Took out a trouble tree.

[Kevin in Ohio]

Decided it was time to take this tree down. It's an ash that has been standing dead for 4 years now. Right next to the road and telephone line with the power line on the other side. You can see them if you look close. Has a heavy lean over the road as well.

This is where I want to put it and it is the tree just right of the pole. I'm guessing it is 80 - 90 ft tall. My plan is to trim some of the trees in it's fall path and put a chain up high. I'll use the lift to do that.

The 2 limbs you see crossing the road trees trunk are the ones that will be trimmed off. the tree is just too tall to piece down with the lift for my taste. we have another one at the top of the hill that I will piece down today. It's about a 2 footer as well but only about 50 ft high.

I didn't get any action shots with the lift today as I didn't want to block the road any longer than I had to. Here is a shot from another time at basically full extend.

I was going to go higher with the chain but once up there I spotted the squirrel hole. I don't want to take the risk of it snapping off there. Picture skews the view but chain is about 10 ft higher than the top of the pole. 25 ft chain was 10 ft from the ground.

Decided while I was blocking the road with the lift I'd also piece the leaning limbs over the road. I was at full extend(60ft) reaching and the tree was still about 20 ft higher. With all the limbs off now it should be a lot better.

Here's a better view of it with the limbs trimmed off. I'm sure some would just wedge and drop but I don't like extra bills! Things can go wrong in a hurry and there's no going back when it does.

This gives you an idea of the height.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Close up of the bad spot. Again, I like playing it safe with this.

Figured I'd go ahead and get all the limb trimming cleaned up first. It'll make it nicer and I know the tree will break up pretty bad.

Used all 3/8" chain and a long length of cable. I'm sideline pulling with the 3 ton puller from a distant tree.

Dad came down to help which was nice and had 2 dogs come to visit as well! End of the line is anchored to another tree.

When pulling trees I go for a deeper wedge cut. This gives you an idea of the lean it has. The wedge cut is on the left and the straight saw cut is on the right. I leave a large hinge on these as when they are dead for that long, they can snap. No expert here but it has worked well for us. I took this shot mid pull and till it was done, the wedge cut was right at being fully closed before it overcentered and fell. I should have made it even bigger.

Right down main street!

Here's a view of the puller. I got 2 of them and they are extremely useful for pulling trees. You can get them with the pulley as well and you can see it just on the left side of the puller.

I cut everything that was in the cleared area and loaded it up. Then, with the same chain the pulled it over, drug the log out so I could cut it easier and wouldn't have to roll them all through the brush

It ended up being right at 25 inches and I'll leave these set till I get the Catersplitter out. We have a large fence row tree to take down this year too.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Here's the stump and this is why I go with the wide hinge. Notice that only the fibers in the middle held while about 6 inches in just snapped. I tend to put a little tension on a tree at first and wait till I see the top start to move just slightly. Then get out and let the puller do the rest. You never know how brittle they are so it isn't worth the risk to me. Not bad for a 1/2 days work

 

[Wood Doctor]

I'm surprised it was not taken down earlier. That thing was dangerous. I trust you are going to split all those rounds and process them into firewood, just as I've been doing for two years with ash. These trees can get much bigger than most realize and believe me, they are much heavier than most realize.

Nobody complains whenever I deliver ash firewood splits. That includes people begging for oak. For some reason, I've never heard anyone say, "These logs are heavy. Can you find me some more poplar or willow next time?"

 

[svk]

Nice work, can tell you've done that before!

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

I'm surprised it was not taken down earlier. That thing was dangerous. I trust you are going to sp;it all those rounds and process them into firewood, just as I've been doing for two years with ash. These trees can get much bigger than most realize and believe me, they are much heavier than most realize.

Nobody complains whenever I deliver ash firewood splits. That includes people begging for oak. For some reason, I've never heard anyone say, "These logs are heavy. Can you find me some more poplar or willow next time."

