First Climb and Removal

[Amateur4now]

Hi folks. First time poster here. Have been browsing for a while and appreciate all of the excellent info!

Did my first climb and removal today. Big birch that was close to our house. Previous owner nailed spikes in every foot to hang Christmas lights so assuming that is whay killed it. Every storm pieces come down and afraid it was going to hit house.

Climbed up and lopped off a few big stems that were hanging towards the house. Then cut it down. Went where I wanted but took a while to fall...a couple of nervous minutes!

Was about 25" at thickest part and I only have 15" bar on my saw so took some multi sided cutting to get it down. I did a notch, then bore cut to make a hinge and then cut through most of the back and wedged. When I cut through the last of it and it didn't fall I was second guessing, but a few more hits on the wedges and it went.

A few pics attached. Should have taken a starting one but too late now, just got one after I topped it. Please feel free to comment on the cut and any improvements...I have several poplars to do in the back. Thanks!

 

[The Singing Arborist]

First off, congrats on your first tree. I hope you enjoyed the thrill of working down the puzzle. We all at times have those second guessing moments. The trick is to leave yourself some extra options to make sure everything goes in your favor.

So some questions: did you use a rope and harness while you were up there? Did you have a pull rope in the tree when felling it? Was the tree completely dead?

I only have one critique that is worth only what I could see from the picture: the hing wood looked pretty thin compared to the size of the trunk...especially for the trunk having decay in the middle. I like to have as much hing wood as possible and get the tree to fall over. The more hing wood, the more stable and more control. If you have a rope in the tree to pull it over, you can leave more wood. If you have a mechanical advantage or something stronger pulling that rope, the more hing wood.

It takes guts to open yourself up to the scruteny of the internet. Whatever is commented next remember two things, there is always a new thing to learn and a better way of doing it, buy you also got the tree down without damage or harm. Great work.

 

[The Singing Arborist]

Just noticed I misspelled hinge manytimes last night...it was pretty late.

 

[Amateur4now]

Thanks for the feedback! Learning is why I'm here so no worries. A puzzle is a good way to describe it. Put lots of thought into it beforehand.

I did use ropes and harness while I was in the tree. Didn't use anything to pull it down though. Maybe I will set something up as you suggested for the next ones as an added measure of safety. The tree wasn't totally dead. It had some growth on the lower parts of the trunk but all of the big stems coming out of the top were dead. The ring of decay got bigger as it went up the tree.