Sweet Gum

[Tom]

I sure hope everything goes right and you get the tree down without harm to you or the buildings.

If it all goes well, you are going to like the lumber.

[rebocardo]

> The only problem is two of the trees are leaning over the
>  house and everyone else they called wouldnt touch the job.

Sounds like a job I would skip or skip until the leaning trees were removed. Sometimes dropping a tree near a leaner will send the leaner right over.

Sounds like a job for an arborist taking it down a foot at a time from a bucket truck. Sounds like a $3000+ job to me either way.

Make sure to anchor the base of the trunk so if the tree snaps in half while you are winching, the butt does not slam into the house when it comes off the stump/ball.

If it has rained since that tree tore out of the ground, forget ever getting it back into the ground. Been there, done that. The rootball will weigh at least as much as the tree.

FWIW: I have taken down a lot of sweetgum, when it gets stressed, it splits three ways into a peace sign like shape destroying the wood for board making. Still, I sell it as firewood, all I have left now is about a 1/4 of a cord. People seem to like it okay.

Winching it over, I would probably put my deadman lines higher then the winch so if it snaps in 1/2, the top will not fall that much into the house. If you use tow straps and a come-along to tension the deadman lines while pulling, it would stand a good chance of pulling the top away from the house if the tree snaps. Another reason for using the straps is they will not slice through the top of the tree.
 
I was cutting a neighbor's tree Friday, it was the first tree I ever hung. Many equipment fatalities making sure it did no property damage since it was 12 feet from the house, 2 feet from the car port, and red oak 20 dbh.

Here are a couple:



That was a 8k strap ...

[ARKANSAWYER]

St.Lou Tom,
  I do not have any waste by sawing 2 or 3 times thick.  When dry I put back on mill and split into 4/4.  Qsawn gum bows to much and when you straight line it you will lose alot of lumber.  If I want any qsawn lumber I take it by sawing through & through and the middle boards will stay straighter because it is connected.  The problem is when guys come by and see the thick boards they like them and use them for table tops as is.
ARKANSAWYER

[doublecutusa]

Sorry for the late entry here.  However, I sawed a LARGE amount in E. Texas once upon a time.  It has great uses.  The sapwood is definitely appropriately named.  It is what one forester called a "closed cell" wood.  It does tend to warp up and has a hard time drying.  However, once it does, it is REALLY hard.  Believe it or not, we sold an enormous amount for pallet stock.  So long as the pallet being made does not negate molding, (such as food grade pallets), the pallet would not even have to be treated and my gosh it made a strong pallet.  Even if it did have to be treated, simple steps could be taken to avoid the molding. 
     Speaking of moUlding, that is another of the applications.  Since the wood is closed cell, it takes paint very well after the moisture content is down.