Best selection of cuts to save out 60" dbh Cedar advice

[slabMan]

I have a 162' Western Red Cedar tree that is 79" at the stump and 60" dbh. The only place I can fall the tree is into a 8' tall berm made of fill dirt. I want to drop her as softly as possible to prevent damage to the tree. I have her chained/strapped together just above where I will make my backcut to hopefully prevent any fracturing on impact. What is the preferred undercut, hinge, and backcut to set her down as softly as possible? The tree has a natural lean in the berm direction, so perhaps a shallow face with a fat hinge or some cuts to allow her to hang on as long as possible? What say the experts?

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

In for interest.

 

[Sidecarflip]

So am I..... I would soften the landing with loose straw or hay however, especially of you plan on using the wood for something.

 

[slabMan]

Unfortunately, the berm is rounded and 8' tall and for a large 2nd growth that is above avg in height, straw won't do it justice. I was going to pull the tree down with my 980 wheel loader, but those roots are really in the ground and I am afraid I would snap the tree at the 50' anchor point in a "triple line pull with offset anchor and 3:1 ma". Cutting the tree will give me more control anyway. I thought of a "gapped" [aka orig. Humboldt] with a chunk of the undercut used as a fulcrum [snipe?] to get the tree to roll about 1/2 way into its fall and onto the limb heavy side of the tree as a cushion. That is probably what I will do if the big brain AS experts don't have a better suggestion. I might try and post a vid or pics if need be.

 

[woodfarmer]

Wth, move the berm!

 

[slabMan]

Lol! It is not my property or I would.

 

[Ah D]

Any picture? I’m along for the ride trying to learn as much as possible.

 

[slabMan]

I will take some tomorrow and post a few---

 

[slabMan]

Here's a better idea and image of what I have going on.

 

[pdqdl]

How far away is the berm, and at what angle to the tree will it be hit? I think distance to the berm might be very important.

I'd speculate that putting a humboldt cut on it and getting the butt to the ground well before the top hit the berm would be most important, but I don't do lumber harvesting. I've never tried the snipe/rolling humboldt trick, so I cannot advise you on that, especially on such a huge tree. I suspect that would be a bigger gamble than it was worth.

A great way to save out the tree and create a giant, dangerous mess on the ground might be to drop (or haul) several other trees into the drop-zone, creating a big pillow for it to fall on. Good luck cleaning up that mess, though.

My area of expertise is to save everything in the area but the tree.

 

[slabMan]

I added a vid to give you a look. I appreciate your tips. The berm is only 15 feet away from the stump and with no limbs on the face side it would be similar to busting a piece of kindling over your knee for the rest of the stem. I think if I utilize the limb heavy side of the tree by doing a 'walking Dutchman' or bumping the closing face with a chunk of undercut, it will ease some of the force to hit the ground and also utilize the branches as cushions. Like I say in the video, "It will either be kindling or useful building materials that I can mill up...". Be safe!

 

[capetrees]

Do anything you can to cushion the fall. As you mentioned, try to slow it down by sliding on other trees in the way. If you raise the cut up from the ground, how much base would you lose if your cut was inline with the berm and the general area where the top would hit? At least if you cut it up a bit higher, the berm wouldn't act as a breaking point, it would just absorb as much of the pressure as where the top would hit.

 

[slabMan]

It is already leaning left and forward, so I will have to 'undercompensate' for all of that right hand limb weight and the left lean. It is a big guess to figure out which force has the most pull on the tree, so that makes it much harder to pinpoint where you drop it, especially when you add rolling into the equation. I suppose the rolling Dutchman cut [theory] is similar to why they tell people to "roll" when they jump out of a moving vehicle etc. The more lateral I can get the mass of that stick rolling the less vertical impact. Some bigger brained person could chime in on this, if I am way off on my thoughts/plans. I will have to get the whole thing on video for all to have a good laugh! lol "Idiots with chainsaws next to busy highways"!![trying to make 20 Ton trees dance! what could possibly go wrong there? LMAO

 

[pdqdl]

Why don't you just drop it into the flat area behind the tree, as shown in the video? Is the tree taller than the flat area behind?

BTW, I really can't hear you on most of the video. I've played it 3 times, and I don't know what you are saying.

 

[cookies]

build a pile of tops/branches taller than the berm at a point that if the trunk snaps you are ok with, preferably where it has branches to cushion the fall and slow the base before it hits the berm. I tend to like a open face with the lower portion of the notch smaller, leave a thick hinge to slow it down. At least it looks somewhat wet there, cedar gets brittle when its been dry. I run when cedars fall when its been dry weather because they throw branch daggers 20+ feet when they hit the ground

 

[slabMan]

For the record, I was only kidding about the "idots with chainsaws" joke. I wouldn't want any AS members to get riled up as me being reckless. I ABSOLUTELY put the safety of others my number one priority when falling trees, the safety of me comes in just behind that. I am confident in my abilities to make challenging tasks happen without any issues or problems and dropping this stick won't be a problem. I cannot vouch for the end result to save out this tree however, but the tree needs to come out [sadly] so the builder can have his room to build. That tree is anchored into the ground more than any I have pulled down! Usually, pulling trees down with some rigging sets them down like a feather due to the counterweight of the root mass and the remaining lateral roots hanging on--but won't be the case here!

 

[slabMan]

Why don't you just drop it into the flat area behind the tree, as shown in the video? Is the tree taller than the flat area behind?

BTW, I really can't hear you on most of the video. I've played it 3 times, and I don't know what you are saying.

The tree will fit in the entire field/lawn and fall just short of the 980 [if I just dropped it straight over the berm], but there are no limbs on the front side. The mass of limbs are about in the 2 o'clock position [hence the roll idea] and also the small spruce and other trees on the berm are a few feet or so to the right along the berm. Sorry about the audio.

 

[slabMan]

I have always had good control with the orig. humboldt cut. And in this case I will use a flat rock or something solid for the left side of my face and a snipe for the right side of the face to get the tree to roll just a bit to fall onto the limb heavy part of the stem. I also like to make my backcut a bit higher than my gunning cut, in these situations, so that it will allow more long fiber of the hinge to "hang on" to the tree as long as it can before it hits that berm. I will also use the small spruce tree on the berm for cushioning [since that tree was coming out anyway]. I will see about making some video [with clear audio] when I do this---just in case any of you who chimed in were curious. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

 

[capetrees]

I have always had good control with the orig. humboldt cut. And in this case I will use a flat rock or something solid for the left side of my face and a snipe for the right side of the face to get the tree to roll just a bit to fall onto the limb heavy part of the stem. I also like to make my backcut a bit higher than my gunning cut, in these situations, so that it will allow more long fiber of the hinge to "hang on" to the tree as long as it can before it hits that berm. I will also use the small spruce tree on the berm for cushioning [since that tree was coming out anyway]. I will see about making some video [with clear audio] when I do this---just in case any of you who chimed in were curious. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

We absolutley want to see the entire drop and the results!

At least I do.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Every thing you said in the video I think is good except you might want it to come off the stump so it doesn't seesaw on the berm if it does crash through the cushion trees.
Humboldt is what I'd do ,and maybe a modified gap in the face for the roll? Like a narrow snipe on one side and gapped on the holding side? That way it'll let go and if it pitches over the berm and the stem just shoots up in the air.
It's a tough fall not to break , good luck.