How should this tree be cut?

[woodchuck357]

Dead lighting struck pine

CRAP......that was close. what kinda tree? almost impossible to slab a pine here like that, oak and ash will do it though.

I doubt any cutting technique, other than several cable wraps around the trunk, would have brought it down in one piece

 

[056kid]

I doubt any cutting technique, other than several cable wraps around the trunk, would have brought it down in one piece

If your referring to the barberchair vid, I'm pretty sure that's alder. And yes, there are multiple ways to drop that tree without it slabbing. Bore the heart wood, bore behind the face, cut it with a sharp chain, don't #### around in the back cut. Any one of those would work.
The man in the vid chaired that tree because he stopped halfway through the back cut.

 

[treeslayer2003]

If your referring to the barberchair vid, I'm pretty sure that's alder. And yes, there are multiple ways to drop that tree without it slabbing. Bore the heart wood, bore behind the face, cut it with a sharp chain, don't #### around in the back cut. Any one of those would work.
The man in the vid chaired that tree because he stopped halfway through the back cut.

no alder here, so I don't know its characteristics but I ain't never had any thing chair like that, he like ta bought it.

 

[northmanlogging]

alder is a little like birch, but without the groovy bark to keep it together. Alder will chair on ya if you look at it wrong, seen em chair in a windstorm... they are fun to cut cause there kinda soft for a hard wood but still make good chips, so it sometimes seems like you'r saw is on meth, or you actually figured out how to sharpen chains... plus for fire wood'n it splits easy enough you could almost use a hatchet, and it dries really fast. For logging its great cause its worth so much now days... grows like a weed.

Damn I'm long winded again...

 

[roberte]

alder is a little like birch, but without the groovy bark to keep it together. Alder will chair on ya if you look at it wrong, seen em chair in a windstorm... they are fun to cut cause there kinda soft for a hard wood but still make good chips, so it sometimes seems like you'r saw is on meth, or you actually figured out how to sharpen chains... plus for fire wood'n it splits easy enough you could almost use a hatchet, and it dries really fast. For logging its great cause its worth so much now days... grows like a weed.

Damn I'm long winded again...

Same with aspen too. Two paragraphs would be long winded.

 

[treeslayer2003]

gotcha, low ground ash is that way here, like you say it'll bust if ya look at it funny. I never liked cutting um, but don't matter now we can't often cut um any way dnr laws keep us outa were they grow.

 

[056kid]

What species is low ground ash?

 

[treeslayer2003]

What species is low ground ash?

don't know if its different or not but ash here only grows in swamps and along streams. I assume it is because the pics I've seen of it elswere shows it growing on hill sides and the bark looks different ours looks a lot like poplar but it don't cut like poplar. used to be worth good money but market changed I guess. plus so many restrictions on the smz we don't cut it much any more.

 

[056kid]

White ash is what we cut around Appalachia. Baseball bat material..

 

[treeslayer2003]

White ash is what we cut around Appalachia. Baseball bat material..

I have heard the buyers call this white ash, red ash green ash, one of um said its all white ash just some of it is stained. pop always just called it ash.

 

[ropensaddle]

no alder here, so I don't know its characteristics but I ain't never had any thing chair like that, he like ta bought it.

Well I have had several loblollys chair like that but it was due to two inch ice load and at night restoring power. I Think if the dude would not of stopped cutting that treee would have went on over fine but he almost made it chair waiting !

 

[roberte]

Chair, that was more like a sofa. Or the table at the last supper

 

[ropensaddle]

Chair, that was more like a sofa. Or the table at the last supper

With 2 inch of ice they all do that stuff and trying to notch is crazy on ice loaded trees. What I did was used power pruner stood back 13 feet and let her rip

 

[millbilly]

That's a straight up, notch and drop. You couldn't chair that tree if you tried. That first crotch is at 7 feet, so it won't shear up. But then again you never know. Just have a clear planned escape route. When you cut it, cut it, don't play around with it.

 

[Highdesignfool]

Well boys.....
I got the tree on the ground safe and sound this morning. I took millbilly's advice with the notch and drop. No cable wraps, or fancy boring cuts. It came down very controlled and in one piece. It measured 65 feet long. It was very much alive, and looked pretty wet. The center did seem kind of decayed and softer than the rest, but, not a bad way to break in my brand new MS261.View attachment 298209View attachment 298211
(I did shoot a cellphone video of the whole thing, I just need to trim the video, then I'll up load it).
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. You guys rock!
Ryan

View attachment 298203View attachment 298204

 

[woodchuck357]

STILL doesn't look like any walnut I have cut!

 

[bootboy]

I always have a couple 2" 10'000lb ratchet straps handy. When in doubt, I never hesitate to bind a trunk just to be safe. I cut a lot of really big, nasty, farm house type cotton woods. Many with trunks in excess of 5'. Its not uncommon for them to be hollowed out enough to stand in. I had one disintegrate and about had to change my pants. even though I typically have the trunk reduced to less than 20', It's hard to be super quick on these giant trunks and I don't want to take any chances. Some people might make fun of me for it. But it's only a minute that provides a great peace of mind and lets me concentrate on dumping the bastard safely otherwise.

 

[HuskStihl]

Well boys.....
I got the tree on the ground safe and sound this morning. I took millbilly's advice with the notch and drop. No cable wraps, or fancy boring cuts. It came down very controlled and in one piece. It measured 65 feet long. It was very much alive, and looked pretty wet. The center did seem kind of decayed and softer than the rest, but, not a bad way to break in my brand new MS261.View attachment 298209View attachment 298211
(I did shoot a cellphone video of the whole thing, I just need to trim the video, then I'll up load it).
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. You guys rock!
Ryan

View attachment 298203View attachment 298204

I love it when a plan comes together!

 

[treeslayer2003]

Well boys.....
I got the tree on the ground safe and sound this morning. I took millbilly's advice with the notch and drop. No cable wraps, or fancy boring cuts. It came down very controlled and in one piece. It measured 65 feet long. It was very much alive, and looked pretty wet. The center did seem kind of decayed and softer than the rest, but, not a bad way to break in my brand new MS261.View attachment 298209View attachment 298211
(I did shoot a cellphone video of the whole thing, I just need to trim the video, then I'll up load it).
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. You guys rock!
Ryan

View attachment 298203View attachment 298204

well i'm glad ya got it down safely. it is deffienetly black walnut, tho it has a lot of sap wood. wow that's a big hinge, but it worked. like I have said before trees act differently in different places that is why most of us give the safest advice we can think of. good job man, glad you reposted.

 

[millbilly]

I will tell you what I learned from this post, I will never give advice on how to cut a tree from a picture posted on the internet, I repeat I will never give advice on how to cut a tree from a picture posted on the internet.

Granted I would have walked up and cut the tree like I said, but I would have had a saw big enough to cut notch and back cut, in single pass.

Lesson learned