Brush It Out or Just Fall It?

[YUKON 659]

I looked at a Black Walnut tree the other day that a homeowner wanted removed. It was about 60' tall, 24" dbh and it didn't have much of a crown. There was plenty of room to fall the tree and a large landing zone, but I have a question. Would it be easier/better/faster to remove the limbs and then just fall the stick or fall the whole tree? What do you base your decision on?

Thanks, Jeff

 

[matthias]

If you are not worried about damaging turf then fall the bugger whole. You may have to play "Sword in the Stone" and yank a few broken sticks out of the ground afterward but it is quicker. If making good time on the job is not an issue then you can skin it, clean the branches up and maybe a quick rake and then drop the trunk. Now all that is left is bucked rounds and sawdust.

I do not know the extent of your climbing abilities or if you have access to a bucket truck but I usually like to flop what trees that I can.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

If you have room, let the sucker fly. If its kinda tight, take the banches down as you go up. If your dealing with a balck walnut that big, I would personially try and try to save the logs in at least 18 ft pieces. Thats quality wood there. Black Walnut is the top of the line. If you have a pulp truck to skid out the logs and then sell the timber, you will probibly make more off the number than you did the removal.

Kenn:Monkey:

 

[glens]

I realize this is the <i>climbing</i> forum, but my opinion is that any time you can do the work keeping your feet on the ground it's a no-brainer.

Glen

 

[YUKON 659]

Thanks for the input. I think I was just looking for some reinforcement to what I thought was right. I wanted to do it right...wouldn't want to be refered to as a "hack"

Jeff

 

[treeman82]

If we are talking about a land clearing type job, I would rather just flop the whole thing. If we are talking about dropping the tree on a nice yard or parking lot, then I think I would rather at least cut off the major limbs before felling. Like that it will make for a bit less raking, and hopefully keep surface damage to a minimum.

 

[John Stewart]

Well if you got the all clear on the damage waiver why risk leaving the ground. If possible always stay on the ground, even if it is a no brainer climb things can happen!!!
Put a tag line in and let her rip
Take Care
John

 

[rumination]

Excuse me for hijacking this thread, but I have a question. I noticed that Rocky endorsed limbing a felled tree from the base to the tips. I was taught that the best way is to start at the tips and work your way towards the stump. I never really gave it much thought and it became a habit, but now I'm curious.

Which way do you limb a felled tree? From the tips to the stump, or from the stump to the tips? Any particular reasons why?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Start at the base, and work your way to to tip.

I do believe any way else is incorrect.

 

[rumination]

Well...ummm...I think you guys are right! This could be a revelation for me! And to think I was doing it the hard way all these years. Just goes to show what bad habits poor training can give you.

 

[glens]

Not that anybody should read this and think it's a good idea, but working the stem with it to your right (in either direction) and using a "one-handed" saw it's quite effective to grab the limb with the left hand and flip it out of the way as you go.&nbsp; That way they all end up butts out at the perimeter and you don't bury the lower limbs on yourself, making their removal much easier (and safer, in a certain respect) in one pass.&nbsp; Especially when firewooding, where flush cuts are the preferred method (don't want no stinking branch collar causing grief).

Tell OSHA I said "Hi!".

Signed,
Mike Mass

 

[murphy4trees]

I knocked the lower branches off one side of a drt Scotch Pine today to make for easier clean up... quick up and down and much easier on the lawn... not a big tree... no spread... Walnut would be a different story.

 

[wiley_p]

I pulled up on a job in Wilsonville, OR one winter day, at 1530 on its way to being a nite gig, the salesman told me there was a "easy Black Walnut to rig out between 2 houses. Now me and this guy had already had some difficulties so I asked him if I could get it down to a spar in couple of hours he said no problem. I could'nt see the tree right away cause there was a self loader in the road, I stop and talk to Jim Yoder ask him where the tree is he points at this largge dark mass, about 45" DBH I look at the huge limbs to rig out and say "this will take me at least 6 hrs to rig out" He laughs and says more like 10. So i ask him to pull out the mailboxes with his grapple measure the distance from the stump to the Primary lines across the street, figure that even if the tree drifts left 5 degrees I'll still be cool. Dog in the 088 faced it up and let her go, tookj out the neighbors Pine next door, But orders from the office were not to f*%# the salesmen any more. Jim got 3700 bf from that pig. So I say dump it they got nice wood. Jim gave me several jobs after that, It was a tight lead but totally doable.

