Tree fall problem

[Joe Kuhn]

Plus an email to the Road Commissioner:

Sir,

Once again your brush pickup crew did a great job in our neighborhood. The Polish neighbor lady had a branch go down, so I cut it up along with the tree that has been a problem all of its adult life. Your crew took it all in about 45 minutes. Wow. Very impressive. They even cleaned up and left it liked they lived there.

You might find the pictures here fun to look at particularly at the end where I mention your crew's hard work.

https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/tree-fall-problem.345088/#post-7360160

Thanks so much.

Joe Kuhn

 

[chipper1]

Here's my first cut to drop a tree (with no branches). I can see some hinge effect on the far side, which is good as that pulled the tree away from the driveway. What do you guys think? I thought my cuts were more level that this, but the picture shows what really happened.

View attachment 848015

And here's the felled log. The two guys pulling on the rope where positioned on the sidewalk at the red Xs. Look how that one branch took some with it off the bottom towards the main trunk. That makes the branch swing back towards the trunk as just seen in the video posted by @CacaoBoy. I'm learning a lot from this.

View attachment 848016

The limbs with leaves left to be cut up is more than I expected. It goes way back towards the brown fence, which you can't even see here. I've got more work to do to get it all out to the curb.

View attachment 848017

Pretty sure those x's are not 6' apart, hope you had your masks on .
Glad you got it down safely.
I'd find someone local to give you some tips on cutting(show you in person), anyone who does it on a normal basis will have many for you and you will learn a lot very quickly.
One thing to remember is in that video you posted of the falling techniques, those trees are very different from what you were cutting as they are tall straight relatively balanced trees, when cutting most hardwood yard trees figuring out the lean/side lean can be a little tricky. Its good you had a rope in it and is great insurance, but you also have to remember that the tree is a long lever and can send a couple guys sailing very quickly if things don't go as planned, so those pulling need to be made aware of that and need to have an escape plan/route and the rope need to be managed so as not to get wrapped around anyone.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Pretty sure those x's are not 6' apart, hope you had your masks on .
Glad you got it down safely.
I'd find someone local to give you some tips on cutting(show you in person), anyone who does it on a normal basis will have many for you and you will learn a lot very quickly.
One thing to remember is in that video you posted of the falling techniques, those trees are very different from what you were cutting as they are tall straight relatively balanced trees, when cutting most hardwood yard trees figuring out the lean/side lean can be a little tricky. Its good you had a rope in it and is great insurance, but you also have to remember that the tree is a long lever and can send a couple guys sailing very quickly if things don't go as planned, so those pulling need to be made aware of that and need to have an escape plan/route and the rope need to be managed so as not to get wrapped around anyone.

Excellent advice. Thanks a ton. I'll be referring back to this thread before my next tree fall, that's for sure.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

@chipper1 - I'll also be watching for guys with saws at the forest preserves near my home and any professional outfits doing work that I come across, although the businesses I've seen doing work all have cherry pickers and cut trees apart from the top down, which is way over my head, if you know what I mean.

 

[chipper1]

@chipper1 - I'll also be watching for guys with saws at the forest preserves near my home and any professional outfits doing work that I come across, although the businesses I've seen doing work all have cherry pickers and cut trees apart from the top down, which is way over my head, if you know what I mean.

I c what you did there lol.
Even though they work them top down they can show you how they fall the stem, set up the hinge, get their back cut at the right height to the face/gunning cut, and how to set a rope for pulling from the ground when they have to. Now that you've done what you have it will be easier to understand what they would teach you, learning theory is great, but applying it is when you get the rest of the "course".

 

[Joe Kuhn]

I'm paying more attention to tree work now that I've had to do it myself. After the storm this tree had a big branch come loose, blocking the bike path I ride on. Today I saw the clean up results. Looks ugly. Wish I had taken a before picture. Would have been fun to watch them fix this guy. Scrunch. Heavy machinery must have been involved.

 

[chainsawman123]

Storm went through yesterday and knocked a limb off my neighbors tree. I cut it up this morning with my Mac 10-10 and put it by the curb for the township to pick up. Then I offered to take the rest of the tree down so as to learn something about dropping trees. I've always just worked on getting saws running and used them to cut limbs off trees I can reach from the ground. This one is different.

Here's my video of the tree, best viewed in full screen mode:



Notice the heavy branch extending towards the neighbors house. The tips of it go into their tree by a foot or two. Around the other side of the tree you can see that branch again on the bottom and the other smaller branch on top that points directly towards the brown fence. That about sums it up except for the two holes in the trunk just above the flowers that are about to take a beating.

My goal is to drop it between the brown fence and the neighbors tree by having it fall directly towards their front steps. It's way too short to reach their steps. If it falls into their tree, I suspect minimal damage. If it falls into the brown fence, it'll be time for some fence repairs. We are on great terms with these neighbors and I'll discuss this risk ahead of time. I offer this picture as well which shows everything but the small branch on top that points to the brown fence.

View attachment 847812

After watching some of this video:



I think I'll do a flat cut between those two holes in the main trunk, 1/2 of the way into the tree. This will be on the side I want it to fall - towards the neighbors front steps. Then I'll cut a notch up to my flat cut from below, take that piece of wood out, and finish the fall from the opposite side. I'll cut over to about an inch or two of my first cut, at the same level, use a wedge and watch it go. I do not like the two holes from previous limb breaks. I'll cut right between them and deal with the tall stump later.

Experts - what are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

if you want to cut it down first limb the tree cut offall the limbs you have to have a bucket truck and if you want to cut down the tree you have to cut a notch in the tree in the driction you want it to fall and cut the tree in the back in till it falls