This tree concerns me.

[Jeff]

It's a big tamarack that had escaped the eastern larch beetles years ago, but something finally got it after the top was snapped off in a storm.  This is right over a trail, and with these dead tamarack, the longer you wait, the more unstable they become from the top down.  I just need it on the ground, I dont care what direction, but not on the trail is preferred.  Problem is, I'm scared to pound wedges. Those big branches won't even notice a hardhat.



 

[jmouton]

easy peasey,,,i would come and help,but i am toooooo busy with my 3 jobs  ;D ;D

[Clark]

Put a rope in it with a throw line, cut your face and back cut then pull it over. Quite safe and easy to do. These guys tend to have good videos and this one should help:

https://youtu.be/eGd_MsdtQc0

Clark

[donbj]

Cable the tree in the direction you find the best and put some tension on it. Put your felling cut in and pull it over. I have done this many times with a come-a-long or my tractor. Just don't over tension before putting in the felling cuts.

[Ianab]

Light on the rope tension initially. Just enough to take out the slack. You don't want the top of the tree moving while you are still working under it. Make your cuts, push in a wedge in case it wants to sit back and pinch your saw. 

Then once you are happy with the cuts, wander back to the tractor / winch etc  (the long way, not across the drop zone) and start pulling. Doesn't matter if it comes down in a rain of broken branches, you are way over there  ---->  , on the other end of the rope.  

OR, bash it with the bucket of a 20 ton forestry rigged excavator a couple of times. That will knock out any loose crap. 

[Old Greenhorn]

What all the others said Jeff, get a rope halfway up, put in your cuts, and pull it over, don't add tension until you are clear. 
 Now I will add some hints that I find helpful. I rope a lot of trees, sometimes just to make sure there is no way they can go in the wrong direction. The last one I did a couple of weeks ago, my 'rope guy' never even got a chance to pull. The tree fell spot on. He said "Well that rope was a waste" and I said 'nope, it did it's job just fine".
 So, you don't need to get a line up and tie it around the tree either on a firm branch or trunk, you can get a line over any dinky branch you like and as the rope comes down the tree just put one full wrap or a little more around the tree and tie it off chest high. Don't worry that it is not tight to the tree and threads around all the small stuff, that will go away when you start the pull, and you may snap a branch or two getting it set, but eventually will find a secure home. I use a throw line for short ones, 20' and under, and I use a 30 pound bow and short fishing pole with flu-flu arrows (bushy slow fletching) to shoot high lines up to 70'. (shoot the line over, pull back a a paracord, then pull the regular over the other way.
 When you do the pull, put a snatch block in the line for a re-direct, this gets you out of the line of fire, allows you to pull perpendicular to the fall line and also SEE what is going on, which is kinda handy. :D

Keep lookin' up!

[Satamax]

Jeff, they have all given you good advice, and i'm nowhere near as good as any of you with felling to give any sort of worthwhile advice.

Looking at this as a newb, what i see is a ton of widowmakers hanging up. And i think i would attach it at arms height, with a chain or cable. Long enough to clear if it ever fell. And give it a few good pull whacks, with a tractor or pickup. Just to make fall what ever is veering to fall. Just before trying to send a rope up in the limbs, or making any cut.

Just an idea.

[Corley5]

If you fall it in the trail it causes no damage to other trees and it's in the open easier to limb  ;)  No widow makers hanging in other trees either.

[Jeff]

I should probably make a video eh?

[mike_belben]

Call in an air strike.   


air_plane


    ...AND make a video.   ;D

[Tacotodd]

Semper Fi !

[Jeff]

I'm back at Forestry Forum south, as we have a Coleman Veterans Memorial board meeting tomorrow, then we HAVE to go down state because my niece is getting married Saturday. All I can think about is going back North! Neck trip up Ill take a rope and snatch block.

[firefighter ontheside]

Perhaps cut it down after the next windy day or after a thunderstorm.  Hopefully any really loose limbs will have come down in the wind.  Wear a helmet and keep looking up.

[Jeff]

Tamarack I have found after cutting down nearly 200 of them that were freshly bug killed, are hard to judge. It has big heavy LONG limbs up high, and I mean heavy, the weight of which can really fool you on which way you think that tree is wanting to go. This one still has the little twigs on the limbs yet, so the branches SHOULD still be sound, but the bark is falling off the tree and from past experience you just never know until it start to go down. Also from that past experience I know not to try and lift with a wedge because I have had limbs come down.  This is typical of bug kill because the tree will loosing bark and still appear live from a casual view.

[peakbagger]

How about some Tannerite?. Sit back from a distance and fire a shot into it. 

[jb616]

How about some Tannerite?. Sit back from a distance and fire a shot into it.

Might want to wait til after the State Wide burn ban is over 

[Jeff]

Yea, it is about as dry as it has ever been. I sure wish I knew someone with a forestry mulcher. Perfect time to open up to the back of my property that has never been really accessible.

[Skeans1]

Have you sighted it with a plum bob or anything to find center of mass? Well sighting in the tree put in just the tip of a wedge allowing you to watch what's happening well sighting in. This will also go for the back cut it will gauge what is happening if the tree is sitting back will sit up if the tree is leaving the wedge will sit down towards the ground.

[chet]

Yea, it is about as dry as it has ever been. I sure wish I knew someone with a forestry mulcher. Perfect time to open up to the back of my property that has never been really accessible.

Brothers equipment won't be getting any closer to you than Munising, and that's not till this fall.

[Jeff]

 :'(

I guess some cool days and a chainsaw and a bottle of Motrin then. I havn't found anyone up there local.