If you are referring to the telephone company taking it down, it doesn't happen around here. The electric company has finally started to pay private companies to clear around the lines but our phone company could care less. There's a pole on a road near me that was knocked out about 10 years ago and they still haven't replaced it. Poles and lines will lay down for quite awhile before they "get to it". Pretty sad. I basically decided to take it down myself as I didn't want to be without service for a week or 2.

I remember talking with the out of state electric crews that helped restore our power after a major wind storm. We were without power for almost 3 weeks and I was low priority because I'm at the end of the line. The guys I talked with were amazed at the condition of the grid here and how old everything was. One of the older guys who had almost 30 years in said "This stuff was old when I started". Up until 2 years ago i had the original transformer on the pole that was put in originally....In the 1940's!

 

[old guy]

I have used those pullers for years, they've done tons of work for me. Good work on that tree.

 

[Jeff Lary]

Nice work and pictures

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Thanks guys for the comments. As you all have said, when you start dealing with lines and structures, It's worth the time to insure it's going to fall where you want it.

The ash bore has killed off probably 99% of the ash trees around here. Such a shame to see them all go. Standing dead everywhere.

 

[rarefish383]

I'm big on fairly deep wedges and lots of hinge, and always a tag line. I still have a couple hundred feet of 17,000 pound test bull line from when my Dad was in business. My Dad would leave a hinge that looked like a 2X4 and say come on you bunch of sissies, pull, it's cut off!

 

[Wood Doctor]

Many have cut down ash trees here that have been perfectly healthy -- perhaps an over reaction to the EAB infestation. The ones I then harvested for firewood only had a trace of the tiger beetle in the sapwood. Ash trees can live with that but the EAB takes them completely out. Those tiger beetles can also do a quick number on human flesh. They love mine.

 

[svk]

Many have cut down ash trees here that have been perfectly healthy -- perhaps an over reaction to the EAB infestation. The ones I then harvested for firewood only had a trace of the tiger beetle in the sapwood. Ash trees can live with that but the EAB takes them completely out. Those tiger beetles can also do a quick number on human flesh. They love mine.

I had a 7 prong black ash at the end of my lawn that died but it wasn't EAB (confirmed by my local state forester/friend who searched the property for any sign and found none). Confirmed EAB is still 100 miles south of us. That root system has sprouted about a 30 prong bush that is 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide after three summers. Go figure.

 

[old guy]

The city of MPLS. is cutting all ash trees infected or not.

 

[svk]

The city of MPLS. is cutting all ash trees infected or not.

Unfortunately for the trees and the ambiance that makes a lot of sense rather than cutting them one at a time as they die or spending a lot of money to maybe save them through treatment. Clean them all out and get a disease resistant species planted so it can start to grow.

A couple of years ago the city of Duluth took out a lot of HUGE silver maples while reconstructing a street. Of course there was public outrage. One of the engineers stated that the trees were already 90 years old and were past their prime/near the end of their expected life and leaving them would mean damage to the street and yards in the not so distant future.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Unfortunately for the trees and the ambiance that makes a lot of sense rather than cutting them one at a time as they die or spending a lot of money to maybe save them through treatment. Clean them all out and get a disease resistant species planted so it can start to grow.

A couple of years ago the city of Duluth took out a lot of HUGE silver maples while reconstructing a street. Of course there was public outrage. One of the engineers stated that the trees were already 90 years old and were past their prime/near the end of their expected life and leaving them would mean damage to the street and yards in the not so distant future.

Many old silver maples like that are very hollow inside and the gusts from any common spring storm can take them down. I worked on one two years ago that split down the middle and crashed into a house on one side and into a parking lot on the other and totaled out three cars. It was hollow 20 feet up from the ground. Only half the wood could be saved for firewood because so much was punky.

 

[svk]

Many old silver maples like that are very hollow inside and the gusts from any common spring storm can take them down. I worked on one two years ago that spit down the middle and crashed into a house on one side and into a parking lot on the other and totaled out three cars. It was hollow 20 feet up from the ground. Only half the wood could be saved for firewood because so much was punky.

