Tricky situation, any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[samanthaslotin]

This Oak tree fell from higher up the hill and stuck in like this. I've been waiting for a month now for it to just naturally fall but its time to just cut it down. The thing is its being braced up by 4 of its limbs and the top of the tree fairly well. The hill is so steep there also, even starting with the second highest up that's bracing its left side it still has a chance to fall in my direction. I literally just spent all of my money on cutting and clearing other trees out and this happened. I'm determined to take this one down myself. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks.

 

[BeatCJ]

I wouldn't cut it in place, I would tie off to it and winch it over.

If I couldn't do that for whatever reason (and I can't think of a single one), I probably would make cut 4 first. I wouldn't cut # 1 first, you really shouldn't run a saw above your shoulders. So # 1 would wait until that main stem was on the ground

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Is that a private or public road?

 

[samanthaslotin]

I wouldn't cut it in place, I would tie off to it and winch it over.

If I couldn't do that for whatever reason (and I can't think of a single one), I probably would make cut 4 first. I wouldn't cut # 1 first, you really shouldn't run a saw above your shoulders. So # 1 would wait until that main stem was on the ground

Thank you for your response! I am attempting to pull it down now but its four limbs on either side of it is just digging in more. It seems like the least tension is on limb 2 i was thinking of taking a little off that one to try and let it come down safely. Its just such a sketchy situation.

 

[samanthaslotin]

Is that a private or public road?

No its a private road, and the other side has a fairly steep incline so i don't want the tree to go past the road.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Can you tie off the main portion of it from above? To help stabilize it?

 

[BeatCJ]

And if you recognize a sketchy situation, I would suggest this may be time to ask for help. I would suggest that if you can't get it to move with a straight pull, maybe using a block (pulley) to pull from a better angle might be helpful.

Or, loop your line over the main trunk to one of the uphill branches and pull on that.

As an Emergency Response professional with a forestry and engineering background, I am not seeing a safe way for someone without a fair amount of experience to take that down easily and safely. And that's a fair size chunk of Oak, it could kill someone in an instant. I suspect that if I were on site, I would spend a fair amount of time developing my plan, then make sure I took enough time to rig to my plan before I thought about cutting.

 

[Del_]

It needs to be winched and pulled down to the road while at the same time being roped to an bomb proof anchor up the hill using a friction device so rope can be let out under control.

I would suggest zero cutting as it sits as it looks like a death trap.

 

[HumBurner]

I would have no qualms cutting it or crippling it and pulling on it, but I deal with these situations regularly.

If you don't have the knowledge of tension, bind, roll, and aren't certain of the the balance and order in which you make your moves, then DO NOT attempt cutting that yourself.

The fact that the tree is digging in instead of breaking could mean the slope + uphill weight and forces could actually be overcome if the branches dig in hard enough at the correct angles, which could lead understandable but highly unpredictable shift of the tree.