I have some trees around my house that need taken down. For the most part I can pull them down by hand with a rope while someone saws them but there may be an occasional one that I may need to use the tractor on. What kind of rope would be good for this? What kind of knot should I tie at the tree and at the tractor? Where is a good place to get the rope?
Need advice on Rope for Tree Removal
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Go see the guys at K&M Lawn & Garden in Culpeper. Not only can they answer your questions, they have the stuff you want. I stopped in there a few months back and just HAD to spend some money ... mostly because their prices were better than what I found on the 'net. Arbor Tech in Remington, VA can also help, and they're only a few miles north of Culpeper.
troythetreeman
ArboristSite Operative
Be very careful pulling with equipment.
sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
If u are going to pull with equipment. I would not spend the money on a good rope. Proper notch and a good back cut, a cheapo rope should do fine.
You don't really need "rope"- chains or nylon slings can work. Typically much higher force limit.
Best not to use them to pull it over, rather to restrain their movement. (Think slung from up in tree to a solid anchor in a safe direction.) Then proper face cut, backcut and wedges. (Good idea NOT to pull tree towards yourself.
Unless you want to be memorialized on YouTube. 
)
Best not to use them to pull it over, rather to restrain their movement. (Think slung from up in tree to a solid anchor in a safe direction.) Then proper face cut, backcut and wedges. (Good idea NOT to pull tree towards yourself.
Unless you want to be memorialized on YouTube. )Culpeper is a 2 hours away from me. They both have websites.
What do you mean, don't pull hard while it is being cut and make it barber chair?
What kind of cheap rope are you talking about?
You don't really need "rope"- chains or nylon slings can work. Typically much higher force limit.
Best not to use them to pull it over, rather to restrain their movement. (Think slung from up in tree to a solid anchor in a safe direction.) Then proper face cut, backcut and wedges. (Good idea NOT to pull tree towards yourself.
Why is it not good idea to pull them over? My plan was to notch them, backcut, wedge and pull by hand or with the tractor.
Right now I am thinking about getting a 3'' tow strap and some amsteel blue.
millbilly
ArboristSite Guru
amsteel blue hmmmmmmm, makes me wonder.
millbilly
ArboristSite Guru
amsteel blue hmmmmmmmm, makes me wonder
troythetreeman
ArboristSite Operative
I don't know that I would agree with using a cheap rope. Pulling trees with machinery the last thing you want is to break the rope and its not that hard to do. Pulling with equipment is not something I would do alone. There are several variables as to if I would do it and exactly how I would do it. Make sure you set the pull line as high as you can get it. If you can't get it high enough something will very likely go wrong. The biggest reason not to pull it toward yourself is it could land on you. Make sure your pull line is long enough this cant happen. I have pulled several trees, I prefer this to wedges as I feel you have more control. A lot can go wrong and when pulling over large trees if something does go wrong the consequences could be catastrophic. You're not going to find a lot of guys willing to recommend doing this to someone who we have no idea your skill level. Myself included. I'm reminded of a thread on here I read a while back describing someone trying to do what you're doing.
troythetreeman
ArboristSite Operative
troythetreeman
ArboristSite Operative
As for what kind of knot to use, make sure where you tie it to the tractor the rope won't be cut by the steel. That being said I like a figure 8 knot. If it isn't dressed perfectly it won't come out.
https://www.google.com/search?q=fig...ndex.php%3FLogoImage%3D.%26Website%3D;600;400
Many guys would also use a running bowline.
https://www.google.com/search?q=run...%2Findex.php%3FLogoImage%3DLogoGrog..;600;400
https://www.google.com/search?q=fig...ndex.php%3FLogoImage%3D.%26Website%3D;600;400
Many guys would also use a running bowline.
https://www.google.com/search?q=run...%2Findex.php%3FLogoImage%3DLogoGrog..;600;400
I pull about 50/yr ( leaning wrong way over adjacent property line) and I always use chain placed as high in the tree as I can get them and about 100' from truck to tree depending on tree ht. I also use wedges as much as possible to straighten them up but by using the truck for final pull it gets me out of the kill zone ( snow is pretty deep). Throwing a blanket over the chain to take the energy out in case of a chain break might save your life, this would be my big concern about using cheap rope with anyone in the area. Have yet to barber chain one which probably means it will happen tomorrow. I have a helper to drive the truck and we "walk" the bad ones slowly but the sawyer has to be the boss!
