got to jack a tree!

[frashdog]

We got to litteraly jack a tree over the otherday. 85ft white pine w/twin spars starting 8' out of a 4.5'dbh mass of wood. We got down to 10 feet on one spar 20 on the side we wanted it to go. Each spar ended with a diameter of around 24". Nothing to anchor a bull line too and due to the back lean down into a ravine we opted to cut a box out from the back of the tree and install 3 bottle jacks. A trick the logger on my property told me about. Worked awsome. We kept cutting big notches out, got a nice felling notch and some good holding wood slowly raised the jacks and watched the tree tip over to the point a one handed pull on the bull line's all it took. Slick. Very impressed customers.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Glad the job went well. I have done a few jack jobs and learned a couple of things.

1) Have a really grunty jack which is in good condition, Saw stuck and wind picking up is a bad time to find your jack is desperate for oil and loosing support like the bush administration.

2) Most bottle jacks have a pretty small head and the head instead of pushing the tree, can just push itself into the tree. I use an old axe head as a "foot" to stop this from happening.

3) I probably dont know enough about jack.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

2) Most bottle jacks have a pretty small head and the head instead of pushing the tree, can just push itself into the tree. I use an old axe head as a "foot" to stop this from happening.

I've heard the recommendation to use a steel plate over the pad to spread the load, you gnurl the surface to keep it from slipping.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

I need to get myself a couple of bottle jacks, what size/tonnage did you use?

 

[frashdog]

We used a 5-ton bottle jack (with a plate on top) and two truck bottle jacks used 3 jacks just to even the load out across the 4' notch we cut out.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I need to get myself a couple of bottle jacks, what size/tonnage did you use?

Depends on the size of tree. Work out the weight of the tree and get a jack strong enought to lift it and then some. (heck double the power would be a good margin I would think.) But again, im no expert! Use wedges as well as the lift progresses. Be careful to jack evenly if using 2 or more, they have alot of power and could tear the hinge out.

 

[ASD]

we use a 40 ton and have made a plate for the top that sits on a trailer ball that is welded to the jack and a plate for the jack to sit on both top and bottom plates have teeth on them so they won't slip i will try to get some pic's and post them asap

 

[9th year rookie]

jacking

cool stuff frashdog.
Great to see pics.
There is some interesting reading on jacking in a book I read, Fundamentals of General Tree Work, by Beranek. It has tips and different jacks etc. Best part is the pics on the monster trees.

 

[Ax-man]

we use a 40 ton and have made a plate for the top that sits on a trailer ball that is welded to the jack and a plate for the jack to sit on both top and bottom plates have teeth on them so they won't slip i will try to get some pic's and post them asap

I would like to see your homemade tree jack. I recently got some of Gerald Beranek's vids that show using a regular tree jack with the compressor attachment cutting down some very big trees.

A tree jack would be a handy tool to have around, the ones in vid would be way toooo much money for the use they woud get in my area, but a homemade one would be nice to have.

Larry

 

[Mitchell]

wedges

Worth mentioning that using wedges in conjunction with jacking is a good practice to ease the strain on the hydraulics. I do not know how jacks are made... but I'll bet the cheaper ones and most likely the good ones as well could fail catastrophically.
I should revisit owning a good jack myself. I have yet to come up against a situation where an anchor point cant be found... As such I have gotten away from jacks [ I do not own a good one] and instead use more mechanical advantage with blocks on my bull when needed. I have been able to get away with 3 or more guys roping over back leaning 20' 4' diam at top cut leaning Douglas fir. the trick for me has been to cut the pie past the center of gravity.
I also rigged up a ATV winch and battery on a small sheet of 1" ply for portable winching but generally it does not come out of the truck as guys just slap a prussic and pully on for a quick 2 to 1.

 

[John Ellison]

Also worth mentioning that real tree jacks(Silvey) have pressure guages with a redline so you know when to stop. As Mitchell and T. McPherson said wedges kept up tight are part of the process even with a good jack.

 

[joesawer]

On a short spar like the one described, automotive type jacks are probably OK. But on tall trees with a canopy still in them the pressure fluctuates a lot as the tree sways, as it tends to do as it is being jacked over. Without a pressure gauge there is no way to moniter the pressure spikes. The jack is liable to suddenly fail. Using multiple jacks with isolated hydraulics is liable to fail also.
A small tall tree can put a lot of pressure on a jack, becouse of the leverage of being close to the hinge. And a small tree is more likely to jack the hinge out. Most arbor types leave a really big hinge so this may not be an issue.
I saw a low profile Chinese 50 ton jack the other day, I momentarily thought it might make a substitute tree jack. But the **** thing weighs 80 pounds. There is no way I am going to pack that thing around.

 

[joesawer]

On a short spar like the one described, automotive type jacks are probably OK. But on tall trees with a canopy still in them the pressure fluctuates a lot as the tree sways, as it tends to do as it is being jacked over. Without a pressure gauge there is no way to monitor the pressure spikes. The jack is liable to suddenly fail. Using multiple jacks with isolated hydraulics is liable to fail also.
A small tall tree can put a lot of pressure on a jack, because of the leverage of being close to the hinge. And a small tree is more likely to jack the hinge out. Most arbor types leave a really big hinge so this may not be an issue.
I saw a low profile Chinese 50 ton jack the other day, I momentarily thought it might make a substitute tree jack. But the **** thing weighs 80 pounds. There is no way I am going to pack that thing around.