Tricks to felling small diameter trees?

[Billy_Bob]

I have a bunch of small diameter maple trees (6 to 10 inches) I need to fell, and am wondering how exactly I would go about getting these to fall opposite their natural leaning direction if necessary?

They are all in a line along a road out in the middle of nowhere, so no problem with them hitting anything. That is except hitting the next tree in line and getting hung up. (A few of these trees are leaning "forwards" towards the next tree in line.) So they can fall left, right, or backwards, but not forwards.

(I'm used to the large diameter trees we have around here.)

So can I get a small diameter tree to fall the opposite direction of its natural lean? Or is this a job for the bucket truck folks? (Cut away some limbs up top first, use ropes, etc.)

 

[toddstreeservic]

ladder and a rope

 

[smokechase II]

reverse order

You might be able to drop some of them without the rope effort by doing the back-cut first, establish a wedge, then face, then wedge them over.

 

[Husky137]

Make a shallow face cut, start the back cut enough to get a wedge started, but not far enough to let the tree sit back. Bore in from the side,setting your hinge, and then cut back to the wedge. Give the wedge a few whacks and over it will go. 6" trees should almost be able to push them over with your hand.

 

[Gologit]

I watched some guys on a thinning job awhile back. They'd make a small face, start the back cut and when there was room they'd jam a small prybar in the cut and pop it over. Some guys used their foot, some guys just used their hands. They were working by the piece and volume counted. Seemed to work pretty good for them...they put a lot of wood down that way.

 

[forestryworks]

the shorter wedges work good in the small diam. stuff

although those 5" wedges get lost in the shuffle a little
easier than the 10" and up sized wedges

 

[scotclayshooter]

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=23294&page=3

This is a video from Ekka showing how he does a quarter cut!
real easy when you see how!
Ive used it on 2 Scots pines and it worked a treat!

 

[ak4195]

Make a shallow face cut, start the back cut enough to get a wedge started, but not far enough to let the tree sit back. Bore in from the side,setting your hinge, and then cut back to the wedge. Give the wedge a few whacks and over it will go. 6" trees should almost be able to push them over with your hand.

Depends on the height of course,since the tree is like a lever.Generally though you should be able to grunt them over,might even just need a slash cut,leave a strap of wood on the front(direction you want to push to).
Of course the tool of choice would be a pike pole,but a one time job kinda puts the kybosh on buying one.Any ROW contractors in your area that you could possibly borrow/rent from.Used properly you can take a fair amount of tree over with a pike pole,and very quick once your helper gets into a rhythm.Use it enough and youll have forearms and shoulders like popeye,as they weigh about 35-40 lbs and are about 14' long or so.
I like that pry bar idea,one more tool for the tool bag i guess.

ak4195

 

[Bushler]

I second Smokechase's method.

 

[Billy_Bob]

You might be able to drop some of them without the rope effort by doing the back-cut first, establish a wedge, then face, then wedge them over.

I like this idea too! And of course the saw would not bind on the face cut as the tree would be leaning the other way.

So far as "pushing the tree over with your hand", well Duhhhh!!! Why didn't I think of that? Of course I could do that!
(I would not think of that because you can't do that with the typical large trees around here.)

Where do I get small wedges? All the wedges sold around here are around 11 inches long. (Trees I will be felling are 6 to 10 inches in diameter.)

 

[forestryworks]

Where do I get small wedges? All the wedges sold around here are around 11 inches long. (Trees I will be felling are 6 to 10 inches in diameter.)

this is the shortest wedge i've found

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=15334&catID=

 

[Humptulips]

I third smokechases method.
If you put a face in first it doesn't leave enough holding wood to support the tree to get the wedge in. Back cut,put the wedge in and set the tree up then a small face cut.

 

[redlaker]

I picked up a half dozen of those 5.5" wedges from baileys and they have been great, in fact I wrote the review on them on the site. we just don't have the size of timber that requires the big wedges for the most part.. they don't double up as nice as the long ones but you can still do it. definitely something to try if you are felling lots of smaller timber.

