Tree Felling with Rope?

[vicuna]

New Member here. I have been binge reading this forum. Would love a final opinion on this so I can be as safe as possible.

My goal is to use rope to help me with direction of felling a few trees. I am reasonably sure I can get them to go with a chainsaw - but a) I would like the extra safety and b) I would like to learn the technique now on some smaller trees so that when I have trees that truly need the rope, I am comfortable with it. So I'll be practicing / learning on small trees where if I mess up the direction, it won't hurt anyone or anything.

I am a homeowner on 10 acres (coming from a condo so I am somewhat new to this). I'd like to be self sufficient as much as possible. I will call in for professional help on anything huge if I ever need it. I have learned basic chainsaw skills over the year both with reading and the Game of Logging Class. they do have a live class on rope felling but looks like it might be many months until I can get to one. I'd like to get started so when I go there I have some knowledge.

My searches have led me to the Maasdam Rope puller kit - seems highly recommended here. and it seems simple enough to use. I understand about the need for a progress capture pulley.
1) Can someone please recommend a specific progress capture pulley for me?
2) also can someone recommend the slings I should use?

I have also come across the wyeth-scott power puller.
3) Seems like overkill for me - but I'm all for overkill if it will enhance my safety. Looks like a little bit more to learn with this one: I would have to learn how to tie a knot midline to connect the rope on a tree to the Power Puller. on the plus side it looks like I would not need a progress capture...and this thing looks to be very well built - so wondering if that would add to my safety? Is this worth looking into and learning the midline knot? or just stick with the simpler Maasdam. (I have no other use for the puller other than tree felling).

thank you for any info!

 

[Cutch]

Okay quite a bit going on in this opening post here. Lets start from the top.

First: Congrats on becoming a new home owner!

Second: Please post pictures of what you are trying to do. Most tree workers have amazing spatial reasoning but we have to literally see what we are dealing with in order to figure out how we would approach a job. Pictures are truly worth far more than words.

Third: Gear selection and usage. I've personally used the Massdam rope puller kit when I was working in tree service. Thing is fantastic! But it's limited in it's abilities and how you implement it.

Something you have not addressed that does have me a bit concerned is: how you are going to set the rope up in the canopy in order to use the wenches? If you are a brand new Joe Homeowner your going to need a way to get the rope up there to tie it into the tree. I get a bit dumb with my money spending so I have all of my climbing kits and such so I have a throwline and throwball. Have you looked at those items yet?

I don't know everything but I'm happy to share what I do know.

 

[vicuna]

thank you for writing back!

I will get a throwball to get the line up. anything past that I'll just consider beyond me and hire that out. currently there's nothing that needs that. I'll never climb a tree or use a ladder.

I'll get some pictures up. for now I wanted to practice on some trees that are say 12 inches diameter, and maybe 30-50 feet tall, with slight leans...like under 5 degrees. there are a few where I would like to aim them a certain way - more just for convenience for my bucking. so I figure it's a good place to start because I'm fairly certain I would be totally fine without the rope.

at this point, I kinda wanna just learn the whole process and get a feel for the equipment - so that when I take a class I don't have to worry about that part of it so much.

 

[Marley5]

We had a plethora of tools for felling Ash trees in residential properties where buildings and houses could be in jeopardy.

Battery powered winches, come-alongs, pulleys, straps, slingshot and sandbag.
It was much easier as a 2 man operation.
One person doing the back cut while the other was bumping the winch watching the progress.
The saw man would turn it over to the winch operator once he was deep enough into the back cut.
It was safe and successful every time, thankfully.
The reason for the slingshot is some trees didn't have a crotch reachable by arm strength.
The higher the contact point, the more leverage.
Felling wedges can also be a valuable tool when there is no fear of structural damage.

Sounds like you have a desire to learn.
Take your time, wear protection and be safe.

 

[Yarz]

My searches have led me to the Maasdam Rope puller kit - seems highly recommended here. and it seems simple enough to use. I understand about the need for a progress capture pulley.
1) Can someone please recommend a specific progress capture pulley for me?
2) also can someone recommend the slings I should use?

I love my Maasdam puller! It is way more efficient than how I used to pull.

I bought a kit (like this), so it came with the puller, rope, and anchor sling. I can't recall ever needing something else, but if you think you'll need something longer, you can take your pick from a dead-eye, ultra, whoopie, loopie, etc. in whatever length you think you'll need.

What do you mean you need a progress capture pulley? Do you not trust the pawls in the puller?
Now I'm curious if I should be concerned when using mine.

 

[Yarz]

As for the other puller (keep in mind I haven't used one), my only concern would be possibly running out of pull length (for example pulling a back-leaner), but it all depends on what you think you'll run into with the trees you're cutting.

But, I may be overly concerned about that, because I started pulling with a 6' come-a-long.

Tying a knot mid-line is simple enough to learn. Take a look at the Alpine Butterfly as one example or Mid-line Clove Hitch as another example. There are plenty of options - pick one you like, comparing strength and ease of tying.