Dropped an oak and it became a fiasco.
Tree wasn't the healthiest specimen, the canopy was light and a little scraggly, it'd been trimmed by power companies and the like as it was near a road. Its lean was parallel to the roadway and no obstructions in that direction. DBH was approximately 34 inches, bottom had some bark missing from a previous car accident, 25' up was the remains of a previously cut off dead leader opposite the natural lean. There was some loose bark on the side of the dead leader but the rest of the trunk seemed solid.
Tossed a pull line up about 30 feet and pulled the top about six inches before cutting. Notched away from the roadway, back cut felt okay, tossed in three wedges. I had intended to leave about a 3 inch wide hinge and pull the tree over. Putting a final dress in the back cut when the trunk collapsed straight down, tree falling 90 degrees to the rope and hinge andpretty much in the direction of the natural lean. I retreated about 135 degrees from the natural lean and 45 from the rigging line as that was my escape path.
The core of the tree was punky and riddled with bugs, there was about 4 inches on each side of the trunk where the hinge was, the face cut stopped 1/2 inch from the rotten core and was about 9 inches deep. About the only living part of the tree was severed completely by the back cut, coming in about half an inch above the face cut. The hinge and cheeks broke out and stayed on the upper part of the trunk, splitting a 10 inch long V out of the stump on both sides.
The trunk didn't look or sound rotten save the small section below the dead leader, there weren't any voids or large amounts of fungus from the outside. What are some other techniques for determining if a trunk is unstable? Sounding it with a hatchet it didn't sound hollow as it was solid on the outer part, even the bark was tight. I made an awful mistake in the assessment of this trunk and am looking for tips to aid in the uncovering of surprise unstable trunks. I've had successful take downs of unstable trees, usually with a tag line to stabilize the lean and a good hard fast mechanical pull versus the usual nice gentle tug as well as keeping everything and everyone out of the reach.
Thanks in advance.
Tree wasn't the healthiest specimen, the canopy was light and a little scraggly, it'd been trimmed by power companies and the like as it was near a road. Its lean was parallel to the roadway and no obstructions in that direction. DBH was approximately 34 inches, bottom had some bark missing from a previous car accident, 25' up was the remains of a previously cut off dead leader opposite the natural lean. There was some loose bark on the side of the dead leader but the rest of the trunk seemed solid.
Tossed a pull line up about 30 feet and pulled the top about six inches before cutting. Notched away from the roadway, back cut felt okay, tossed in three wedges. I had intended to leave about a 3 inch wide hinge and pull the tree over. Putting a final dress in the back cut when the trunk collapsed straight down, tree falling 90 degrees to the rope and hinge andpretty much in the direction of the natural lean. I retreated about 135 degrees from the natural lean and 45 from the rigging line as that was my escape path.
The core of the tree was punky and riddled with bugs, there was about 4 inches on each side of the trunk where the hinge was, the face cut stopped 1/2 inch from the rotten core and was about 9 inches deep. About the only living part of the tree was severed completely by the back cut, coming in about half an inch above the face cut. The hinge and cheeks broke out and stayed on the upper part of the trunk, splitting a 10 inch long V out of the stump on both sides.
The trunk didn't look or sound rotten save the small section below the dead leader, there weren't any voids or large amounts of fungus from the outside. What are some other techniques for determining if a trunk is unstable? Sounding it with a hatchet it didn't sound hollow as it was solid on the outer part, even the bark was tight. I made an awful mistake in the assessment of this trunk and am looking for tips to aid in the uncovering of surprise unstable trunks. I've had successful take downs of unstable trees, usually with a tag line to stabilize the lean and a good hard fast mechanical pull versus the usual nice gentle tug as well as keeping everything and everyone out of the reach.
Thanks in advance.
