safe mature oak felling

[redpowerd]

i have some mature oaks id like to remove from my woodlots that have some very intimidating lower limbs, limbs that are sawlogs in and of themselves. these limbs seem like they would be able to support the stem after felling. im not experienced enough to get in the tree and swing a saw around.

like to get these trees out so their offspring can grow better, cant wait for God to do it.

[rebocardo]

My experience with water oak is once the tree is going over, the tree will go over, but, the trunk will split once the lower branches hit the ground because the branches on the other side are going down with literally a ton of weigh behind it. Plus,  you end up with some big limbs 8+ feet over your head and removal is dangerous. Might be okay if you have a winch to roll the tree, I use my truck. Safe and usable lumber are two different things.

I bought a cheap 14 inch electric saw and I am making it a pole saw. What it will be useful for is standing 8-12 feet off from those lower big limbs and drop them safely from a discreet distance of 8 feet or more. What I always worry about is cutting one limb off and then having the tree split from the uneven weight.

[sprucebunny]

Maybe you can hire someone who DOES have experience ( and insurance ! ) to help you ???

Maybe you could pay him in wood ;D

[Kevin]

Those large limbs can really be stressed with all that weight.
I would want to take those from up in the tree in small pieces or treat them as bottom bind and make the appropriate cuts to lessen the stress.
I'm free this weekend, send the Forestry Forum limo for me.

[leweee]

Those large limbs can really be stressed with all that weight.
I would want to take those from up in the tree in small pieces or treat them as bottom bind and make the appropriate cuts to lessen the stress.
I'm free this weekend, send the Forestry Forum limo for me.

Pick me up on your way bye! :D I promise I'll get a passport. : Jon those trees are like a big Chinese puzzle.
Sometimes the butt will be along ways up in the air when the tree is finally on it's side. Then the fun begins taking it apart limb at a time .....never a dull moment.  Done lots of those old Wolf trees for Firewood.....no sawlog....too many huge limbs. Be careful & Play Safe ;D

[etat]

I've had more than a few  trees such as these on the ground.  Haven't really noticed that much of a problem with the trunk splitting. Especially if it has a lot of lower limbs.  Lots of the time as the limbs and top hits it'll just slow down the tree as it springs it to the ground.  There can be a LOT of stress in them limbs. 

When trimming em up I'd always start from the outside in, getting all the bushy limbs and branches out of the way first.  I'd cut everything up in small pieces for firewood, (don't have a sawmill anyways). Take your time an don't let a bunch of it pile up around you.  You want to remove, as much as possible all the limbs that are spread out or sticking up that don't have stress on them.  Be careful, sometimes you can take enough weight off that the tree will roll, shift, or spring up.

Keep a clear path around you at all times. Keep the limbs piled up and moved out of the way as your work.  This is very important because as you start relieving the weight the tree can roll or shift at any time. 

You have to study the  limbs and the way they are stressed very very carefully. Especially when you get in to the ones that are holding the trunk up or the ones that may be rolled under the tree and under pressure.  Not only are they very dangerous, if you cut from the wrong direction you could  wind up with your saw hung up when something pinches together.

Some of the bigger one's I've seen it probably wouldn't do much good to hook a truck to to try to roll.  A bigger tractor, maybe. 

Each one is different and has to be judged accordingly.  Sometimes you can undercut from the bottom of the trunk up and slowly start laying the trunk down and relieving some of the pressure on the limbs.  Sometimes it will be more appropriate to undercut, or side cut and work from the limbs.  This would depend entirely on the tree, and how it is laying.

Remember, the tree maybe could move at any time, or you could cut a limb under pressure and it could spring very fast and very hard and hurt you real bad.  Always be careful. Study the tree. Study your cuts. Be ready and have a safe path to move quickly out of the way if something goes wrong.  Work the cuts that are under stress slowly and watch which way they're trying to open up, close up, or move as you're cutting.

On trying to remove limbs from a standing tree I always tried to undercut first and then top cut so the limb would snap off.  I'd want the butt of the limb whenever possible to hit close to the same time that the end of the limb dropped. It takes careful judging to do this without pinching the saw when you're undercutting.  If the springy part of the limb hits first it can act as a giant spring.  I've seen em improperly cut from high up throw the limb as far as 20  or 30 feet or more.  (I almost threw one into the side of a house one time).  Big limb and if it had went only a few more feet it would have taken out a wall. 

After that I started going out on the limbs and taking down smaller chunks.


Be careful.

[OneWithWood]

An alternative is to simply girdle the trees and leave them where they are.  Of course that negates getting any lumber out of them.

[rebocardo]

Dang makes a good point about big limbs springing back.  I usually wrap a 1/4 cable or chain around limbs like that to direct them (tied to something sturdy) so they do not bounce back and take me or something out.

I got hit once with a small branch that broke while pole sawing it. It folded back towards me. It was only about two inches and hurt a little, but, I learned my lesson. I rope the things so they can only fall straight down or away from me. What is great about web strapping is you can put tension on it, away from the tree, and pull the branch away from the tree (or house) once it is cut. I would not try this with anything over 3-4 inches though.

On really big branches I make multiple V shaped undercuts and then make top cuts over them to gently ease the branch down by closing the Vs up without jamming the saw. On the last cut, I make a big V over the undercut V and then cut straight through as fast as possible.

If I think I might have to turn a tree, I lay out 1/4 cable from the big branches so when it is on the ground, instead of getting close to the tree with stuff towering over my head, I just grab an end of the free line that the tree is lying on, toss it to the other side of the tree and attach it to my truck to turn it for cutting.

One thing I have learned about taking big branches off is if the branch is big enough, once the weight is removed crushed branches (or small trees) under the tree can help spring or move the trunk around on you.

[UNCLEBUCK]

I have found that after the tree is down if one can drag it a short ways and hope the high heavy side will roll closer to the ground but I always park a loader against whatever limb I am working on or near so I dont get trapped if it starts to roll . I do pinch the saw bar now and the from all the tension, all that tension can kill you real fast so just eyeball it real good first and slowly pick away at it and before you know it you got yourself alot of logs. Be careful and goodluck