Felling a Tree - Poorly

WDH · April 27, 2013, 09:38:20 PM

I had a big loblolly pine that succumbed to the drought and the pine beetles. As tree was an old one (maybe 80 years old), I wanted to fell it and saw up the boards for a customer that wants to build a 4 board horizontal fence.

Rule # 49 in felling a tree - If the tree has an old fence wired to it from many decades ago, and if you saw it down above the old fence wire, then be sure to get the saw above the old fence wire :-\. This is only is a problem with a brand new chain. With an old chain, it is never a problem

.

The other issue besides old wire was that it was leaning the wrong way back over the property line which was only about 5' behind the tree. My goal was to make the face cut, then make the back cut and wedge the tree over so that it would fall on my side of the line. The problem happened on the back cut when I discovered that I was not high enough on the tree to clear the wire. Stupid mistake. An awful grinding sound along with a grabby/jerky saw was the result. I tried to keep going now as I was at the point of no return as the wire was deep in the tree. I pounded in two wedges before it became clear that I could not get through the wire. I tried to go a little higher on the back cut to clear the wire, after messing up the original back cut, but to no avail. The tree sat back slightly on the wedges as the old back cut merely closed. What a mess, and a very dangerous situation to boot. This was late yesterday afternoon, so I quit to think about the situation.

Last night as I lay in bed contemplating what a pitiful mess I had made and after reliving the event over and over to assess where I screwed it up, I came up with several ideas:

1). Leave it for the next storm to blow over. No. Ticking time bomb.

2). Go above old face and back cut and start over. No. Not enough hinge left and a good way to get killed.

3). Use the tractor. Attach several tow straps to the tree using a tall ladder to get as high as possible to attach the straps. No. Tree sitting dangerously. Would be a weird scene for the Investigators when they found me under a ladder, under a tree, dead.

4). Use the tractor forks or bucket to reach as high as possible and push the tree over. No. Dead top would break out and kill me.

5). Attach some blocks to the tree with screws and use a jack to lift the tree up and over to the intended felling spot. Hmmmm

So I built a contraption this morning. However, did not work. Screws just pulled out of the wet pine wood.

Side view.

So, next plan was to cut a slot out of the back of the tree for the jack to sit in, sacrificing the wedges.

Done.

A lesson in how-not-to-do-it

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beenthere · April 27, 2013, 09:43:30 PM

edit:
~~Anxious~~ Glad to hear about 1) how you worked it out. ;D

bill m · April 27, 2013, 09:44:35 PM

And #2

mikeb1079 · April 27, 2013, 10:08:39 PM

do you have any anchor points to tie a winch or come-along to? guessing not but just thought i'd throw it out there....

JohnW · April 27, 2013, 10:09:54 PM

On the other hand, beautiful.

WDH · April 27, 2013, 10:45:01 PM

I also screwed up the original post by hitting the wrong key before I was finished, so I went back and modified the original post to make it complete

. Whew, what a day.

thecfarm · April 27, 2013, 10:48:10 PM

Glad to see it all worked out for you. ;D

barbender · April 28, 2013, 01:15:34 AM

I hate a tree that gets hung like that at the end of the day, I'm glad you got it on the ground, Danny.

Left Coast Chris · April 28, 2013, 01:26:21 AM

Not a good time of the day to get an adrenaline pump.... whew. Good work getting it down.

Ianab · April 28, 2013, 04:25:35 AM

Quote4). Use the tractor forks or bucket to reach as high as possible and push the tree over. No. Dead top would break out and kill me.

Dead top is what would make me nervous alright.

A young local guy was killed last week by a similar tree. Professional faller, all the right gear. They were using a large excavator to help with taking your some pine trees close to the road. They had gripped the tree with a grapple on the ~20t excavator and the guy walked up to complete the cut. The top broke off with the vibration from the excavator and landed on the guy, killing him instantly. They had probably done the same thing 100 times before and had no problems.

Anyway, good (safe) recovery from a tricky situation. The jack lets you ease the tree over without jarring the top loose.

Ian

SwampDonkey · April 28, 2013, 04:57:21 AM

In the situation you were backed up against there, the jack was a great idea. I think I've read about others using jacks on occasion. Leaning the wrong way, I would have slung a rope just above where the bottom end would be heavier than from the rope to the top and had a little tension on it. Not a lot because I would be worried about a quick snap of the fibres, while sawing, at the stump dislodging that dead top.

