I will not forget the time we went to clean up and finally cut down a poplar city tree that some arborist had cabled years before. I almost chucked a top into the chipper before I saw the eye and piece of broken cable. If you cable a compromised tree thats all for you, but like you say Fireman, it will have to be maintained for its life. How are the future owners of the home to know this? One day these trees will have to be dealt with by someone, perhaps a big nasty suprise will lie in wait for them, I wonder. In the city of Surrey, BC, city arborists get treeguys to make "wildlife trees", good idea, these trees provide a home for bugs, that birds eat, its all good. But over time these man made snags need to be cut down because some of them are leaning towards houses, trails and playing fields. However they seem to have lost all track and count of these potentially fatal trees. People come and go, a tree that was stripped up 40', topped and girdled to make the "wildlife tree" back in '89 is forgotten now. So with cabled trees, the cables that hold the pos together are likely to be forgotten, they can rust, stress fracture etc. oh, well. Anyone of you cabling advocates care to educate me as to how this is unlikely?