Thanks David for your comments. I do not really think your method is so wrong but I also think you should consider ours. The rope set in the tree high enough to gain some fulcrum and then a good face cut apply some pressure(does not take much ) then do your back cut and the tree is down and you maintained complete control. I don't so much get bothered by guys taking my work as i do the bad name some of these guys give to the industry, I have heard so many times a homeowner tell me how he saw so and so do it , you know the guy that drives up and fells the 30 inch pine next to the house and 5 ft from the pool he didn't use a rope or hit a thing that guy was good, maybe so but it still leaves to much to chance. If you ever have a mechanical failure at a critical moment in your pull who knows what could happen, all I was saying really is a job with a 99 percent success rate is not acceptable it has to be 100percent zero incident all the time and I have to do everything I can to ensure that happens.
Big trees get done as you said. I'm not a "pro", and these aren't nice straight, even, balanced pines. They're funky, unbalanced junk. I wedge cut them and back cut a little at a time til the truck can pull them down. I've seen funky trees twist, spin, break off uneven at the bottom, I prefer to be at the other end of 150' of cable when she's goin' down.
http://s639.photobucket.com/albums/...m Pix/Trees/?action=view¤t=MVI_3526.flv
Just little ones and limbs off trees that are being removed anyway get yanked/ripped out by the roots.
Your below comment highlighted in red was the statement I was talking about. You went back and deleted it so it looks like you've changed your mind about making it. Good idea! A lot of us are arborist and hopefully you understand why such a statement would rub some of us the wrong way.
I don't think any of us have a problem with using cables and winches to pull trees over. I use ropes but if I had the winches and wire rope I'd find uses for it.
I didn't delete anything, it's still there. I see your POV, but they're coming down anyway. I yank branches off to unbalance the tree and prune it down to make it easier to take down. This is a house in the coutry with Salt Cedars, not some nice pines or eucs in someone's front yard in town. I did my neighbors eucs in town but I used a lift and a saw for trimming.
I'll get more pics this wekeend, but for now, try this link.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
go to get directions and punch in
dogwood and harris, imperial, ca
and zoom all the way in the "Street View" and you'll see the big picture.
Also, if you read up on Salt Cedars, (I have a thread or two around somewhere) you'll find they're a tough, troublesome, invasive species which is why no one cares about "hurting" them.
I should probably be posting on a logging forum or something....