I've seen many of those with the rotted core. My friend had one that was close to 7' diameter. Freaking massive.

My grandpa had two silvers in his yard that were taken down in the 80's. The one in the front yard was a classic single trunk that forked about ten feet up. The one in the back was split into about 7 leaders about two feet above the ground and each of them was 16-20" diameter. Tree service took the tree down to the fork and left the rest. My uncle stumped that huge thing with my grandpa's Homelite SEZ, of course needing to carve away at it because it was more than twice the width of the 16" bar. Grandpa burned silver maple in the sauna for the rest of his life and I think there was still a half cord left when we sold the house in 2003.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

The ground was fit and they are calling for rain so we decided to take out another bad tree. This one is on one of our fields property lines. We were clearing the fencerow close to 30 years ago and the guy who owns the house pictured begged us to let it go. Said it kept his house cool and provided a windbreak. He now wants us to cut it as it's rotting and would hit his house if it fell. Would have been easier to do 30 years ago!

We brought the lift up as it will have to be pieced down to be safe and not hurt anything of his except the grass.

This clump has some size to it. I'm really excited as it's Silver Maple.....and rotting! LOL This one would be potential 4 barber chair if you were trying to cut from the ground without taking some weight off.

Oh joy, one already broke off and laying in the tree. We'll drag that out and down with a chain.

Center is rotting and I told him we are going to leave a high stump because I don't want to ruin a chain if there is fence in it. He said okay and he would work at it later. Good luck.

Starting to piece it down and going really well. The ones to the right had bad in the center even up high. He has a tree to the left so I'll have to go up high and limb it up.

These are the ones that would hit his house. This lift does spoil you and makes it so much easier.

The boys came out to play! dad had about 3 of his Homeys too.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

With all the limbs off we decided to cut it all to size. Then load up the small stuff where the trunk will fall and move the brush out of the way so we're not fighting it. dad want to chip up the brush and use it in his garden for a soil builder so it will go to good use. I'll bring the splitter up and work up the chunks after that. all depends on weather.

I guess he still has a windblock, sorta

Wish it was a different variety of tree but it'll burn when dry. Quickly though!

98 inches or 8 ft 2 inches across the top of the stump. I measured the circumference 2 ft up and it was 238" or just over 19ft! Wonder how much water this thing was sucking up. I know our farmer will be happy as we trimmed some of his other trees that were coming in the field too. I'm tired so it was a good day with Dad.

Here's an extra pic of piecing it down over his other trees. I actually learned a lot of nice ways to do take downs from watching Utube videos of tree guys. Notice also I do have a harness on and it's attached.

 

[Wood Doctor]

One of my logger friends has been doing this work for the past six months. He can save about 20% of these trees for logs at the sawmill. The rest is hauled in for mulch, and that's a bunch. Twisters went through the county and tore up just about every old tree like the one you show here.

Imagine what could have happened if a strong wind hit that huge silver maple and sent it into the house. I've had calls from folks with monster branches of silver maple on the ground, but I cannot get to most of them.

 

[svk]

With all the limbs off we decided to cut it all to size. Then load up the small stuff where the trunk will fall and move the brush out of the way so we're not fighting it. dad want to chip up the brush and use it in his garden for a soil builder so it will go to good use. I'll bring the splitter up and work up the chunks after that. all depends on weather.

I guess he still has a windblock, sorta

Wish it was a different variety of tree but it'll burn when dry. Quickly though!

98 inches or 8 ft 2 inches across the top of the stump. I measured the circumference 2 ft up and it was 238" or just over 19ft! Wonder how much water this thing was sucking up. I know our farmer will be happy as we trimmed some of his other trees that were coming in the field too. I'm tired so it was a good day with Dad.

Here's an extra pic of piecing it down over his other trees. I actually learned a lot of nice ways to do take downs from watching Utube videos of tree guys. Notice also I do have a harness on and it's attached.

Wow! Huge tree!!!

You had the right tool for the job with that lift. Trying to drop those individually would have turned into a literal dumpster fire.