Tricky stuff. ;D

JDeere · April 28, 2013, 08:53:30 AM

I think given the circumstances you did a great job. You walked away to re-think the best approach and dropped it safely. A felled tree is like landing a plane. Any time you can walk away unscathed, consider it went well.

thenorthman · April 28, 2013, 11:50:21 AM

Jacking a tree is an old trick for big timber, and back leaners. Uses less grunt then pounding in wedges. A company called Silvey makes a couple of different sizes of tree jacks (they are all spendy... 1k plus) but a good 20-30ton bottle jack with a chunk of 3/8 steel plate on top works pretty good, just use em with a wedge incase of jack failure...

the other trick is to stack your wedges, usually a little pocket with a label on one side, fill that with dirt slap another wedge on top pound em one after the other. The dirt keeps em from popping out acts like a shock absorber and traction device.

I've heard of guys stacking three wedges, where it is possible I've never needed to do it.

As far as dead tops go... You would be much safer to fall it with the lean, or tie a rope on it first, and pull after you've made your cuts. Dead tops have a habit of falling whenever and wherever they want to. Pounding wedges into a snag causes huge amounts of vibration, that vibration is what causes the dead stuff to break, looking for the perfect target to land on, soft and wet with nice crunchy finish (your head)

Corley5 · April 28, 2013, 12:16:11 PM

I've been cutting bug killed ash on my own woodlot with the Fabtek and it's bad enough being in the cab as brittle as the tops are. I've got three that are too big for the machine to cut that I'll have to hand fall. I considered leaving them but the kids play in the woods. Keep an eye on the top all the time while falling.

mesquite buckeye · April 28, 2013, 03:41:53 PM

Just glad you are OK and the tree is safely down.

I always hook up my back leaners with the big come along before starting. Only got hit on the head one time so far. ;D

Magicman · April 28, 2013, 03:54:11 PM

Glad that you got-er-down Danny.

My friend, Wayne Smith, here in Brookhaven has three different patents on a tree pusher invention that solves those felling problems: http://www.google.com/patents/US7891390

millwright · April 28, 2013, 05:48:19 PM

I use a small porta power with a duckbill on it for large leaners, for smaller ones I built a pike pole with an old fashioned ratchet car jack attached to the bottom, you jamb the point of the pole into the tree and the jack end into the ground.

Magicman · April 28, 2013, 06:56:41 PM

The trick is to keep if from twisting or turning on either end. You can dot an i with that setup.

GAB · April 28, 2013, 08:24:41 PM

The last fence line leaner that I took down I put a choker chain as high as I dared to climb and attached the winch cable to it. Notched the tree and then put some tension on it. Then started to cut the back side for a ways, added more tension and then cut until it went in the tugged or persuaded direction. Note: I did stay above the wires.
WDH: 1.) Are you going to shelve the wedges so as to remind yourself of your experience. In any case they should make for some interesting conversations. 2.) Had you used lag bolts instead of screws do you think your jack set up would have worked? Gerald

WDH · April 28, 2013, 09:28:50 PM

Yes, I bet 5" lag screws would have probably held as long as the wood platforms did not split and fail first.

Ron Scott · April 28, 2013, 09:44:56 PM

A good recovery, well done.

Peter Drouin · April 29, 2013, 06:25:00 AM

Im glad your ok,and you did a good job to get it down, but with all the land and good green trees you have . don't make it hard on your self, this time in your life it should be fun, leave the dead trees for the bugs, I have walk around trees like that and cut an easy one :D :D :D

WDH · April 29, 2013, 07:32:03 AM

Now that is sound advice, for sure ;D.

thecfarm · April 29, 2013, 07:37:25 AM

Quote from: WDH on April 29, 2013, 07:32:03 AM
Now that is sound advice, for sure ;D.

Yes,it is. But where is the sense of adventure in that? ;D We have all been in a mess like that. And don't I hate it and know better everytime it hapens.

grweldon · April 29, 2013, 08:40:34 AM

Quote from: WDH on April 28, 2013, 09:28:50 PM
Yes, I bet 5" lag screws would have probably held as long as the wood platforms did not split and fail first.

This is the first thing that went through my mind... 1/2 or larger lag screws, but then again, the pressure required to push the tree most-likely would have split the wood that was secured to the tree.

I think the pocket was a great idea!