New trick

[murphy4trees]

Well not new for many here, I'd guess...
And I just used this the other day...Dropping a 40-50' red oak spar, maybe 18-20"DBH... bowed at about 20' into a backlean....

Plenty of room between the new landscaping and the mailbox to drop it... However that backlean had a bit of sidelean as well and I was almost sure it would take a bounce into the mailbox... (m I asked if it could be moved on my way down)

So I decided to get the thing to break rather than bouce, by backcutting the spar at the bend, about 50-60% way through. Trick was to cut enough to get it to break when it hit, and not so much as to casue it to fail when pulled.

I wish I had that drop on video... It hit hard and began to jump and roll towards the mailbox, but then the whole log began to oscillate (for lack of a better word) wildly, until it split (about 1/3 of the trunk) and dropped in its tracks harmlessly on the ground... It was cool to watch.

 

[reachtreeservi]

That would have made for an interesting vid, Murphy.

 

[Dadatwins]

On a trunk log that I am afraid of a roll/bounce I will take a piece of old bull rope and tie it off onto the stump. Sort of a ground level butt-tie. Cheap insurance in my opinion.

 

[teamtree]

I butt tie the spar to the stump quite often....especially on slopes....it works too!!!

 

[Adkpk]

cool murph

I have a 30-40' red oak 18-20" dbh spar with a bow in it to drop too. It's 20-30' from the house. I would like to bring back opposite from the lean which is the same direction as the house but the nearest tree to dead man from is over 100' away. I may have to climb it and bomb out the top and drop it in the stream it's over. But if I get the rigging so I can bring it back into the woods I would be all set to slab it without skidding it out of the stream. And also think the risk of something rotten in the stem that could make it go astray would be messy or catastrophic. Or if it slipped off the hinge and dropped 3' into the stream.

I will try to get some picks Monday and start my own thread on the subject. So don't reply to my post fella's.

Glad to here your fell worked out. I will use Dada's advise about roping off the trunk.

The red oak is the one with the bow. The house is to the left.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Sort of a ground level butt-tie. Cheap insurance in my opinion.

Same here, mark over and under the felling cut with back-up on top.

I may even put a second line in the top as a catch or pivot line to keep it from going off line. (I think a couple of you posted on that a year or two ago?)

I had a minor mishap with a crotched pivot/drift line a month or so ago. Told the young fellow to let it run after it cleared the treeline, but he pictured it as a rig. I said I do not want it "going into the pool, or hitting you".

Guess how long he held onto the line?

 

[murphy4trees]

Long enough to put it in the pool, and he let go just before it hit him...

This drop was on flat ground.. no need to tie off the butt... it was the top that was going to bounce and roll towards the mailbox.

This move is a cousin to undercutting lateral limbs before dropping a tree, so they break at the cut when the tree hits...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

This move is a cousin to undercutting lateral limbs before dropping a tree, so they break at the cut when the tree hits...

I can see what you are talking about. I've done similar on wind throws that need o be pulled out. Make a wide mismatch in the center, ite above it so that a truck or skid-steer can pull the top off and out of the tree it is hung in.

You say it is a back cut on the bend, Are you pulling into the curf, so that you do not pull the top out? I can see it breaking like a rotten top does.

 

[murphy4trees]

Yes JPS,
The kerf cut was on the back side from the face.... Thus it was important to leave enough meat there so the top wouldn't break out when pulled... It had to be on the back side to allow the cut to open when the log hit.. A guestimate at best... The line was tied over the top and the log, though it did have a backlean, came over very easily once the backstrap was released. I cut the hinge with a bore cut to get it just right for the drop.

 

[TheKid]

murphy 4trees, do you ever listen to the smiths? they have a song called "oscillate wildly". good choice of words and a very
cool execution of a "best guesstimate" approach to saving time and cutting in the tree. I've done something similar with a branch once, can't wait for the situation to come about again with a spar.

 

[Climbing Cutter]

I used that trick today blocking down a loblolly. ( mainly because my saw ran out of gas while backcutting the last chuck i was going to lower) My feet were hurting so i was like f-it I'm coming down and flop that puppy.