A Stump To Ponder

[slowp]

As promised, here is a stump in the yard. The undercut goes right at the house, which is about 15 feet away. I'll bet they had lines up in the tree and hooked to a skidder but why have it aimed at the house? The house is older than the stump. The stump is about 2 ft. diameter. Go at it!opcorn:

 

[Industry]

Maybe they pieced it down to less than a 15' butt, then dropped it toward the house cause there was another obstruction on the back side.

 

[ASD]

Looks to me like the face was cut to spin the spare and drop it parallel to the house.

just my .02

 

[2dogs]

That is a "5 cut reverse Humboldt" with a twist. I use it commonly when falling trees uphill against the lean and into the wind. In the old days, pre-CB radios, scientists often used this stump to explain their global stump migration theory. Because this is the preferred technique in falling fairy rings (second growth redwood) with the sloping cut facing to the inside of the ring it sees quite a bit of use here in Santa Cruz. Yours is a small tree to use the 5CRH on. A 4' DBH stump with a small cross erected about 15' away is common with the 5CRH.

The twist part comes in by wrapping a rope several times around the trunk, then the hinge is cut through quickly and the rope pulled hard. The tree when it twists will be accelerated by the cornholiess force and will always spin clockwise and move backwards around the stump. It then will fall nice as pie away from the sloping cut. Simple eh?

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

They flopped it in another direction with a cut a little higher up, then recut the stump - trying to be funny and, um, stump those who are observant.

Oldest trick in the book.

.

 

[Gologit]

That is a "5 cut reverse Humboldt" with a twist. I use it commonly when falling trees uphill against the lean and into the wind. In the old days, pre-CB radios, scientists often used this stump to explain their global stump migration theory. Because this is the preferred technique in falling fairy rings (second growth redwood) with the sloping cut facing to the inside of the ring it sees quite a bit of use here in Santa Cruz. Yours is a small tree to use the 5CRH on. A 4' DBH stump with a small cross erected about 15' away is common with the 5CRH.

The twist part comes in by wrapping a rope several times around the trunk, then the hinge is cut through quickly and the rope pulled hard. The tree when it twists will be accelerated by the cornholiess force and will always spin clockwise and move backwards around the stump. It then will fall nice as pie away from the sloping cut. Simple eh?

Makes sense to me. The only other thing I'd add is using colored duct tape around the base to prevent reverse barber-chairing.

 

[slowp]

Whatever they did, the slope makes a good ramp for an old dog to climb up on. Then I used it as a dog grooming stump. It is also the fair weather boot greasing stump. I shall miss this stump when I move to the moneypit. ?????Idea: Now that I am a highly skilled excavator operator, I could rent a machine, dig out the stump, and take it with me. Then line the hole with concrete and make a "water feature" (mosquito breeding pond and dog cooler).

 

[tek9tim]

That's a good one. And yeah, the house predates the cutting of the tree, I remember when the tree was still there. Any leads on who dropped it?

 

[slowp]

Well, there's the "Oregon Logger" theory. An Oregon logger might have levitated the tree over and onto the truck.

 

[Clearwater]

That is just the way I would do it if I had to. No matter how much it leaned and how heavy it was towards the house.....Put in a big face cut and lots of wedges in the back cut.

If its like most of the trees I have cut.... Just aim it where you do not want it to go and it will go another direction. If your luck holds up like usual it will go over backwards.

The only thing that could possibly go wrong is having your truck parked behind it.