a 3000lb line could take ? And you're going to tie off with a ladder ?

Talk to a local arborist about HOW they use lines.

Spend the time and $$$ planning the cuts and escape route, using wedges for leaners( no, you fool, not "wedgies" ), learning to aim the fall with proper cuts, and good safe felling.

It needed saying.

Oh yeah: cable and line under tension do break. Literally can cut one in two. Kommandant out.

There's a big difference between falling timber in the forest where trees grow fairly straight, and tipping trees for firewood out here in farm country. Very often, trees lean towards the light, be that over a field, road, swamp, lake, rock pile, or whatever, and dropping them where they don't want to go is difficult (and takes a lot more practice than your average Joe firewooder will ever get). Mechanical force, like the Peacemaker in the old West, is the great equalizer. It's not always about pulling a tree away from a building (although it can be and has been done safely.) I'll put a rope on any tree close to a building, even if it appears to have no chance of going wrong and hitting the building - insurance for that freak gust of wind or whatever.

I NEVER advocated pulling big (or even small) trees with light line. It's like muskie fishing with 10# monofilament. It's exciting, but you're gonna lose sooner or later, and it'll really suck when you do. The rope (technically marketed as a "Synthetic Winch Line") that I use and linked to has a 19,600# break strength. I don't have a big enough horse to break it, and my loader tractor is 10K lbs. It also does not whip when broken like cable does - I just watched an episode of Modern Marvels where the factory was doing failure testing. It popped (loudly), unraveled, and dropped.

Yes, I own wedges, know how to use them, and reach for them first (cause it's easier that way, no need to roll wedges back up when you're done with em), but I reserve the right to use a rope when it's appropriate. Get off your high horse. That is an order!

For Spidey - if you are breaking good ropes, you need bigger ropes or a smaller garden tractor. (I hate cables, every thing about them, and they'll break too if undersized, overloaded, kinked, shock loaded, frayed, etc. Galvanizing also only inhibits rust, it sure doesn't prevent it.)

Originally Posted by logbutcher

Look at the size of falls done on large DBH wood -- > 36" --- in the PNW: they never use "rope". Just good professional felling. …Spend the time and $$$ planning the cuts and escape route, using wedges for leaners, learning to aim the fall with proper cuts, and good safe felling.

Now there’s a classic case of someone who has no idea of what they speak. The trees on the northern plains (and many areas of the Midwest) do not grow straight and clean… they all lean, and not just by a couple of degrees. Here’s your 36-inch Bur Oak leaning to the northwest…



…so, you gonna’ wedge that to fall south? What if that is leaning out over a fence? A roadway? A river? A roof? Power lines? (Did you notice the power lines?)

I’ve used a redirect pulley and cable (or rope) enough times to know… they work! Used properly the tree trunk will fall smack-dab on top of the pulley, every time! ‘Round here the use of ropes, cables, pulleys and chains are used along with wedges and “proper” cuts… even by the professionals!

I'm a cable and chain guy myself (and tow straps). Most of the time if I have to make a tree fall opposite of the lean I need to put some serious force to it.
I cut along creeks quite often and as some of you might know, many of the trees along the banks will lean quite heavily towards the opposite side. You take a 24" tree leaning 10' or more at the top takes some brute force to pull back. 1/2 load of wood in the truck and 4 wheel drive low range is gonna break a lot of ropes. I'll stick with cable, chain, and tow straps.

Originally Posted by Whitespider

Now there’s a classic case of someone who has no idea of what they speak. The trees on the northern plains (and many areas of the Midwest) do not grow straight and clean… they all lean, and not just by a couple of degrees. Here’s your 36-inch Bur Oak leaning to the northwest…



…so, you gonna’ wedge that to fall south? What if that is leaning out over a fence? A roadway? A river? A roof? Power lines? (Did you notice the power lines?)

I’ve used a redirect pulley and cable (or rope) enough times to know… they work! Used properly the tree trunk will fall smack-dab on top of the pulley, every time! ‘Round here the use of ropes, cables, pulleys and chains are used along with wedges and “proper” cuts… even by the professionals!

The man knows "of what he speaks" Spidy et. al.
Check out where ever HOW wedges can actually correct and straighten a lean or direct a fall IF done correctly East or Midwest, open field, or tight woodlands. If I was up to it right now , the formula and method for determining the degree necessary would be available. NOT neuro surgery. We use wedges routinely.
Close falls near power lines or buildings need to be cherry picked .
Now back to life.
JMNSHEO
P.S. Cables and lines do snap. The force can be deadly; ask your fav tow boat or barge operator or rock climber out there on the plains.