Dalmatian90
Addicted to ArboristSite
In prep for the Frankensnowmaggedonnoreastero'cane...decided the last two trees that could do catastrophic damage to my house, it was time for them to come down. Anything else left might take off some siding or do some minor roof damage, but won't come slicing through!
One thing I'm working on this year is trying to get very accurate -- drop the trees exactly where I want them instead of just in a general direction I figure they won't get hung up on anything. Plus make technically very good notches and back cuts.
Both are on the northeast corner of the house:
First up is the tree on the right above.
Used the "stick method" to determine the height of the first tree -- I used a folding carpenter's ruler since it's easy to fit in my pocket. Held it straight up with the 32" mark at the top of my fist, which is about the distance between your hand and eye for most folks. Held my arm out straight and lined the top of my fist with where I would notch the tree, and figured out where the top of the ruler lined up with the top of the tree. Then since I'm 5' 10", I backed up 5' 6" but then did some wild ass guess work and moved in about 1-1/2' since the was slightly uphill.
That's where I put down a yellow rag as my target:
Hmmm...bulk landed a bit left of what I wanted:
But my height was spot on at least :
What I figured out is I used the sights on the saw to line up the trunk with the target. What I didn't adjust for is about 10' up the trunk started to lean, and the main lead leaned even more. (You can see that in the first pic)
And that's where the photos end since I had phone issues
The tree on the left I first wanted to drop in the same spot as above, but after spending 20 minutes walking around it, and realizing two things:
1) It leaned towards the house;
2) There was rot near the base and I'd have to cut at nipple-height to have good wood (sounded with the back of my ax). There was a wound about 1-1/2' off the ground with water puddled in it! It wasn't badly rotted, but it was definitely on the way out.
I decided I could do it, but it was at the very limits of what I was comfortable doing.
Rather then force it to fall 180º to the lean (with the risk if it went wrong it would cut through my kitchen), I dropped it 90º to the lean. Cut an open face, then I cut the back cut deep on the house side and set a short wedge, then finished off the back cut away from the house.
There was a minor amount of rot in the heart at the height I cut it, despite cutting as high as I possibly could on the trunk.
One thing I'm working on this year is trying to get very accurate -- drop the trees exactly where I want them instead of just in a general direction I figure they won't get hung up on anything. Plus make technically very good notches and back cuts.
Both are on the northeast corner of the house:
First up is the tree on the right above.
Used the "stick method" to determine the height of the first tree -- I used a folding carpenter's ruler since it's easy to fit in my pocket. Held it straight up with the 32" mark at the top of my fist, which is about the distance between your hand and eye for most folks. Held my arm out straight and lined the top of my fist with where I would notch the tree, and figured out where the top of the ruler lined up with the top of the tree. Then since I'm 5' 10", I backed up 5' 6" but then did some wild ass guess work and moved in about 1-1/2' since the was slightly uphill.
That's where I put down a yellow rag as my target:
Hmmm...bulk landed a bit left of what I wanted:
But my height was spot on at least :
What I figured out is I used the sights on the saw to line up the trunk with the target. What I didn't adjust for is about 10' up the trunk started to lean, and the main lead leaned even more. (You can see that in the first pic)
And that's where the photos end since I had phone issues
The tree on the left I first wanted to drop in the same spot as above, but after spending 20 minutes walking around it, and realizing two things:
1) It leaned towards the house;
2) There was rot near the base and I'd have to cut at nipple-height to have good wood (sounded with the back of my ax). There was a wound about 1-1/2' off the ground with water puddled in it! It wasn't badly rotted, but it was definitely on the way out.
I decided I could do it, but it was at the very limits of what I was comfortable doing.
Rather then force it to fall 180º to the lean (with the risk if it went wrong it would cut through my kitchen), I dropped it 90º to the lean. Cut an open face, then I cut the back cut deep on the house side and set a short wedge, then finished off the back cut away from the house.
There was a minor amount of rot in the heart at the height I cut it, despite cutting as high as I possibly could on the trunk.
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