how to fix my mess up

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

stihlfanboy

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Messages
272
Reaction score
360
Location
Shalersville ohio
So after a long day of dropping nice trees I went to the woods behind my house. Its 7 acres of half black oak and white ash ill be buying in a few years. Were working on thining out the black oaks and the last tree of the day the weged was to small and the wind cough it. It barber chaired and got cought up in tommorws victim. How would you handle this? Got rope, a come along or I was just gunna risk it and cut the last inch holding on...20140503_184754.jpg20140503_184754.jpg 20140503_184810.jpg
 
A big rope or chain with weight bag over it pulling with a truck or tractor would be my choice. I wouldn't use a cable as when they snap they seriously hurt/kill people. My second cousin spent 7 years as a vegetable when the cable on the comealong broke and caught him across the forehead. Or maybe blast it or have a 4x4 shoot???
 
It looks nicely hooked up in the tree tops, so pulling out with a large tractor or whinch is in my eyes the only option. You might even have to fell a supporting tree.

7
 
How did you end up with a stump like that? Looks like you made the backcut about 10" above your (very small) scarf? You don't have the skills to deal with this with a saw. Chain and tractor or call in someone who does know what they're doing. That could have easily killed you, no kidding. Buy a lottery ticket.
 
Distance is your best friend. A chain around that split, a long length of heavy duty rope or a tow strap, and some horsepower. A strong chain will prevent that split from getting any worse when you pull it off the stump. I carry a 30' - 10,000lb. rated tow strap with me every time I'm in the woods, and this is one reason why. They are a good $20 investment.
 
How did you end up with a stump like that? Looks like you made the backcut about 10" above your (very small) scarf? You don't have the skills to deal with this with a saw. Chain and tractor or call in someone who does know what they're doing. That could have easily killed you, no kidding. Buy a lottery ticket.
Thats not the hinge. Thats where I cut the half that barber chaired out. Had a good wedge at the base. Only reason its like that is a strong guestof wind got it in the middle of the back cut.
 
I agree w Imagineero 100%. You do not have the skills to deal with this yourself with a saw. Go find a cutter that will help you out. A logger, tree care specialist, long time firewood cutter etc. I'll guarantee they would rather help you than read about the accident in the paper. Or like some have said chain around the split and add horsepower from a distance.

We are not harping on you. Enough time in the woods and everyone will get in a situation, we are trying to keep you from getting hurt or killed.

I'll share what an old cutter told me nearly 40 years ago; a small tree can kill you just as dead as a giant one, probably faster, dont show them any less respect because they're small.
 
Using my experience and equipment what I should do is finish cutting it using my polesaw and then pull it down with my tractor if I took the time to go get my polesaw. It looks like it's pretty wedged into the standing tree so don't think cutting it completely is going to be a dangerous issue. What I would likely do is finish cutting it with my chainsaw then hook onto it and pull it down with my tractor. Right now I'm going thru my next firewood bush and removing all the dangerous trees before we go in with my Kubota and pull stuff out. There are lots of widow makers, standing dead and wind damaged and split trees all over the place. I just take the time looking at them and decide a plan of action before I start. If I don't like the look of one or just can't come up with what I think is a safe plan I just leave it for another day. No one has cut in there for likely 25 years so there is lots of dangerous stuff, not the time to get in a rush. There is a maple that is split about 25' up that I've been walking past for a few weeks now, I just haven't come up with a safe enough plan yet. I'll get pics of it soon.
 
Yup, some serious horsepower is needed. Oops, just realized that is 2 different trees. The 1st one blown over by wind and rot and was hanging up in several trees. The 2nd pic is one that I cut down into a mess of trees and pulled out with my big Steiner. You can see how thick the trees are where it fell.
tree1.jpg tree2.jpg
 
Im just gunna take my chevy 3/4 ton and a few logging chains to it. My old 1940s Alison Chalmers needs points so thats all I got on hand.
 
Just cut the stump off like felling a new tree only in the opposite direction. And stand clear!

This is the way I would do it as well. My biggest question when looking at the pics was why on earth you were cutting that far off the ground to begin with. I cant imagine anyone shorter than 10 feet tall having a stump that tall. I always try to cut as close to the ground as possible. Closer to the ground your cut is the less distance it travels before it hits the ground.
 
It was 6 inchis off the ground. It spilt half way thpugh the back cut. I toke out 3 18 inch pieces of the spit side so it wasnt in the way. Now that I got home from work after cuting on some of the black locustsI had I walked back there and it fell off the stump over night and is almost out of the tops. One post out of it and it shpuld be dow. Feel much better working with this.20140504_154717.jpg20140504_154740.jpg
 
Either give it more time and it may come down on its own or I would try and get a rope as high up the tree as possible and try and pull it out of the snag. It's still a little sketchy as it is. Much safer to get it on the ground.
 
Back
Top