Wind Storm Damage - Advice Needed

[River19]

Looks like this happened earlier today......

And yes, the right answer may be "call the guy" but I'm normally "the guy" for most things so......
 
Got this woody situation today.......looks to be a nice ash decided to give up the ghost in this wind.  It is over my driveway but still 250' from the house (500' drive).
 
Slightly hung up on the tree next to it up top.
 
Ideally another 50mph gust would drop it.
 
My buddy who logs saw the pics and said to notch it above the spit on the lean side and start the back cut per normal (1-2" above the notch height).
 
Thoughts?

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[leeroyjd]

Can you give it time for nature to take care of it? Looks like a gamble on life and limb. Or have your buddy come over and do it?

[Southside]

If you do what your buddy suggests you will get an up close and personal experience of a barberchair. You may or may not be able to relate the experience to others afterwards.

Not being critical of you here but I would say this is a tree neither you nor your buddy are "the guy" to have tackle it. 

[Ianab]

you will get an up close and personal experience of a barberchair

Yeah, it's 90% of a barberchair already   Part of safe tree cutting is identifying hazard trees, and that's a perfect example of one. 

Able to get heavy machinery close enough to knock it down?

[Old Greenhorn]

With all due respect to SS, I had a big pine like this a couple of years back, it had just a little more lean to it, but I used that method and each time I took off the 4-5' at the bottom it would drop (slide) down the tree it was leaning on (hung hard). Yes, I did get to practice my running skills while I did this, as I had to repeat it 4 or 5 times taking 5' each time (I got faster each time) and finally it fell over.
 I don't see a barber chair in this because that requires the base (stump end) to be firmly anchored, however, there are hazards here that outweigh a BC, namely forces going in odd directions that may not be obvious such as the potential to roll then kick back.
 My thought would be to take the easiest option first: wrap a (LONG) chain just above the fracture and yank it with the biggest equipment you have handy. That might just give enough to tip the scales and bring it down if you think a wind gust might do it. It doesn't appear to be hung up on much. Watch the kick back.
 Trees like this are when I would look at my buddy and say "God hates a coward" and he would look back at me and reply "Yeah, but he hates a fool even more". :D ;D
 Let us know how it goes. nv

[HemlockKing]

I agree with OGH on hauling it down, It's close to the driveway, any chance you can rope it and pull it with a truck? 

[River19]

Thanks for the replies.

First, I clearly didn't like the looks of this one, hence wanting some more experienced eyes on it here, so thank you all.

Second, I could technically use a strap and chain to hook it to my Ram 2500 (my Kubota is only a B2601....not too heavy).  I would have to do it on an angle however and I would not be pulling in the direction it is falling.  If I hooked anything up it would be basically trying to pull that base cracked area apart and let the tree fall as it is aimed......in theory.....  I think it would roll away from me down the hill away from the tree it is slightly hung up on now.....

[Ianab]

A plan involving a LONG cable / chain sounds much safer. When it does whatever unpredictable stunt it's going to do, you are at least 100ft away from the action.  ;D

A longer cable and a pulley placed in the fall direction might work?

[Southside]

@Old Greenhorn I believe that is a dead Ash, already compromised by a skidder, now wind damaged. Very different scenario than the EWP you encountered. 

[Old Greenhorn]

@Old Greenhorn I believe that is a dead Ash, already compromised by a skidder, now wind damaged. Very different scenario than the EWP you encountered.

Absotutely! I am much more familiar with Ash than EWP. I do 20 dead ash to each conifer, dead or alive. Still I would go for the chain/cable route first, or shoot a line up high and pull it down with a redirect through a snatch block. All I meant was I don't see the BC scenario in that one, lots of other issues, but not that.
 Whatever you do, just be careful.

[BargeMonkey]

 Honestly 🤷‍♂️ really not that nasty for what most of us encounter but im not going to encourage someone getting hurt. The backside of thats already rotten / blown out, its got a path already picked, the chair factor is there with that one. Nip the front with a small notch, i wouldnt bore cut it, just be real fast working my way in and have a path OUT. 

[Sauna freak]

That one gets my spidey senses tingling!  If it were me, I would use the bar tip to cut off some of that broken shell.  The barkless piece above the break, and the piece up from the stump with bark.  Anything else that is clearly loose.  Disect it, be ready to jump and run.  Get a better look at what's going on and give the rest room to move instead of fingerjointing for the next part.

Rope it as high as you can with a breakaway yoke.  Toss a light strap like paracord over, and use it to pull your loop tight.  Use something you can break with a good run with your truck or a winch if you have it.  Try to drag it out of the hanger tree, hopefully gravity will do the job for you before your rope breaks.  If your sacrificial rope breaks, go with a heavy cable.  Shave some of the remaining section of the tree.  An alternative would be to put about 40 rounds of .30 cal through it if you have sufficient supply and can shoot there!  Try to drag and break it again with the truck.  If it breaks free of the stump, pull it backwards out of the hanger tree.

I cut down a large number of similar leaners in various species, mostly Bam and Bigtooth clearing an equestrian trail of hazards when I was young and dumb.  No machinery access, but we did have a draft horse.  The best method for me was a shallow, wide notch on the sides.  About 1/4 of tree width on each side depending on how sketchy the heartwood looked after cutting off loose shell.  I then cut an 1/8 width dutchman about a bar wide in the front, and back cut 1/8 4" above the top of the dutchman, then back cut through at center of dutchman.  Never pinched a saw or killed myself, but did have a few interesting moments.  This was the basic technique, and varied with lot of "experimental" cuts when we needed the tree to roll left or right off the stump.

