Need advice felling trees

[justallan1]

Just a thought, but who is responsible for the power lines there? In a lot of areas the power company comes out and keeps that rite of way cleared. Where I'm at they do any going through the property, but not the ones going to the house. If they clear them off the lines for you I'd offer the workers some cash to work late and get the ones near the house also.

Allan

[101mph]

Again thanks a lot guys!

Lot's a great info on tools, technique and advice. I will look into all of it.

As far as the power company is concerned, they did come down our road last year to trim away branches and small limbs near the power lines to keep enough clearance. I wasn't there but was told they used some sort of large machine to go down the road to do all of the cutting. I believe that's about all they would do.  I'm not sure if they were actually equipped to fell any large trees.

[Jeff]

I would go up to the local pub and get to know the bar tender, he'll know the best man to get to come and help you out.

This may be the worst advice I  have ever seen given on this forum. I should delete it, but I'd rather make an example out of it. I hope it was made in jest and not as a serious statement.

[Offthebeatenpath]

101mph- + 1 for me on the griphoist.  It's a fantastic tool. 
Park Ranger (Eric)- I'm assuming you have a 2000 pound capacity griphoist (T-508 or TU-17).  That machine takes a 5/16" wire rope, not ⅜".  If you are using a ⅜, you could have some issues coming very soon.  I'm not ragging on you, just making sure you stay as safe as possible...

Jed

[Black_Bear]

I would go up to the local pub and get to know the bar tender, he'll know the best man to get to come and help you out.

This may be the worst advice I  have ever seen given on this forum. I should delete it, but I'd rather make an example out of it. I hope it was made in jest and not as a serious statement.

I'm not trying to argue the point, but in the area I grew up in, it was, and still is, a common thing to get jobs or make contacts via a local bartender or other patron of the bar. A person obviously can seek advice and information from almost endless sources today, but I can relate to the above statement.

A lot of special situations involving tree cutting, whether in a forested environment or in the neighborhood, should be done by professionals with insurance and special knowledge. You can't spend your money if your dead.

   

[beenthere]

All kinds of the locals frequent our local pubs for lunch and some even for a beer. ;)
Burlkraft and I used to go to "da Rox" for lunch, and there was no end to the local stories and information about what was going on locally being tossed around. Only needed to ask if wanting to know who died, who logged, who had a baby, or who was/got married.

The poor bartender has to listen to all those stories and hopefully can sort out the good information from the "not-so-good". 
"Tom" at da Rox wouldn't say much, but he did listen a lot. I'm betting he rolled his eyes  : a bit when we were there.  ;D

Maybe Jeff was thinking of some other kind of local bar tender.

[Jeff]

Yea, alcohol bar stools and the best advice usually go hand and hand. Ya'll get your information anywhere you want.  The loggers I knew that hang out in the bars boasting greatness aint the ones I'd want on my job, especially on the word of the guy serving the booze.

[beenthere]

 That puzzles me, but will move on.

[Jeff]

How many drunks have you encountered on the job?  I've had to endure several. Because the Boss would hire guys recommended to him by his drunken buddies at the bar.  "Oh, he's a great worker"  And then you see them at lunch the first week taking the back way to the mill so they can slam the rest of their Jumbo, or wonder why they are chomping on a big wad of gum at 5am in the morning.

[John Mc]

Logging is dangerous enough without having to deal with a drunk endangering himself and everyone else around him.

[Ed_K]

 Ah, the life and times gone bye of the river driver  ;D .

[LorenB]

101 mph,

A lot of the advice here is from folks who know this business much better than I do, but one issue hasn't been mentioned strongly enough:  Each one of those trees weighs more than your pickup truck. 

Okay, I don't really know how big your trees are, so they may not weigh that much, but they probably weigh more than you realize.  Do the math on a 30" DBH tree that's 50' tall and you'll find that it can easily weigh 5000 pounds at green moisture content, and that's just the trunk.  Add in the weight of the branches and you get a number that should engender respect. 

I have studied trees with the thought to using a rope or two to bring them down where I want them and then realized that it's quite possible for the falling tree to break the rope.  If you use a stronger rope and tie it to your truck's bumper you could easily remove the bumper from your truck. 

Add in the potential costs involved in cottage repairs, not to mention hospital bills, and a professional looks better and better.  Felling trees isn't really something you can learn by reading about it, although knowledge of physics will help a lot. 

I don't want to discourage you from tackling anything you are capable of doing safely, but remember that logging is one of the most hazardous jobs in America.  If you are neither trained nor supervised you should consider handing this job over to someone who is. 

Disclaimer: I am not a professional logger.  I run a sawmill and will cut my own trees but will not cut trees for customers.  There are too many things that can go wrong. 

-- Loren

[thenorthman]

Not to rain on your parade to hard there Loren,

Most of the weight of a tree is centered over the stump, unless its a hard leaner, even then the leverage gained by getting a rope as high up as possible counter acts enough weight to make it possible for the average skinny dude to pull a tree over by hand.

Having said that I am a professional, I do this all the time.  As long as your not trying to pull over a super hard leaner and you make proper felling cuts, a pick up truck works pretty good for pulling trees over, I've never lost a bumper, and never broke a rope while pulling trees over.  I have broke a few when they get in a bind on the way down however. 

Also if you use a decent sized rope, the breaking strength is higher then your truck weights.

[LorenB]

thenorthman,

Yeah, I know what you're saying, and I agree with you.  In fact your advice that you posted back in reply #5 was excellent.  Back then you advised 101mph to get 5/8 to 3/4 inch braided nylon line.  That's stronger rope than most people would use. 

As I said, an understanding of physics helps with felling trees, and the physics of leverage work in the feller's favor.  The point I was trying to make to 101mph was that he should respect the huge forces involved in cutting down a tree.  Logging is dangerous work and you really do need to know what you're doing or someone could get hurt.  That's something else you told him in your earlier post. 

You gave him good advice; I was just trying to add another caution. 

-- Loren