Hung tree - freed it

[turnkey4099]

Last tree to remove in the woodlot this year. 30" dbh, leaning towards a high railroad fill. Due to butt swell and other stumps, falling cut had to be made at about 4 1/2'. Undercut no problem, back cut no problem but then -problem-. Tree falls onto the RR embankment which was planned. Not planned was for the butt to hang on the stump and two branches high up keep it from rolling off. Log is way too high to section from the bottom and bank is too steep to stand on to work from top down as is my usual practice. With nothing but an F150 for pull power I needed all the mechanical advantage I could get so proceded to drag cables and rig up. 2 snatch block, two log chains, two cables and I get 4x multiplier - looked like a riggers nightmare but it worked. PU didn't even complain at the pull. Log down and bottom 8' cut up. Will have to go back another day to pull the remainder off of the embankment. It was too hot yesterday to finish.

Harry K

 

[johnb]

Don't ya hate it when they don't fall right. I'm know full time arborist but I have fell my share of trees. Even the ones that you think will fall where ya want them can change there minds. The twist and fall really gets me. fininshing your falling cut and twist, trap runNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNn. Each one is a new lesson. Stay Safe the Hoosier!!




Sharpen your chain it's a jungle out there!!!

 

[Ryan Willock]

The ones I hate are the dead snags, just the vibrations from your saw can bring them down on you

 

[SilverBlue]

We have a hung elm to remove next week, the homeowner thought he could handle it himself. Well he won’t be saving any money on this tree.

Then there’s some hung trees that you just couldn’t touch out of respect :

 

[turnkey4099]

Originally posted by johnb
Don't ya hate it when they don't fall right. I'm know full time arborist but I have fell my share of trees. Even the ones that you think will fall where ya want them can change there minds. The twist and fall really gets me. fininshing your falling cut and twist, trap runNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNn. Each one is a new lesson. Stay Safe the Hoosier!!


Yeah. I usually won't fall one that might hang up. Occasionally one will and I'll just leave to come down by itself. This one was firmly propped so I only had to be a bit carefull on cable wrapping. Still made me nervous tho. If someone ever comes up with a way to sling a cable while standin two miles away, let me know.

Harry K

 

[Ryan Willock]

Thats defeantly hung!!

 

[johnb]

Stories

I gotta tell ya this one little story about a buddy of mine. We were dropping some dead elm trees in a small woods. the idea was to drop three small 12-14 inch diameter 35 foot trees and drag delimb and block them out. After fighting 12 inches of snow to the sight I relized I forgot the chains for the tractors. I left my capable friend to drop the first tree. A simple 12 inch elm. after my return I hear him yelling for help! I got off the machine and ran to the tree, there he was with two saws wedged at the base. He had made his notch and was finishing the back cut when his 046 got trapped. then he got out my echo 4400 to cut a relief to free his saw. bingo the echo got trapped two inches above his stihl. He said I'm stuck!! No kidding! but did ya have to add my saw to the mix! He had already started to wedge when the treecracked and twisted on his 046 bar. I finaly got the Husky out and cut a wide relief between the the two bars. my echo rolled out and we watched the tree slowly twist on the Stihl bar. Man it was a painful sight. It stopped after trapping the whole bar in the middle of the tree. Finally log chained the base and pulled it off with the tractor. The stihl needed some bar work but lives again. Dead trees are so unpredictable! Our easy little job took all day for a load of elm. The Hoosier



Sharpen your chain it's a jungle out there!!

 

[Gypo Logger]

Dead trees usually fall a bit different than live trees. Since they dont have the same weight, they fall more like a baseball bat than an umbrella. Sometimes they appear to have no natural lean at all due to a lack of limbs. In this case, simply make a clean undercut, backcut and push over manualy. dead trees can also jack knife midair, falling towards saw operator, so be aware of trunk soundness.
Safety First!
John