Tricky tree to take down.

[rwoods]

Gologit, something tells me that during your career you might have blown up a tree or two using some round sticks instead of this tannerite stuff. Ron

 

[Deleted member 149229]

You have a wife and a kid on the way and you want to play Russian Roulette. No matter how fast you think you are it happens faster than you can react, if you were a wrestler you would have to be fast enough that you never gave up points to a take down. Trees going bad are that fast. I ain’t a pro and will never claim to be, I took down a 30’ elm, of all trees, 2 years ago and it wasn’t near as bad as your ash. It barbered on me and it was over before I got 2 steps. I always try to err on the side of caution, I was a machinist my whole life, I retired with 10 full fingers.

 

[Westboastfaller]

On a side note, the more a tree leans, is it more or less likely for it to barber (in general, not as a rule)? I would think at a certain angle and weight it would have to be more of a "pull" than a "push" and that would cause the tree to react differently. Or is that all hogwash nonsense in my head?

pull vs push? you got me there. The further the weight is extended, the greater the stress load. On a straight tree that is near blown down then I will cut it like a regular buck. About 20% underbuck and try to ring as much as the sapwood first opposed to cutting straight through the buck. An undercut, in this case, will allow the tree to hinge and create barber chair potential. In many cases where the branches are close to the ground, the tree can't split far anyways. No undercut on them is best but with heavy gun barrel tops (bigger than 8") that have great top weights like softwoods, you have to go about 5ft further post your specs or it will split your pay log. Then go back and buck your mark. Much like a suspended buck without an underbuck. It will split the bottom. One could use a different technique altogether. Geographical location/Climate and age can make even the same species much more dangerous.

 

[Westboastfaller]

So you can see this tree has a wicked angle. But this is a dangerous tree close to my pond and needs to come down and it will provide some good firewood. I'm a novice at cutting trees down with about 10 trees to my name. I can see this tree falling and then the end that I cut take an immediate left or right. Maybe a higher possibility of barberchair? I will clear a large area for escape. Any advice I should be aware of?

Thanks.

The tree got flattened as a sapling. About the age of the saplings around it now. likely a top pinned it. looks like the original top broke and a branch took over as the new leader. looks like it's dropped about halfway through its life by looking at the trunk sweep. May had rested up against another tree or branch at one point. Then you have what looks like a long straight section then a more recent top sweep? Possibly when trees were moved from around it and it had no protection, it dropped more. All very unofficial obviously. If its loose now you will see the root mat lift up and down at the back of the stump in the wind. Often they correct themselves as this one has over the years but removing trees could up route it as mentioned.


Make an assessment of the lean. stand at the back of the tree and find out if its leaning left or right. Hopefully, it has an obvious lean to one side or you will have to wedge it to a side. Cut the undercut 45 degrees down from the side. This puts the back cut more to the side. No more barber chair concerns. the tree should start going slow to the side when cut. It then may snap and hit on its back without a special undercut. Always try to flop them hockey sticks or bent over trees sideways if you have the room. careful about getting pinched (EXTRA GEAR) Leave holding wood, bit more at the top and don't stick your tip through the bottom on the back cut, work your way from the top down on the back cut.

 

[hseII]

So you can see this tree has a wicked angle. But this is a dangerous tree close to my pond and needs to come down and it will provide some good firewood. I'm a novice at cutting trees down with about 10 trees to my name. I can see this tree falling and then the end that I cut take a immediate left or right. Maybe a higher possibility of barberchair? I will clear a large area for escape. Any advice I should be aware of?

Thanks.

Has it got to be taken down now?, or can you clean up around it & wait 1 month?

What part of SW Virginia?

 

[NvrDwn]

Has it got to be taken down now?, or can you clean up around it & wait 1 month?

What part of SW Virginia?

No not now, I can tell the roots are starting to come up some and would like to just get it done and over with. Roanoke area.

 

[hseII]

No not now, I can tell the roots are starting to come up some and would like to just get it done and over with. Roanoke area.

Clean out around it within the next couple weeks & send me a pm if you want.

I’ve got to go back thru there in May anyways.

 

[Cody]

No not now, I can tell the roots are starting to come up some and would like to just get it done and over with. Roanoke area.

I'd start digging up around those roots and cut them then.

