Barber chair waiting to happen, how to play it safe

[cookies]

make a nice face cut then 10lbs of tannerite to fell it from a "safe" distance

 

[Ol' Brian]

Jeez, the memories come flooding in.

I had a rent house once and I was removing a tree in the yard. (We owned this place just briefly.) The renter was an old codger who was sitting on the porch watching me work. Then we visited when I took a break.

He said he once had to remove a large, heavy limb from a tree. He had a ladder up against the limb and was cutting beyond where his ladder rested so he thought he was good. When the cut end of his limb dropped, the inner limb rose up (freed of all that weight), and sent him and his ladder earthward. "Doctors said I was lucky to be alive and I'd never walk again. But here I am."

F-ing ladders.

Yikes. I was just up on a ladder earlier today... I don't like them either. Especially in the last 4-5 years... I guess I'm starting to realize my own mortality.

 

[Ol' Brian]

That is what a wedge is for. With a plunge cut, it is set before the tree has the opportunity to go the wrong way. It is cheapest insurance we can buy.

The way he cut that tree though to make it go away from the natural lean, there was no room for any wedging.

 

[ATH]

The way he cut that tree though to make it go away from the natural lean, there was no room for any wedging.

I agree. I'm saying he cut it wrong. Maybe not "wrong" so much as "not best"...but do it that way enough times and it will be "wrong".

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

Guess I'll take a closer look at it now that all the snow is gone and see just how solid the tree looks. The issue here isn't the fall direction, it's got like a 20deg lean in a good direction, it's the rot and my lack of desire to take a trunk to the head

 

[Dave1960_Gorge]

Guess I'll take a closer look at it now that all the snow is gone and see just how solid the tree looks. The issue here isn't the fall direction, it's got like a 20deg lean in a good direction, it's the rot and my lack of desire to take a trunk to the head

I agree with the others, stay off the ladder. An experienced climber might prep the tree for felling from the ground by climbing either the tree or an adjacent tree, after checking for stability. The point is to be above heavy moving things when a situation that may be hard to read gets lively.

Alternatively, given it is in the woods, you could fell it knowing it will hang up and then pull on the butt with a winch to put it on the ground.
Of course, as you hang the tree up, it might “explode”. Hard to say without personally looking at it.

Gotta make sure you have your escape root planned, and run when the tree is starting to fall. In such situations, I also finish the back cut on the far side first so I can be looking up the tree to look for movement as I finish the near side.

Also practice that plunge cut that cuts up to the hinge leaving the strap for last on a normal tree first; you don’t want to try a “fancy” technique for the first time on a nasty tree.

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

Well, the rot is a lot worse than I remember, there's barely any tree left. Gonna get a price from a pro since she is clearly at the edge of my comfort level. If it wasn't already leaning in a safe direction, I'd have to call a pro, but it's going a good way so I'd still like to try. You don't get better without practice.

What the fear with ladders? I know there's a million ways to do it wrong on a ladder, but if the ladder is anchored to the tree and behind the work, plus I have a line and descender on, what am I missing? I'm not trying to be stubborn (although I know I am!) I just want to understand why it's a bad plan. It's not the best, but it feels like the consensus is "never" not "carefully if you must"

 

[jetsam]

Well, the rot is a lot worse than I remember, there's barely any tree left. Gonna get a price from a pro since she is clearly at the edge of my comfort level. If it wasn't already leaning in a safe direction, I'd have to call a pro, but it's going a good way so I'd still like to try. You don't get better without practice.

What the fear with ladders? I know there's a million ways to do it wrong on a ladder, but if the ladder is anchored to the tree and behind the work, plus I have a line and descender on, what am I missing? I'm not trying to be stubborn (although I know I am!) I just want to understand why it's a bad plan. It's not the best, but it feels like the consensus is "never" not "carefully if you must"

If there's barely any tree left, throw a long rope over it and see if it wants to pull over.

And the guy with the 85% face cut is nuts. Even if he's done it a million times before and thinks he has skills, he doesn't know if there's ants in that little sliver of wood holding 3 tons of trees over his head. Or if the wind is about to shift.

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

Yeah I'm no pro but that face cut make no sense. Only a wedge or gravity can make your intentions known to the tree. And with that little left, if the wind sent it over backwards... Well I just hope the house is further away than it is tall.

Probably right about pulling it down, it looks that bad to my untrained eye. If I manage to leave work before dark this week I'll take some measurements. But eyeballing it today, that hang up is higher than my ladder is tall so unless climbing with spikes is not too bad for the tree, this job is probably getting handed off to a pro

 

[gggGary]

And??????

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

Welp I ended out learning how to climb (previous non-tree experienced helped a lot) and anchored myself to an adjacent tree and took it down in chunks. Left the last 30 ft because it's short enough it can't hit anything I care about anymore.

And??????

 

[Oldtoolsnewproblems]

I really thought it would straighten up a little more with the weight off, but not really. It's leaning more than it looks in the photo because it's a hill so the horizon actually rises to the left, the camera is tilted

 

[Wow]

I watched that video, and couldn't believe it... that tree with that HUGE face cut is a bomb waiting to go off, and they were both just walking around it like "derp deee derp deee derp"... But then again, Buckin' is about a half bubble off I think, LOL.

 

[Wow]

There's no way I'd have taken all that much wood out of the face cut. Bull rope or some other way and wedges BUT I'm a coward. My luck the tree would have gone back, snapped off danced around on the stump, fell, hanged up and made a worse mess. Ha. Ha