Experience is the way to go, too many diffrent situations.
Seperate (from removal tree ) support anchor strategies for lines ie. using throw line to set lines in other trees for rigging and lifeline. Lifeline must be close, rigging line can stretch across yard to high support, that takes lots of stress off line redirected through host tree for rigging. An upper support at same height as another carries 1/2 the load, get a real nice, stong, majestic , high oak in the yard. Put a rigging line in a vertical spar of oak, higher than all the other rigging points for pines, redirect it from oak support around, if angle of line is down from oak support, more than 1/2 the force of rigging is off removal tree! Then be careful anyway, just more confident.
Consider which trees look hardest/ most dangerous, and make no moves removing other trees etc. that would make them harder; sometimes take the top out of a med. strong key tree; leave spar standing to rig out other stuff more positively cuz that spar has just been relievd of x pounds that it is used to holding. When rigging from skinny spar to any spar high beware of them being draw together in spring when loaded!
Vertical crax can be bound in spar to get back to about a non-splintering/ shifting pillar. Horizontals are tricky, not very trustworthy, tie in below them sometimes!
Get as much weight out as smooth and quick as possible, making cuts that don't jerk on the tree, especially until you cut out 2x your body weight free. Develoop style for handling difrent types of situations that as you cut it doesn't jerk on any tree, any time; when you are in dead pine, that alone (cutting free limbs with no pull on tree) can make all the diffrence in the world, very simply. Look for weak and strong axises of direction to rig into on supports.
Consider rake trick (
http://www.arboristsite.com//showthread.php?s=&threadid=4754)and drop what you can without climbing, but not throwing away a key, stronger tree to rig others from. If top is so brittle it will crumble/flex/give, it generally won't hurt a rock.... so you can allow for that in stick trick measurement. Use stick trick to see where to top and minimize how high you have to climb in red zone. If you top anything, eliminate as much holding wood as safe from sides of backcut in precutting, so you can come thru fast and get clean , early seperation, that pushes off down ito spar, rather than pulling/ pushing across, leveraging at its weakest axis of strength.
Work on a calm day, that the tree wasn't really shook hard just the day before, re-inspect soundness on day of werk. Stay centerd to trunk, except maybe to lean some to counter rigging pull with your own bodyweight as cantilever; always moving smoothly. Break pieces off with polesaw if ya can, nickel and diming what ever weight out you can. Look not to destablilize a tree by taking biggest weight early, and have more shake the rest of the time. Run rigging line through diffrent strong areas of the tree about level of last anchor before load, so as to spread out force of rigging. Bigger pieces might wait till near last, as each support will have load taken off of it; making for more positive support.
Pine borers can seriously disable a tree quickly weakening its structure, especially one that lightning boiled the water out of! i think pine resin is more electrically conductive or something than water based trees, down here in thunder alley, we call'em lightning rods. Especially 6' from thin metal strip along roof line, giving very nice electrical access to home! People will say they all just died weeks ago; look for fresh dust/ resin; considering each tree seperately for structure, especially in only connection, anchoring to ground!
Be careful, remember it is easier to walk away before you're dead!
P.S.Dang 2 guys got done before me that time!