I was a bit skeptical about using a cheap rope. I know you can loose 40% plus of the ropes strength when you tie a knot. I also know that tying it around something like a clevis and having a sharp bend will reduce the ropes strength. I Understand that nobody knows me and my abilities. I will be doing the pulling while my Dad does the cutting. What ever I decide to get to pull the trees over is going to be long enough to keep me out of harms way. You can take a pencil, hold it straight up and walk back from the tree til it is the tree is the same height as the pencil. Then turn it 90* and have some one walk out to from the end of the tree til they are even with the pencil and that is a estimate of where the tree will fall. The trees I am talking about 40' tall. In the past I borrowed my neighbors rope. It is a safety line from some building he was working on. It was 300' long. I have pulled quite a few trees down in the past few years. I just want to get my own rope and I want to do it more "professionally." There is nothing to anchor some of these trees too so I think pulling is my only option.
I can tie a figure 8. I'll have to practice up on the running bowline.
That is what I have done I the past except with a rope. I have enough chains to use but they are too heavy to use to pull by hand.
sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
A cheap, plain 1/2" climbing/hand line will be fine. If you need to pull so hard that you need to have a big heavy duty rope, your doing it wrong. Proper notch and back cut, a buddy and sticky gloves. Love watching guys that cut straight thru the tree, no notch or anything, just cut and pull, they will have the ass end of a truck in the air and still not realize that something is wrong. Learn to do it without equipment.
'beans said it right. Another option to keep from getting smushed is to rig a good snatch block 90 degrees to the direction of fall and pull that way. See Jerry Beranek's book for a better description.
You're better than me, I've got some leaning 20 degrees the wrong way, branches intertwined with adjacent trees (osage orange) and sometimes lucky to be able to attach 8' above ground. They do not want to fall! Did I mention I hate osage orange???????????? aka hedge aka bois d arc aka bodoc
troythetreeman
ArboristSite Operative
Branches intertwined with adjacent trees is a pretty significant obstacle... I can't really advise you with any real authority without actually seeing the job. I hope you're looking at the whole picture and recognize not only what is likely to happen but what could happen. Pulling a tree leaning the wrong way is one thing, trying to brute force it through an obstacle is quite another.
When you said cheap rope before I was thinking of rope like Lowes sells. The trees I have pulled over in the past did not take much to pull them over. I think there is a point on taking a tree down that if it is leaning too much or has a bunch of big branches on one side that a notch and wedge will not be enough to take it down in the direction you want it to go.
My neighbor cuts through trees in one cut on a 45*. I don't know why he does that.
I might have to get that book.
woodchuck357
Addicted to ArboristSite
I often pull trees that have a lot of lean. Way more than can be pulled by hand. If I need to use equipment to do the pulling I only use cable (wire rope) and a snatch block to keep the pull from the equipment low so it stays on the ground and pulling.
Your neighbor uses one 45 degree cut because he is uneducated in the felling of trees.
sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
The other option VS equipment is to set up a make shift fiddle block. Basically setting up pulleys to make the human 2,3-5 times stronger. This is what I use for back leaners. I am sure that there are vids on youtube that show a fiddle block set up. You dont need all the fancy gadgets tho. Any metal pulley will do, as you are dealing with human strength.
As far as the cheap Lowes ropes, if you are using them for tag lines or pull lines to drop a tree, as long as you are not attaching them to equipment, they work fine. I have a 250ft 1" dia cotton rope that we use for tags. It grips really well, is limp like a ramen noodle, and cheap as hell, maybe 60 bucks. We love it for tags, combined wit ha sticky glove and the bigger dia, it is pretty comfy in the hand. If it gets tore up, so be it. The thing is there, making sure everyone knows that that rope only has on purpose. Human pulling. No rigging or climbing. Just used to pull stuff around.
As far as the cheap Lowes ropes, if you are using them for tag lines or pull lines to drop a tree, as long as you are not attaching them to equipment, they work fine. I have a 250ft 1" dia cotton rope that we use for tags. It grips really well, is limp like a ramen noodle, and cheap as hell, maybe 60 bucks. We love it for tags, combined wit ha sticky glove and the bigger dia, it is pretty comfy in the hand. If it gets tore up, so be it. The thing is there, making sure everyone knows that that rope only has on purpose. Human pulling. No rigging or climbing. Just used to pull stuff around.
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