 

[Gologit]

Gologit, something tells me that during your career you might have blown up a tree or two using some round sticks instead of this tannerite stuff. Ron

We used to blow snags with dynamite if we needed to but we usually just dominoed them with another tree. Dynamite was expensive. we usually saved it for road building and blowing down stream banks to narrow them up up for bridge approaches. You wouldn't be allowed to do that today.
That was when blasting licenses were fairly easy to get and almost every crew had a couple of guys around who knew how to use the stuff right.

 

[rarefish383]

Barber chairs often happen in a heart beat and when they do nobody is fast enough to get out of the way. They also happen with a tremendous amount of force.
I've seen a couple of slow moving barber chairs but they're rare. Figure on fast and be ready to run. If the saw is hung up or if it gets torn out of your hands don't worry about it. Get away from the tree.
Barber chairs don't always kick straight back either. As it starts to 'chair it can slab out at an angle and if that happens it can drop straight down where you're standing.
The slab doesn't always break completely off either. They can run quite a ways up the tree and just stop. Then, while you're standing there trying to figure out what's happening they'll pop loose and come down at you.
A 'chair will also break out sideways, hit trees next to you and you'll have stuff flying all over the place.
There's also kind of a double chair where the first slab breaks out while you're backing the tree up and just seconds afterward another, usually smaller, slab starts if your kerf is anywhere past the point where the first slab started.
A 'chair can happen in a face cut too. If you're falling real tall straight stems and the wind is moving the tree a slab can start when you make your first cut and then travel up quite a ways. It's rare for them to slab clear out but I've seen it happen.
These aren't things I've heard about or read about and they're not somebody else's story that I'm passing along. These things have all happened to me over the period of fifty years or so. They can happen to anybody and if you cut trees long enough they'll happen to you too.
Anybody who cuts for any length of time will have close calls and get the crap scared out of him occasionally. Anybody who disputes that is either lying to you or doesn't have enough sense to recognize a close call when one happens.

You said it all in the first sentence. No matter how good your escape path is, it does no good for the weekend warrior. if you don't do this day in and day out, by the time you think "OH, SH" it's over, you can't out think or out run a chair. You either get lucky and it misses you and scare the crap out of you, or we read about you in the AF&I forum. Chances are 99% you'll be OK and it was a lot of hype we threw at you. But you might be the one in a hundred. This is how I handle tricky trees, Joe.

 

[Marine5068]

So you can see this tree has a wicked angle. But this is a dangerous tree close to my pond and needs to come down and it will provide some good firewood. I'm a novice at cutting trees down with about 10 trees to my name. I can see this tree falling and then the end that I cut take a immediate left or right. Maybe a higher possibility of barberchair? I will clear a large area for escape. Any advice I should be aware of?

Thanks.

That's a widowmaker.

 

[NSMaple1]

I really don't think it's terribly bad if it will go sideways as suggested a couple places earlier in the thread. Don't think we've been told yet how big this thing is though - kinda hard to tell good from the pics.

 

[Jed1124]

See if you can find a timber cutter (not an arborist) to drop it for you.

On the other hand the arborist would spike up, brush it out, then blow the top out reducing the weight and eliminating the chance of a chair when the stick is dropped.

 

[rwoods]

I don’t think he meant any disrespect. I think he was thinking a logger would put it down cheap and then the OP could go at it with his new saw.

I am fairly competent at falling but I still call on a local tree service from time to time to fall for me even though it costs me half a new MS461 each time.

Ron

 

[rarefish383]

I don’t think he meant any disrespect. I think he was thinking a logger would put it down cheap and then the OP could go at it with his new saw.

I am fairly competent at falling but I still call on a local tree service from time to time to fall for me even though it costs me half a new MS461 each time.

Ron

I just put the crane pic in there for fun. But, the climber is me, and I paid $814 dollars for the crane, for four hours. That was the last big tree I climbed , and that was about 10 years ago.

 

[rwoods]

^^^^^ The older I get the more precious life becomes and the less I think I have to prove. Ron

 

[sundance]

^^^^^ The older I get the more precious life becomes and the less I think I have to prove. Ron

Amen to that. I'm nowhere near as fearless as I was 25 years ago.

 

[hseII]

No not now, I can tell the roots are starting to come up some and would like to just get it done and over with. Roanoke area.

What did you come up with OP?

 

[NvrDwn]

What did you come up with OP?

It is still standing, still uncertain what I'll do.

 

[user 122190]

That's pretty nasty looking. Gots to clear out the area good. It would be nice to get a cable on it to prevent it from whipping in an unexpected angle.