limb removal question.

[BLACKeR]

i was helping my wife's father with some tree and limb removals yesterday. I'd just spent all morning climbing and removing one tree, he also wanted a ash limb near his pool area removed. i would say the limb went off the trunk at a 45 degree angle, and was probably 8-10" at the base. i knew i should have climbed out on the limb and pieced it back, but he thought i could cut it at the base and he could pull it with a rope. i was tired and didn't feel like another climb. as you all have probably guessed it didn't go as planned. i cut a very shallow wedge out of the bottom/side to kind of direct it a bit and then i tried to set a quick hinge i cut maybe a quarter of the way through the top and it barber-chaired. there was still 50% of the limb left when it happened. after i got it all down i noticed there was a crack running horizontally through the limb. as soon as i hit it it split along it. long story short my question is it there ever a good safe way to drop a limb like this in one piece, or should i walk and piece them always.

 

[lxt]

Blacker, there are always ways to do something, not sure of your situation & not trying to be ignorant but if you have to ask!! you probably shouldnt be doing it!! just MO.

be safe, take care

LXT........

 

[cntrybo2]

i am going to take a different stance on this one man. There are no stupid questions and we all have to do something FOR THE FIRST TIME! i would have suggested piecing it back but, you could do something else i have also tried and it has worked many times. Rig the limb so as the weight is removed from the end of the limb using a bull rope. this will allow the cut to have no bind or force and when the cut is through, the tied end of the limb stays put and the cut end is the one that falls allowing you to lower it to the ground safely. hope this works for you man. If my description is foggy I am sorry but I think you will get the drift.

 

[geofore]

limb removal

You did not rig the limb so the guy on the ground could move it up, down. left, right or hold it steady. If you know how to rig you won't have that problem with gravity winning. I think you need to learn how to set up rigging. There is a good reason we have slings, carabiners, ropes, pulleys and the like.
If you know how to rig, you can set 90% of it from the ground before you even climb the tree or it's just as easy to set it from in the tree with a throwball to assist you. You need to know how to rig.
What would you have done to climb out the limb? Thrown a rope over a croutch above you to hold your weight? Why not throw a rope over the limb above to hold the weight of the limb you are cutting? From above? A tag line from the limb you are cutting to the guy on the ground to pull the limb left or right? You need to over come the action of gravity. Learn to rig with slings and rope. You'll have fewer oops. :jawdrop:

 

[BLACKeR]

perhaps i worded my question wrong. i wasnt nescessarily looking for the right way to do it, i cut it a different way than i wanted because, i was working for free for my wifes dad, and he wanted me to just chop it off. my question was for future refrence is there ever a good way to goon cut a larger limb if theres nothing you need to worry about hitting. or is it always a no no.

i have to wonder where we would all be if none of us ever did anything we had to ask about.:bang:

 

[ddhlakebound]

perhaps i worded my question wrong. i wasnt nescessarily looking for the right way to do it, i cut it a different way than i wanted because, i was working for free for my wifes dad, and he wanted me to just chop it off. my question was for future refrence is there ever a good way to goon cut a larger limb if theres nothing you need to worry about hitting. or is it always a no no.

i have to wonder where we would all be if none of us ever did anything we had to ask about.:bang:

There seem to be a glut of people lately not "necessarily looking for the right way to do it".

I also don't understand at all why someone would do something the way someone else told them to, instead of how they knew they should, just because it's a freebie job. It's your saftey and reputation. Do it right the first time, you only get one chance.

So what do you want to hear blacker? That what you did was the best way, and it couldn't have gone better?

The procedure geofore explained to you would have kept GRAVITY from exerting nearly as much force on your already compromised split limb, giving you the control needed to bring it to the ground where you want, slowly.

I have no idea what a "goon cut" is, but there are many ways to control what a limb is going to do when you cut it. Search TreeSpyder's posts re: hinges, MUCH to learn there.

In this specific instance, the biggest factor to have it go right would have been to identify the split before you put your saw to it. If you had seen the split, you could have oriented your hinge so that both the top and bottom of the split provided support until tear off, or completely severed the compression wood, and set your hinge in the tension wood above the split, minimizing the size of the barberchair (if it would have at all) when you start the top cut. Its not easy to make that deep of an undercut without trapping your bar, mostly depends on the location of the split.

I've got way more to learn than I've learned so far, and listening to the advice given on this site has eased and accelerated the process. But all the information in the world wont help you if your'e not interested in finding the "right way".

 

[geofore]

freebie?

What does doing a freebie have to do with it? To do a goon cut, under cut, no wedge cut, then reach out past the under cut and angle cut one side a little then the other side leaving a triangle of wood holding. Fat end of the triangle on the bottom. Nibble at the triangle a little from each side until the limb releases or then from the top down strait and fast. Ideally it should release and break back to the under cut and drop butt end first to the ground without tearing the bark back. Whether it's a freebie or not you don't want to rip/peel the bark off towards the trunk. Cut from the sides so you have holding wood as long as possible. Freebie doesn't mean do bad work. The tree needs to survive and remain healthy.:jawdrop:

 

[BLACKeR]

To do a goon cut, under cut, no wedge cut, then reach out past the under cut and angle cut one side a little then the other side leaving a triangle of wood holding. Fat end of the triangle on the bottom. Nibble at the triangle a little from each side until the limb releases or then from the top down strait and fast.

thanks. ill try that next time i have a limb to cut withought having to worry about a landing zone.

 

[Rftreeman]

What does doing a freebie have to do with it? To do a goon cut, under cut, no wedge cut, then reach out past the under cut and angle cut one side a little then the other side leaving a triangle of wood holding. Fat end of the triangle on the bottom. Nibble at the triangle a little from each side until the limb releases or then from the top down strait and fast. Ideally it should release and break back to the under cut and drop butt end first to the ground without tearing the bark back. Whether it's a freebie or not you don't want to rip/peel the bark off towards the trunk. Cut from the sides so you have holding wood as long as possible. Freebie doesn't mean do bad work. The tree needs to survive and remain healthy.:jawdrop:

pretty much sums it up except one thing, make sure you have a fast cutting saw, high rpm's and sharp chain.

 

[geofore]

fast saw, sharp chain

Point taken, When I say the butt end should hit the ground first, it means the saw has to be able to cut through the wood faster than gravity can lower the the far end of the limb you're cutting to the ground. Done right the limb lands flat. Get it wrong and the tip hits the ground first and springpoles back and pins you to the tree or bounces the other way and takes out a target.
If you are doing a freebie, think of it as practice and practice doing it right. You don't develop skill and talent (finesse') doing it down and dirty even if the guy wants it down and dirty.

 

[nytreeman]

under cut, no wedge cut, then reach out past the under cut and angle cut one side a little then the other side leaving a triangle of wood holding. Fat end of the triangle on the bottom. Nibble at the triangle a little from each side until the limb releases or then from the top down strait and fast. Ideally it should release and break back to the under cut and drop butt end first to the ground without tearing the bark back. Whether it's a freebie or not you don't want to rip/peel the bark off towards the trunk. Cut from the sides so you have holding wood as long as possible.

+1