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by OutOnaLimb
If you have room, let the sucker fly. If its kinda tight, take the banches down as you go up. If your dealing with a balck walnut that big, I would personially try and try to save the logs in at least 18 ft pieces. Thats quality wood there. Black Walnut is the top of the line. If you have a pulp truck to skid out the logs and then sell the timber, you will probibly make more off the number than you did the removal.

Kenn:Monkey:

Ditto!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Originally posted by glens
Not that anybody should read this and think it's a good idea, but working the stem with it to your right (in either direction) and using a "one-handed" saw it's quite effective to grab the limb with the left hand and flip it out of the way as you go.

Mike Mass

Uhh... you forget, I don't run no girlie, sissy saw on the ground. Why would I choose a saw that can only handle half the job, then stop working leaving the crew with nothing to do, while I go get another saw that can handle the rest.
I would grab whatever saw could get the job done, and get the job done.
Don't get me wrong, 3 cube saws are great, if you're a woman, a landscaper, a homeowner, a carpenter, a wood craver, or something like that.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

If i can use the branches to buffer fall (even undercutting slightly to flex), and keeping spar out of dirt, i drop it.

As far as cutting the downed giant; i watch for power rolls and springs of stored energy. i tick off branch weight, not legs (watching for balance upset), then approach thje spar. i try to seesaw the weght on the leg pivots against each other, taking wieght from the heavier side, then as the other side gets heavy, take weight off of it. In this way the ballast of weight across the pivot/balance/seesaw of support leg takes weight off of the heavy end, for less massive pressure in cuts. The support legs keep saw out of dirt.

i look for the pivots to help me use the weight of the tree against itself to make cuttining easier. Sometimes i start on the stump end and not ticking weight off the green end too, but only when i can use the green end to pivot balance the stump end. More likely i will have logs down perpendicualr to fall, to do the balancing act/game with bucking the spar sections with less force and dirt.

Or something like that
:alien:

 

[geofore]

flop it

If you have room and the the lawn is not an issue, drop it. Use a throwball to set a line and you don't need to climb. I disagree with Mike Maas on the use one saw to do it all. I usually fuel up two or three, small saw to do the limbs and run it till it's out of gas or the wood is too big for the saw. Pick up the next size saw and run it till it's out of gas or the wood is too big then go for the big saw to finish. That way you're not trying to refuel a hot saw and you don't have to stop to refuel. The saw you just set down is empty and can cool off to be put back on the truck. Cut the limbs small enough to make them easy for one man to handle. Concentrate on cutting and the groundmen can drag the limbs out of your way. One saw to do it all means you're carrying a lot of extra weight around (the big saw) and you have to stop to refuel a hot saw. If you're going to send the log to the sawmill paint the ends to keep the ends from checking. If you have a chipper on the job cut some push sticks for the crew to use or they'll be tempted to use their hands and feet or your new shovel or rake.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

How dull is your saw or how big is the tree that you use more than a tank of gas limbing and cutting out the saw logs????

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Originally posted by murphy4trees
I knocked the lower branches off one side of a drt Scotch Pine today to make for easier clean up... quick up and down and much easier on the lawn... not a big tree... no spread... Walnut would be a different story.

not trying to pic hairs but i'm certain it's a 'SCOTS PINE ' not a scotch pine the people from scotland are called SCOTS not scotch which is a drink..feel free to pull me up anytime

 

[glens]

<a href="http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=*&Query=Scotch+pine">"Scotch pine" and "Scotch"</a> according to Webster and friend.

Learn to speak <i>proper</i> English!&nbsp; LOL