 

[Rick Alger]

Make the face cut. From the front of the face cut bore through the middle of the hinge straight out the back of the tree. Then bore a back cut. Leave plenty of hinge wood on both sides of the hinge and a holding strap. Drive a wedge in tight from the back. Cut the holding strap. Have a push pole handy in case the tree needs a bit more persuasion.

 

[Billy_Bob]

I third smokechases method.
If you put a face in first it doesn't leave enough holding wood to support the tree to get the wedge in. Back cut,put the wedge in and set the tree up then a small face cut.

I re-read most of my Douglas Dent book (Professional Timber Falling) last night and darned if he doesn't mention falling small trees! And he suggests smokechase's method too!

This is briefly mentioned on page 95 (chapter V - Variations of the Basic Face) in my book. This is just before he discusses using hydraulic jacks in the backcut to get a tree to fall the right direction...

 

[abohac]

I have a bunch of small diameter maple trees (6 to 10 inches) I need to fell, and am wondering how exactly I would go about getting these to fall opposite their natural leaning direction if necessary?

They are all in a line along a road out in the middle of nowhere, so no problem with them hitting anything. That is except hitting the next tree in line and getting hung up. (A few of these trees are leaning "forwards" towards the next tree in line.) So they can fall left, right, or backwards, but not forwards.

(I'm used to the large diameter trees we have around here.)

So can I get a small diameter tree to fall the opposite direction of its natural lean? Or is this a job for the bucket truck folks? (Cut away some limbs up top first, use ropes, etc.)

Why don't you make a small notch and push them over? Or are they really leaning the wrong way?

 

[Billy_Bob]

Why don't you make a small notch and push them over? Or are they really leaning the wrong way?

Actually it is a long row of small trees along a road. I have not closely examined them, but from a brief look, many are "aimed" the right direction and a few are "aimed" the wrong direction.

I will do this one tree at a time. I think most will be no problem, but I'm sure there will be a few difficult trees. Some may have their branches interlocked with the tree next to it. If this is the case and I don't feel safe falling some of these, I'll leave it for the bucket truck folks.

At this point I feel comfortable with the backwards leaners. But I'm not going to mess with several trees which have their branches tied up together. I've read how to do this and that is to fall several trees at once or the "domino" thing. But I'm not comfortable doing that.

BTW it will be awhile before I have time to get to these trees (and the land owner wants some cut this year and more next year - no hurry), so plenty of time to discuss this...

 

[scotclayshooter]

Has no one checked out Ekka's Quarter cut video?
He did another vid where he dropped 3 trees at the same time as the branches were interlocked all with the quarter cut method

First he does a normal notch then starts the back cut just like normal but only cutting quarter of the tree! then bangs in a wedge
then he cuts the other quarter of the back cut but aims the saw slightly above the first cut so that there is an overlap bangs in another wedge and its job done.
It works well in the small stuff

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=23294&page=3

 

[ropensaddle]

That qualifies as brush to me and many options exist but
one way I have done similar work is; I make back cuts and stop before
pinching saw on all of the trees. Then I will take my winch and circle
them and hook back into the cable or truck and winch them all over at once!
This leaves them all one direction.

 

[abohac]

Actually it is a long row of small trees along a road. I have not closely examined them, but from a brief look, many are "aimed" the right direction and a few are "aimed" the wrong direction.

I will do this one tree at a time. I think most will be no problem, but I'm sure there will be a few difficult trees. Some may have their branches interlocked with the tree next to it. If this is the case and I don't feel safe falling some of these, I'll leave it for the bucket truck folks.

At this point I feel comfortable with the backwards leaners. But I'm not going to mess with several trees which have their branches tied up together. I've read how to do this and that is to fall several trees at once or the "domino" thing. But I'm not comfortable doing that.

BTW it will be awhile before I have time to get to these trees (and the land owner wants some cut this year and more next year - no hurry), so plenty of time to discuss this...

I don't know. I'm not as confident as some of the guys that I read in this forum so if there is a chance of things going wrong I usually hook a cable and make sure things go my way but I'm kind of a chicken when it come to this stuff (however I'm still alive). Sound like maybe you can use some of your good trees to knock over some of the others (notch'em, small back cut and let a good tree knock it down). I do that alot and works pretty well for me. This has backfired on me a couple of times where I ended up with two hangers.