how to drop large sections of trunk ?

[inbilya]

I am removing a large Douglass Fir. its about 8ft away from the house. I have removed the branches and the top. I now have to deal with big wood. what is now left is a 40ft tall trunk 2 1/2ft diameter at the top, closer to 4ft at bottom. I used a DK slider to drop 16inch rounds into the landing zone. Then the last piece I dropped was about 6ft tall. I made all the right cuts as you would for felling a tree, then used a rope at the top to pull it and wedges as well. I noticed that bigger wood requires more energy. I really do not feel like dropping more 16inch rounds.
1) I want to drop taller pieces, because at this diameter they are heavy and hard to push even with the DK slider. then also I would much rather cut 10 ft sections into 16inch rounds on the ground. I would like to know if I can make a notch that is 80% of tree diameter and then just do a short back cut and not have to worry about roping or wedging? I would think that center of gravity would do it's part then. Let me know if this is safe and if you think it will work.

2) A while back I've seen large rounds about 5ft long with almost 45degree cuts. I imagine that was made to make it easier to drop them off the standing trunk. can anyone describe how this is done?

 

[jefflovstrom]

Come back with a couple of picture's.
Jeff

 

[BC WetCoast]

Reg Coates has a video on dropping larger pieces from a single stem removal. I think his notches were about 60%. If you are going to do this, I would suggest you put a rope around the top of the block and have someone pull it for you.

We'll also go a 32" block and push it off. Actually if you spin the block as you push, it goes off easier.

I don't know how much room you have, but do you have enough for a 20' piece then a 20' peg?

 

[JRoland]

With a tree that size I could see why you don't want to keep dropping 16" rounds.
A couple variables to look at here, like was said above, are
A. How much room do you have exactly?
B. Do you have someone to pull a rope to tip your pieces? Also do you have the saw to make all these cuts comfortably/ safely?
C. What are you going to do with the tree once it's down? If you make a 6' long cut with an angle on both ends that just plops down into your landing zone, then you have to come down and cut it up to move it before the next cut, that doesn't really save any time.

 

[I'llbearealclimberoneday]

An 80% face cut without a tag line sounds like a good way to chance a piece falling backwards.

I usually have a groundman throw me a rope for chunks bigger than I can easily push.

What part of Portland are young in?

 

[Skeans]

I am removing a large Douglass Fir. its about 8ft away from the house. I have removed the branches and the top. I now have to deal with big wood. what is now left is a 40ft tall trunk 2 1/2ft diameter at the top, closer to 4ft at bottom. I used a DK slider to drop 16inch rounds into the landing zone. Then the last piece I dropped was about 6ft tall. I made all the right cuts as you would for felling a tree, then used a rope at the top to pull it and wedges as well. I noticed that bigger wood requires more energy. I really do not feel like dropping more 16inch rounds.
1) I want to drop taller pieces, because at this diameter they are heavy and hard to push even with the DK slider. then also I would much rather cut 10 ft sections into 16inch rounds on the ground. I would like to know if I can make a notch that is 80% of tree diameter and then just do a short back cut and not have to worry about roping or wedging? I would think that center of gravity would do it's part then. Let me know if this is safe and if you think it will work.

2) A while back I've seen large rounds about 5ft long with almost 45degree cuts. I imagine that was made to make it easier to drop them off the standing trunk. can anyone describe how this is done?

Is there any lay for what's left? If so I'm just up in Rainier and could jack it if needed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[jefflovstrom]

Where did he go?,,,,
Jeff,,,,

 

[inbilya]

Come back with a couple of picture's.
Jeff

the picture doesn't say anything, I got it down another 10ft after it was taken

 

[inbilya]

Reg Coates has a video on dropping larger pieces from a single stem removal. I think his notches were about 60%. If you are going to do this, I would suggest you put a rope around the top of the block and have someone pull it for you.

We'll also go a 32" block and push it off. Actually if you spin the block as you push, it goes off easier.

I don't know how much room you have, but do you have enough for a 20' piece then a 20' peg?

How do I find that video? do you know what the name of it is? https://www.youtube.com/user/Recoates/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0 plenty to choose from. / do you mean 32inch high peices? if so what is the biggest diameter can be pushed that way? I have enough room to bring down a 15foot long section, but that is pushing it. so I don't want to go over 10ft.

 

[inbilya]

With a tree that size I could see why you don't want to keep dropping 16" rounds.
A couple variables to look at here, like was said above, are
A. How much room do you have exactly?
B. Do you have someone to pull a rope to tip your pieces? Also do you have the saw to make all these cuts comfortably/ safely?
C. What are you going to do with the tree once it's down? If you make a 6' long cut with an angle on both ends that just plops down into your landing zone, then you have to come down and cut it up to move it before the next cut, that doesn't really save any time.

A. I have room to bring down 10ft sections safely.
B. I have a helper and I have MS660 with 3ft bar
C. I was going to have him choke the log with rope, then wrap couple of times and use that to roll it with 2 ton winch, with help of peavey

 

[inbilya]

An 80% face cut without a tag line sounds like a good way to chance a piece falling backwards.

I usually have a groundman throw me a rope for chunks bigger than I can easily push.

What part of Portland are young in?

you would hope the center of gravity would work in my favor, but I guess there might be some other force working against that???
what size chunks is your groundsman helping you pull off?
I live in SE Portland, but this tree is at a friends place in Vancouver.
I have done 10ft sections in past, but not as big of a diameter. Just want to find the least tiresome way to do this without compromising on safety

 

[Skeans]

you would hope the center of gravity would work in my favor, but I guess there might be some other force working against that???
what size chunks is your groundsman helping you pull off?
I live in SE Portland, but this tree is at a friends place in Vancouver.
I have done 10ft sections in past, but not as big of a diameter. Just want to find the least tiresome way to do this without compromising on safety

Do you carry any wedges up in the tree with you?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[inbilya]

There is a slight possibility that my other friend will bring a crane , because he wants these large logs to make tabletops out of. I've never done anything with a crane, but I guess we can figure it out.

 

[inbilya]

Do you carry any wedges up in the tree with you?

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yes I drilled 2 of them and put a small rope through it that is tied to a DK slider, with plastic carabiner on other side to attach to the harness , so the wedges slide up and down that rope. I really like that setup. the rope has to be a bit longer than you would need for the slider

 

[Skeans]

yes I drilled 2 of them and put a small rope through it that is tied to a DK slider, with plastic carabiner on other side to attach to the harness , so the wedges slide up and down that rope. I really like that setup

Going to say if I have a back leaner well cutting timber I'll back cut and set a wedge first then cut the face out just like a jack.

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[BC WetCoast]

How do I find that video? do you know what the name of it is? https://www.youtube.com/user/Recoates/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0 plenty to choose from. / do you mean 32inch high peices? if so what is the biggest diameter can be pushed that way? I have enough room to bring down a 15foot long section, but that is pushing it. so I don't want to go over 10ft.

 

[inbilya]

thanks

 

[tidy]

theres also this one, its more instructional. Wouldn't believe there's some ********** in the youtube comments having a go at REG, WTF

 

[inbilya]

perfect. thanks

 

[CanopyGorilla]

In the time it takes to read through this whole thread and watch all the videos, you should have been able to block it down in 16" chunks.