Felling tree with decay.

[Bow Saw Man]

Thanks for this, gang. I watched the Husqvarna videos on how to fell a tree, and felt pretty confident. Then I read this and realized I could get myself in real trouble. What I did, and would advise anyone with rot in the trunk to do, is get an extension ladder, and bring the thing down piece by piece. It's a lot more work, but by the time you find out if the trunk is going to cut properly, it can't hit any nearby objects of value.

We approached each cut with care and planning, and brought down a Norwegian Maple that was midway between the power lines and the house without any drama. I should've taken pictures

 

[northmanlogging]

youtube extension ladders and chainsaws

 

[northmanlogging]

YouTube extension laders and chainsaws

 

[catbuster]

Extension ladders & chainsaws are not a good combination. Right up there with drinking a fifth of Jameson in an hour and then going for a drive in your Kenworth.

Firefighters won’t even do it. That should tell you something.

 

[RandyMac]

I love rotten trees

 

[madhatte]

Firefighters won’t even do it. That should tell you something.

I concur

 

[Bow Saw Man]

Well, it's a good thing everything turned out. If it's any better, they were electric chainsaws, we took our time.

I was wondering what the Darwin Awards truck was doing filming the whole thing

 

[madhatte]

Problem with a ladder is you're married to a stem that you expect to fail. Even if it doesn't fail, you're married to it if it moves unexpectedly. If you can't climb it and rope off to something else that you trust, you should find a way to do it either from above (i.e. a bucket truck) or below (i.e. cut it from the ground). Ladders in trees are pretty much only OK if you're picking apples.