Tree Felling with Rope?

[StihlPotlicker]

I am a newbie to falling, but I have always used a standard come along with a wire cable and attach that to the rope in the tree. Is a rope puller somehow better of safer than my come along with wire cable method? Thanks

with Maasdam kit came with 300 ft of 3 strand rope

 

[AT sawyer]

with Maasdam kit came with 300 ft of 3 strand rope

Did you order that much? You can now pull down goal posts from the opposite end zone.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

I did a tree job a few years ago using the Maasdam pow'r puller for a tree that not only was leaning towards the building but, not only was I afraid that the tree was hollow from a crack (turns out it was) but the gas meter was on the same side of the building that the tree was nearby.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

Did you order that much? You can now pull down goal posts from the opposite end zone.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

 

[StihlPotlicker]

 

[StihlPotlicker]

so I put a ratchet strap around the tree to keep it from splitting then I chained the butt end of log to a tree, so it would stop log from going down the bank and hitting gas meter. put face cut in the direction I wanted to fell it, bore cut, set wedges back cut, then pulled it over

 

[AT sawyer]

so I put a ratchet strap around the tree to keep it from splitting then I chained the butt end of log to a tree, so it would stop log from going down the bank and hitting gas meter. put face cut in the direction I wanted to fell it, bore cut, set wedges back cut, then pulled it over

Nice placement of offset block. Rather dynamic drop, all things considered.
I've chained a few hollow trees and used wedges to tighten the slack.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

nice that works too. chains are nicer in that you aint got to worry about stretch

 

[BeatCJ]

Yes, I have to say I really like that idea.

 

[vicuna]

so I got my Maasdam rope puller kit from treestuff (with 200 ft of 1/2" 3 strand).

I first tried to pull a tree that I had cut previously that was hanging. I was pulling the bottom of it.

I had the same exact issue as this guy:


the rope would slip unless I was constantly pulling the tail rope with one hand.

not sure if this is a function of that specific application? I guess the pulling from the bottom makes a tree bounce a bunch more? or maybe the rope has to break in a little bit?

either way I'll be using a progress capture pulley from now on for sure.

other than that everything worked great.

 

[AT sawyer]

I've never had that happen with my Maasdam though I do pull the slack out before tensioning. Makes me think it's a rope issue.

 

[vicuna]

yeah it must be just this specific function / application then. I got the exact right rope (bought an entire kit).

probably when pulling a hung tree from the bottom when you pull out the tension then pull a little more then stop (even just between cranks), the tree bottom swings and releases tension. I guess if you're pulling a fixed tree, it won't bounce around like that.

if I just keep a hand on the tail end and keep a little bit of tension, it worked fine.

 

[AT sawyer]

Here's a rootball we pulled off a trail with a Maasdam, went 4:1 on the rigging and maxed out the tension. rope never slipped. Skip ahead to 3:56 if you don't want the whole story.

 

[vicuna]

just took down two trees. the rope slipped until I got a very good amount of tension on. before that, when I held the tail end taught, it held fine.

once there was a really good amount of tension, that was unnecessary and no slippage.

everything went super smoothly. thank you everyone for feedback and tips. it was actually pretty relieving to see a tree fall down from pretty far away...rather than scurrying out of the way. def think this is something beginners should take the time to learn. I'll be using a rope on any questionable tree - if for nothing else as a backup. probably an extra 15 minutes per tree plus however long it takes to get a throw line up. (one was a few throws, one was a good 20 minutes lol).

I'll likely never get a good feel for which trees I can take down with just a notch and a wedge (just because I won't be felling that many trees in my life). adding the rope really seemed much much safer all around.

 

[vicuna]

Here's a rootball we pulled off a trail with a Maasdam, went 4:1 on the rigging and maxed out the tension. rope never slipped. Skip ahead to 3:56 if you don't want the whole story.

great video. ty for sharing.