Hi all, I have a red oak that came down in a storm, that I'm not sure of the safest way to get the main trunk down to the ground.
A quick crude sketch, hope it gets the idea across. The tree fell most of the way, and the weight is now supported by a few large limbs. I started by cutting off free limbs that were not supporting the weight of the trunk. Once all those are cleared away, it leaves me with something like this. Almost like a tripod. This is about a 22" dia trunk near the base, and the part left supported by the branches is maybe 18-20 feet long. So it's got some mass.
I had another like this a few years ago. On that one I tried to judge which branch was supporting the least weight and cut that first. Then when it was down to 2 branches, I cut the one that was at more of an angle... cut a notch on the compression side, then cut in on the tension side until it was just about ready to go. Then finished the cut from up on top of a shed with a pole pruner. Didn't want to be anywhere near underneath that trunk when it went down. (That was fun to watch from up on the shed).
Now, I'm wondering if there's a safer way to do this. And I don't have a higher working spot like that shed I used for the previous one. I want to avoid bucking the trunk into smaller sections, because I want to saw it up with my alaskan mill, so I want 6-8 foot sections if possible.
If I were to cut somewhere up in the middle of the trunk, I think I'd need to cut a notch in the top (compression side), then back-cut from below. But that puts me right there near the trunk. And it seems like it's going to have to be a really big notch on top to allow enough clearance for it to fall.
How would you guys handle this?
TIA,
Keith
A quick crude sketch, hope it gets the idea across. The tree fell most of the way, and the weight is now supported by a few large limbs. I started by cutting off free limbs that were not supporting the weight of the trunk. Once all those are cleared away, it leaves me with something like this. Almost like a tripod. This is about a 22" dia trunk near the base, and the part left supported by the branches is maybe 18-20 feet long. So it's got some mass.
I had another like this a few years ago. On that one I tried to judge which branch was supporting the least weight and cut that first. Then when it was down to 2 branches, I cut the one that was at more of an angle... cut a notch on the compression side, then cut in on the tension side until it was just about ready to go. Then finished the cut from up on top of a shed with a pole pruner. Didn't want to be anywhere near underneath that trunk when it went down. (That was fun to watch from up on the shed).
Now, I'm wondering if there's a safer way to do this. And I don't have a higher working spot like that shed I used for the previous one. I want to avoid bucking the trunk into smaller sections, because I want to saw it up with my alaskan mill, so I want 6-8 foot sections if possible.
If I were to cut somewhere up in the middle of the trunk, I think I'd need to cut a notch in the top (compression side), then back-cut from below. But that puts me right there near the trunk. And it seems like it's going to have to be a really big notch on top to allow enough clearance for it to fall.
How would you guys handle this?
TIA,
Keith