Rope for guiding trees

How well do you think a 5/8 boat rope will work for felling trees? May have access to 1000ft of the stuff, for $100.

You got any specs on that rope ie. manufacture, WLL, MBS, construction and such?

No haven't seen it. All the info the guy can give is 5/8 boat rope, in new condition. If its boat rope, should be heavy nylon with no stretch. he is located right on the water. I cant imagine that 5/8 shouldn't be strong enough. But I know nothing about ropes.

Well for starters nylon rope will stretch the most and depending on construction more than others. If it is a quality rope from a reputable manufacture you should be ok but don't push it without some experience behind you or call a tree guy if you have any doubt.

As a human powered bull rope you'll be fine with it. Just don't get the idea that you can tie it to the tree and a truck and have at it. Nylon rope can get really stretchy, especially if it has a low strand count. I definitely would not go using it as a lowering rope either.

It would be pulled with a truck. I actually like the stretch, it will give a longer pulling distance. Stretch the rope, park the truck, cut the tree. Should have at least 10 ft of pull. At least thats what I tell myself. I am not sure if the rope would stretch, if it really is a boat rope. can't have the boats bouncing around.

stihly dan said:

It would be pulled with a truck. I actually like the stretch, it will give a longer pulling distance. Stretch the rope, park the truck, cut the tree. Should have at least 10 ft of pull. At least thats what I tell myself. I am not sure if the rope would stretch, if it really is a boat rope. can't have the boats bouncing around.

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I would think just the opposite... wouldnt you want give in the rope that you tie off with so as the boat moves it stretches then gently pulls the boat back to the dock?

Ya, I could see that. So I guess I have no idea What a boat rope would be. I still think as long as it doesn't break easy it should be ok. To be honest I am not sure. That is why I called upon you all for your thoughts. Last thing I want is something bad to happen because of stupidity. Its easy enough as it is.

Either way that is a dang good price for the rope. If you can whip and seal the ends, you might could sell 100 foot lengths like on CL, make some scratch, and buy stronger line.

I can't beleive I didn't think of that. Keep 150 ft, sell the rest. Buy a proper pulling rope from a dealer, out come 2 free ropes. Wife must of put something in my coffee, I have been a bit of an ass lately.

We use a 3/4 in nylon rope from a boat store to guide a wayward tree into a favorable falling position.

Using a ladder the rope is secured 20' or so above the ground...more difficult trees are tied off higher for improved mechanical advantage.

A few round turns around the tree and about 4 half hitches separated about 8" or so. something like that unfastens real easy and wont wont tighten up on you.

Then it pretty much the way stihly dan does it. I may go back to the tree 3, 4 times to improve the notch cut and look for movement and hike the tractor forward.

A critical observation to make ...when you have followed the steps above correctly the tree should immediately move in the direction you want it when you start the felling cut. Cause it's under tension. If the tree doesn't move toward the drop zone then you have to take up some more slack, improve the notch cut or both.

...as an aside the rope I use does stretch but in my way of thinking that works out for me.

If you try and pull the tree down you'll just break the rope.

Also get the rope up high in the tree for the best possible leverage above 1/2 the tree height.

Just a note.......keep an eye on the tree when walking from tree to truck to tighten the rope.

Walking with your back to the tree you might not hear it start to come down.

If you believe the strength of the rope may be borderline you could always double it up.

So your not talking about ski rope. I couldn't see that stuff working. :msp_wink:

I bought some 5/8 nylon braided rope off ebay, could be very similar to what the OP is describing. Have used the same 150' section to guide 50 or so trees. Pulled many back against the lean to get them to drop where i wanted. Now that said I would not trust it if property or people would be put in harms way. Also these trees are 18" diameter or less, sometimes just man powered but most of the time it was tied to my 1/2 ton 4x4.

Good rope dropping takes 2 good guys (or gals) to do it right. Obviously, the saw guy needs to know what he's doing, but having the truck/tractor/whatever manned is just as important. If something starts to go wrong, a good seat guy will catch it and almost always be able to pull out of it. If there's no one there but the parking brake, bad things can happen.

Del's got a lot of good rope advice there.

Most of savage's stuff is good also, but you won't immediately see movement when starting the back cut on bigger trees.'

If you go the sell some and buy better, what is the cat's meow for me is 3/8" Amsteel Blue. Tough, stronger than 7/8" 3 strand rope, light (and expensive). It doesn't stretch a whole lot though. I have 150' with eyes spliced on both ends. I use big screw shackles to attach it to the tree and the tractor. Having a stout line is no good if you hook it on with cheap hardware. I've got a stout CMI pulley block for redirects as mentioned too. It makes life a whole order of magnitude easier when you can't get in for a straight pull.

Wes Spur has a pretty decent price on it, didn't check other sponsors, shop around: Samson Amsteel Blue: Super High Strength Rope

IF, it's the real mccoy, and 5/8's is common and popular for yachts to 40', you won't experience much stretch at all, you don't want stretch when securing, that's what a spring-line is for when tying to anything stationary. Tidal skippers require different techniques than inland skippers.

That price is off the truck cheap, keep half, sell the rest at 80% market value and you'll be in beer for the year. Never thought my charter experience would come in handy in this neighborhood. The lines I kept from my last rig get used for this type of thing and they are meant for tough duty, think about the environments they have to stand up to.

I know a lot of guys use rope, but don’t anymore; I’ve had too many of them break unexpectedly… ropes that appeared to be A-OK. I use nothing but galvanized steel cable, either aircraft grade or the cables used for guying radio towers (pretty much the same thing). By-the-way, “boat rope” or marine grade rope ain’t all that strong (it needs to “give-way” before parts of the boat or dock do); it is designed to be abrasion resistant when wet, rot resistant, remains flexible after repeated wetting and drying, and is usually low stretch (ever try and raise an anchor with a rope that stretches?)… Standard work/utility rope of the same diameter will normally be stronger. If you want the ultimate strong rope go with what mountaineers, rock climbers and arborists bet their lives on.

Not all steel cable (or wire rope) is made the same; take 3/16 diameter for example, most of the stuff you’ll find in the hardware stores and such will be 7x7-3/16 (7 strands of 7 wires each) which is stiff and hard to work with, but aircraft grade is 7x19-3/16 (7 strands of 19 wires each) and much more flexible… characteristics closer to rope. The aircraft grade is rated for higher working loads, higher shock loads, higher ultimate breaking strength, and flows through pulleys much better. Steel cable (or wire rope) will hold moisture inside so ya’ gotta’ use galvanized or it will rust internally where ya’ can’t see it and break unexpectedly just like internally rotted rope.

7x19-3/16 galvanized steel cable is amazingly tough stuff… I’ve stalled my winch and also brought my pickup to violent stops many times using it, but never broke the cable. I keep three coils of it, 25 ft, 50 ft and 100 ft with “quick-switchable” grab hooks on the ends. I also keep a 75 ft coil of 1/4 inch aircraft grade cable for really heavy situations where I want to be more than damn sure it ain’t gonna’ fail (like around power lines)… 1/4 inch is a bit harder to work with, but piece of mind ya’ know?

Purchased the rope today. $40 it was only 1/2 in and had alot of stretch. I cut about 50 ft for me. Brought the rest to my work and sold it to them for 30 cents a ft. $230 up, to buy a real rope. Not bad for an hours time.