Split tree, Way beyond my capability to fell.

[Nuzzy]

Thems two different trees their nuzzy. Did you fell that big tree yet??

And nope, not yet... Currently too much snow. I feel it'd be safer to have good footing while tackling it :hmm3grin2orange: You'll see pics or an obit when I do though

 

[scotclayshooter]

some more pics

 

[scotclayshooter]

 

[scotclayshooter]

In the second pic you can see a small tree to the right of the main one its a thin double stem, I think thats the direction its going to go.
It looks like it may roll around the other trees but is going to nail the twin stem one.
Its howling a gale here just now so it may not survive the night!
I was tempted to cut the double stem one today in case it does go over onto it.

 

[stipes]

Maybe someone can answer this for me too....

I'd do 90 degrees from the spilt...Out to the open..Looks like if you took a bore cut to the lean it would fall and get wedged into the other trees..Would this tree spin on ya at 90 degrees frm the split???Have to watch your hinge...Wow,,,,I cant say whats right or wrong....Seen a barber chair so many years ago frm my Dad and flung his old Mcculloch outta his hands,,and talk about scaring the hell outta ya..

 

[Nailsbeats]

I would put a bull rope in the top and chain above and below the cut. Then I would bore it not much more that a bar width, just to get ahead of the bad seam. Next comes a high shallow face cut aiming just off those trees and to the grass, leaving a 4 to 5 inch hinge. Insert two wedges in the bore cut, trip the backstrap, and signal a fast truck pull.

That's how it looks to me from here, could need some adjustments in person.


You could take some shortcuts and roll the dice too. The biggest concern I would have about doing it my way is the tree sitting down on the bar which isn't a life threatening event, just use your most beat up saw.

 

[scotclayshooter]

IThe biggest concern I would have about doing it my way is the tree sitting down on the bar which isn't a life threatening event, just use your most beat up saw.

And nothing with an outboard clutch!

Were bring in a PRO if it survives the night.

But all the advice makes it almost tempting. ALMOST!

 

[MtnHermit]

Another approach, have you thought of weakening the roots with a backhoe?
I see four advantages:
1. the root mass will keep the split together.
2. You'll be inside the safety cage 20' feet away.
3. You might, just might, be able to get it away from those two smaller trees.
4. You could build a earth berm to protect the small trees and direct the fall of the split tree.

Edit: Added 4th

 

[Nitroman]

We had a tree down today over a tennis court a 75' 18" DBH Scots Pine it was no problem and done and dusted in an hour.
Then we spotted this horrid split tree its nearer 100' and 36"DBH, We both looked at it it has rot is leaning towards 2 other trees and is split 2 ways!
Both of us said no way would we tackle dropping it.
I wouldnt know where to start (Im not going to!) I cant see any safe way to take this one down apart from the top down.
It just looks like it would explode if we tried it from the ground.
And no access for a Cherry picker

So how would you tackle this bugger?

Bore 2, 1 3/4" (45mm) holes in the solid parts 12" (30cm) deep, insert one stick gelatin dynamite into each hole, connect the cap wires, pack openings with handful of mud, drop back couple hundred feet, and give a sharp twist on the Atlas. BLAMMO! Tree down.

 

[scotclayshooter]

Bore 2, 1 3/4" (45mm) holes in the solid parts 12" (30cm) deep, insert one stick gelatin dynamite into each hole, connect the cap wires, pack openings with handful of mud, drop back couple hundred feet, and give a sharp twist on the Atlas. BLAMMO! Tree down.

Dont have any Gelly only Vit N160
I dont think it would take many .243 rounds to weaken it lol

 

[MtnHermit]

I kept reading the term barber chair and wondered what it was, that photo leaves no doubt.

Just that scotclayshooter's tree is likely to hinge twenty feet up and the slap from the moving part would launch whoever is in the way. That is one dangerous tree.

 

[PatrickIreland]

I'd do it the Irish way - employ a Polish guy with a cheap Chinese £70 saw and no Visa. Stand 150ft away. Use the brush pile burn to dispose of his remains.

 

[scotclayshooter]

It looks like that split is holding the whole thing up!
Theres some major compression on that wee bit of wood!

 

[PatrickIreland]

I have some old "decomissioned" stuff, sorta like clay, Semte... no, wait, you don't put things like that on message boards. Come to your senses, drunken Irish fool. :-D

Dont have any Gelly only Vit N160
I dont think it would take many .243 rounds to weaken it lol

 

[MtnHermit]

I'd do it the Irish way - employ a Polish guy with a cheap Chinese £70 saw and no Visa. Stand 150ft away. Use the brush pile burn to dispose of his remains.

LMAO :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[scotclayshooter]

I have some old "decomissioned" stuff, sorta like clay, Semte... no, wait, you don't put things like that on message boards. Come to your senses, drunken Irish fool. :-D

And i thought you would just run into it with a car to put it over lol

 

[PatrickIreland]

Pull line? we have a 5 tonne tractor and a wire rope

I'd be right on that with the tractor and rope - if you have 200ft of rope!
Thermite is good for this sorta thing - I've dropped a big elm I didn't feel comfortable near by packing the split with about a kilo of the stuff, using a comealong winch around a nearby tree to encourage it - tighten up the winch till you hear it creak a bit, light the thermite with magnesium ribbon, then run run run.
Luckily, I am not a professional, just an idiot who likes to see things fall down and start ferociously hot fires in dead trees.

 

[PatrickIreland]

And i thought you would just run into it with a car to put it over lol

Those Mk2 bumpers are £23 from GSF! - maybe if I used the Mk1 Caddy, it has a box section back bumper on it as the old one "fell off"...

 

[CentaurG2]

Thermite is good for this sorta thing.

Man… you bog Irish is crazier than $iht house rats! I have seen thermite welding done but even us dumb a$$ Yankees would never use it for tree work!

 

[PatrickIreland]

I use it for burning out stumps all the time - cheap as chips, legal everywhere. Use a magnesium ribbon tripled over and twisted as a fuse to make sure it lights first time, and light the ribbon up with a blowtorch. I fell trees around the island and when I wander round drunk late at night "exploring" with just a head torch, I don't want to be tripping over stumps.
I also use it to "pin-drill" cast iron water pipes if I'm not sure if they are pressurised or not - as soon as the thermite burns through the pipe, if the pipe is empty then it just drops in. If it's full and at a high pressure, as soon as it penetrates it'll blow the thermite all over the place in a spray, and you just get a hole about 2mm wide in the pipe which you can easily plug.
Last year one of our digger (backhoe in the US?)drivers put a pecker (used to crack concrete) through a pipe from a fire reservoir - a 200psi 9" cast iron pipe puts out a lot of water...

Man… you bog Irish is crazier than $iht house rats! I have seen thermite welding done but even us dumb a$$ Yankees would never use it for tree work!