Taking Trees Down In Tokyo Japan

[Stu in Tokyo]

I just thought I'd post these videos here if anyone is interested.

I'm just filming with my iPhone and I was able to get some wood. The trees are being removed because a new road is going through, the city put up notices on the trees a month ago and we arranged to be able to get some of the wood, I wish I could have taken it all, but I have both space and time constraints.
A removal company does the work they grab the tree with a big articulated hand thing that is on a backhoe and then they cut the tree off, usually just straight off, no notch. The trees are all near power lines so they cannot just drop the trees, they have to be very careful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEWw7YMunMc&
This is a video of a cherry tree being taken down, I got a very large burl from the side of the tree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn4r5ATfkcM&list=UUonV6NAIyDjGK9Y5dlyGOCw
This is an Enoki tree, or Japanese Hackberry, I took the whole trunk and some of the top where the trunk splits into limbs. I'll slab the trunk and use the other bit for making bowls etc on the lathe.

Cheers!

PS I hope the videos work!

[beenthere]

That is pretty good control.
Not sure, with wires above me, I'd be standing under them as shown in the first video. But he trusted his partner hanging onto the tree being cut.

Thanks for the vids.

[Okrafarmer]

Great to see some action from Japan!

[mesquite buckeye]

Pretty neat.

[maple flats]

Neat way to remove trees in areas with hazards all around. I wonder if the saw was sharp, it sounded like it labored at times. May have been pinching.

[maple flats]

I tried a poor version of that yesterday. I was widening my driveway by my sugarhouse and needed to remove a 6" DBH hemlock. I ran my excavator up to the tree, raised the bucket to a few inches short of max, climbed a ladder and hooked a chain from bucket to tree. Then I removed the ladder, lifted the bucket to tension the chain, and sawed the tree off like in the video. All went well until I started to lower the tree. It seems I mis- judged the balance point, I should have trimmed some limbs. The trunk very slowly rose and the top went to the ground. I was able to steer it so nothing bad happened, but I decided my version was not a great adaptation of the Tokyo method. I'll resume my original method.

[Sunrise Guy]

Neat way to remove trees in areas with hazards all around. I wonder if the saw was sharp, it sounded like it labored at times. May have been pinching.

I was thinking the same thing.  It also took far longer than what I expected.  I've had crane picks lift spars bigger than the one in the video, and with a 460 and a sharp chain, the cut-through took less than a minute.  As the machine operator, in the video, had control of the tree, I would have done a quick open face cut, facing the direction the tree was going to be headed towards, a finish cut and then gotten a ways away as he bent the tree forward, a bit, and lifted it out of the way.  I know armchairing this stuff is never a great idea, but it seemed like a drawn out process, in the video.  My apologies, if I didn't see the extenuating circumstances.

[grweldon]

Neat way to remove trees in areas with hazards all around. I wonder if the saw was sharp, it sounded like it labored at times. May have been pinching.

The first thing I thought was "that sure it taking a long time, I wonder if the chain is sharp?"  I don't have much experience either and mostly with pine, but my Husky 365 seems to cut quite a bit better than what that saw on the video was doing.  Is Hackberry an extremely dense wood?

[Sunrise Guy]

Neat way to remove trees in areas with hazards all around. I wonder if the saw was sharp, it sounded like it labored at times. May have been pinching.

The first thing I thought was "that sure it taking a long time, I wonder if the chain is sharp?"  I don't have much experience either and mostly with pine, but my Husky 365 seems to cut quite a bit better than what that saw on the video was doing.  Is Hackberry an extremely dense wood?

Hackberry is a fairly dense wood, and its warty bark attracts and holds dirt and dust like few other trees we deal with, down here in Texas, especially at the lower part of a given, large spar.  Lower wood will dull chains in short order when the tree is in a stand where air circulation is low and dirt accumulation high.

[Monte Pittman]

I am glad to see someone feature elm. Maybe a little harder to work with, but it's beautiful and worth the effort. Beautiful table.