[Old Greenhorn]

Honestly 🤷‍♂️ really not that nasty for what most of us encounter but im not going to encourage someone getting hurt. The backside of thats already rotten / blown out, its got a path already picked, the chair factor is there with that one. Nip the front with a small notch, i wouldnt bore cut it, just be real fast working my way in and have a path OUT.

[Disclaimer up front: Barge and I actually know each other and I have more than a lot of respect for him and his cutting skills so don't read anything in here. I trust his instincts very much, he is one of the best. We are friends and I am not arguing a point on a tree like this with issues. So picture two guys staring at the same tree trying to come up with a safe plan. Yes, I am smiling as I type the rest of this out.]
 But Barge, really? You think this thing has the potential to chair out? I am just not seeing more than just a slight chance. Well OK. lets say 'maybe'. You could do a 'nip and run' with a fast saw. Agreed, a bore cut is the last approach I would take here because all that does is keep you in harms way longer and adds nothing. Likely you would wind up running and leaving the saw in the tree. :D Still for me. I would do that last after I tried a chain or cable. If it proved to be solid after tugging, I might look at cutting. But I think shaking will break it loose. If a good tug away from the fal direction doesn't work, try a side pull. There is SO little hanging it up at the top that I don't think a saw will come into play until after the thud.
 I'd be happy to bet you a 6 pack on how this turns out, but I think we would wind up going dutch on that at the end of the day. Certainly a dangerous tree that needs care, but very do-able for someone with experience and a healthy respect (knowledge) for the forces involved.

[BargeMonkey]

Tom I was cutting a job yrs ago with a guy who honestly is the best handcutter I know, cut something like that and it took off on him, I always keep that in the back of my mind. Honestly that doesn't scare me, 100 bucks and a 6 pk I will go tip that over in 5mins 🤷‍♂️😆 

 Im not knocking people, but the LAST approach I go for is pulling something over,  more risk going up in it, ive never gotten the appeal of it and ive done some hairy ones. 

[Southside]

There is also the factor of dead ash raining limbs or just plain snapping off 20' up in the air.  That's a nasty tree for a lot of reasons and having the wind knock it around like it did creates an additional unknown degree that would make me not want to mess around under it for any longer than necessary.  Have I laid them down?  Yes, and will do more.  Telling someone else over the internet how to do it without being there to see and hear everything.  Absolutely not.  

[snobdds]

It would be so hard to get a rope around that tree...there are no limbs to catch on.  A ladder on that thing would be hairy.

I would almost be inclined to get a long pole saw and nip away at it from a distance.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, a ladder would be suicide. It's a pain, but I have a bow setup for shooting high lines over trees, then pull a paracord, then a decent line over, but that is slow, however if you could get a direct pull it might not take much and a snatch block will place you out of harms way.
Shaking it with side yanks just above the stump may get it to drop and you would be a long way out of danger.
SS is of course right and I should have mentioned it up front, internet tree cutting advice is worth a lot less than you paid for it. The OP here seems to have a healthy respect for this situation and I guess I overlooked the normal warnings. Sounds like he appreciates the hazards of task at hand.
I see your point Barge and a lot of times the tree is hung harder than it seems and won't fall. I just like to try long chains first because if it works there is very low risk.

[mike_belben]

id put my 36" bar onto one of my freebie husky 61s so that i have a long reach and no urge to save the saw in a bailout, and just start whittling like a beaver, a little here, a little there.  be sure there is a wide radius of walking room cleared out first and treat it like going behind a cow.. 10 foot away before you cross sides.

saw wise, im first removing that junk wood off the back so see the chip condition of the wood under it, and working my way around, letting stored tension out of the tree and just watching it speak back to me with its motions as i go.  cant tell you where or when or in what order, only the tree knows.  but id bring it down to about a soda bottle of wood and if it was still standing and locked up with its tango partner up above, id just let the wind finish it.. put some bright flagging tape around it so anyone nearby sees its a widow maker.


if it cant be left up, id whittle down to the soda bottle and then yank it off its perch.  itll probably stay standing, in which case i would just keep raising the cable/rope/chain and cutting another notch and face down to a thin hinge and yanking out one block of wood after another, over and over again until it untangles and lays down.  if the tree it is hooked in is junk i may consider letting that fly first but there needs to be a major study on what the dead try will do when unsupported.  i think its a one man job, but someone should be watching that one man with a phone and a little string for a tourniquet and a plan to be level headed if SHTF.  as in this is the closest hospital, this is the route and there is enough gas and no i dont need to find a sitter first.

[GAB]

IF it is safe to do - poke a hole under it and place one stick of dynamite and touch it off from a distance.
That should defuse the situation.
GAB

[btulloh]

IF it is safe to do - poke a hole under it and place one stick of dynamite and touch it off from a distance.
That should defuse the situation.
GAB

Good plan!
Any problem that can be solved with high explosives is not a problem.

[stumpjumper83]

500' from the house?  I'm siding with the bomb squad.  Go to store get 4 lbs of tannerite & some duck tape.  Attach target to tree, get back, get back a little farther and boom...  it will come down.  Almost suicide to get after that one with saw.