[Wudman]

Yea, it is about as dry as it has ever been. I sure wish I knew someone with a forestry mulcher. Perfect time to open up to the back of my property that has never been really accessible.

Check your local equipment rental company.  Here you can rent a skid steer with a bush hog type head (they don't rent the rotary mulching heads).  That will handle anything up to 4 or 5 inches in diameter without any problem.  A couple of passes and the debris is pretty small.  Check with the local utility.  Maybe you could catch one of their right of way maintenance contractors in the area.  A little bonus and some adult beverages might get you some after hours work.


Wud  

[Jeff]

Okay, she's down and videod. We found a place along the road nor far from the village where we got 4 bars, so this video is a first complete cabin production. Im ready for your critiques on techniques! 

Harvesting a Dead and Dangerous Tree for the Wood-Mizer - YouTube

[Tacotodd]

Let the saw get up to full (or close) rpm before you engage in the tree. You'll like life better if you do!🤪

[Tacotodd]

Bring your saw to the pig roast this year. We will try and give you some pointers.

No sharp chain needed, just in your stance and timing.  

[Jeff]

The saw was cutting fine. I needed control. The sapwood was dry rotted and I had no idea how the center was going to be. Every blip was pulling wood. Thats my reason for the non screaming saw.

[barbender]

Dead standing tamarack can be, as Jeff said, very unpredictable. Anywhere from absolute rock solid to punky garbage. I think it may have to do with when it dies, if the bark slips and falls off it will stand there solid for years. If the bark sticks on, the sapwood rots quite quickly. I've read that in northern MN, the outbreak of tamarack sawfly (a native pest for once) has wiped out enough acreage to rival the Mountain pine beetle out west. You just can't see it, unless you're up in a plane being that the tamarack is out in the middle of a bog somewhere.

[SwampDonkey]

Neck trip up Ill take a rope and snatch block.

What are you gonna do with that rope? :D Be careful my friend. ;)

edit: Oh wait, I'm too late it seems. Safe and sound.

[Old Greenhorn]

This might be your best video yet Jeff, but they are all good, so it's hard to choose. I like how when you make a reference to something else, you edit in a short clip to show it. That is good story telling.
 As far as the tree goes, you got it down where you wanted and nothing got hurt, so it was perfect in all regards. Perfect hinge too with very little fiber pull and it cleared the stump nicely.
 I noticed you working a bit to get that notch cleaned out properly and one trick I was taught was to make my top cut first, then do the bottom cut as you sight down through the top cut. This allows you to see through that slot and know exactly when the chain reaches the top cut on the far side. It just makes things a little quicker and helps me avoid overcuts. But that is a nit. I have been cutting a lot more than normal for me, probably 50 trees in the last few weeks and that gives me time to mess around and work on technique. When you only do a couple every once in a while, technique only matters in so far as it is safe and well thought and the tree gets on the ground where planned. The rest are just little nits.
 I can't imagine how long it took to upload that video through the phone. A 3minute video takes me an hour to upload.

[Roundhouse]

Looks like a well-executed cut to me. Just curious, is the standing dead tree seen in the distance at around 19 minutes the same one featured at 25 minutes? Feels as though there is always a little more clean-up to do.

[Jeff]

There are several dead large standing. I got to the worst ones that I was concerned on hurting someone when the innitial kill off happened, but we lost over 200 trees, so some of the more secluded trees are still standing, but some new ones have died, as in the one in the video.  The next video is titled ,"Pre Forest Mulcher Trek. Opening up a Woodland Access."  

While back there, I noted the back part of the property has some big high storm hangers that will probably come down most likely on their own. Just to much for one guy in this lifetime.

I found a big recently windthrown bigtooth aspen back there, 40 feet of log, close to 20" dbh with only about 2" of taper in 40 ft. I want that one for the mill!

[47sawdust]

That aspen should be fun to mill.

[Jeff]

Here is pic of that down tree. It was to thick to get a great photo.


 

[SwampDonkey]

I like popple, grows fast and can get 2 crops of pulp or use as firewood or whatever. I like it a lot as firewood. Cuts and splits easy and adds up fast for a cord. I had a lot blow down on a 3 acre piece but I had no way to get or even use it back then, so it'll make new soil. ;D Across the road from my place it is dying and falling down, the beavers are helping. Second growth popple ain't as nice as fire popple up this way.

[Jeff]

Donk, come over! It's been too long! I'd love to have you explore my property. I can't remember how much we did at the cabin before. The 2 Butternuts that are making it, are having thier best growth year. I'm hoping nothing browse it, isn't it walnut related?

[Jeff]

I could bribe you with indoor plumbing!

[thecfarm]

Blow downs and dead trees keeps me warm each winter. That is why I bought a OWB. The Asley stove was not working out to well on the dead part. If it will hold together, I haul it out and burn it. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, it has been a while for sure, 2014 I think now.  Ace on the plumbing, but I've lived week to week in a tent lots of times, all the water was hauled. Shower tent annexed on the back. :D

I was up when you was working on the other cabin site by the power line. Wow, 7 years has passed. I think we hit every fish and chip shack within 30 miles. :D

Yes, the butternut is a walnut. I discovered a black walnut here in the yard, had two seedlings one didn't winter last year. However, I did transplant two butternut trees this spring, one 7 footer and one a foot tall.

[Jeff]

Here is pic of that down tree. It was to thick to get a great photo.

Drat on this tree. Running gps it most like on the next door property by a 100 feet. There are no marked lines back there, so I can only estimate. Imsure I have plenty on my side. My trail making is most likely on hold due to more than an inch of rain up there yesterday.