Felling Trees

[pierre girard]

Not sure this fits into bushcraft skills for this forum, but it is defintely on the list locally.

I have a lot of old popple on my place. Tops are starting to die, and that is a sure sign they'll be blowing down soon. I've dropped a few, but one tree, on the north end of the property, is slanted over a neighbor's outbuilding. I've planted a lot of siberian spruce to either side of this tree. They are about three to four foot high now, and I'd hate to loose any, so I'd like to drop this tree with a lot of care.

My brother is coming out tomorrow and we are going to take it down. There is one siberian spruce right in the way so we will stack logs in front of that to break the fall and hopefully save the spruce. My brother will bring his spikes so he can climb the tree and attach a rope up high. We'll attach the rope to a one ton 4X4 and keep tension on to pull the tree in the right direction. I'll make a slant cut on the far side of the tree so it is unable to fall in the direction of the neighbor's building.

If that doesn't look like it will work, we'll have to cut the tree limb by limb, roping off each piece to the trunk and lower it by rope.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Good luck Pierre,
I've heard of it being done but never "over" someone elses buildings!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[GreenManOfTheSouth]

yee . . .a, hope it goes well, was dropping branches (not even trees!) the other day for my old man, needless to say, despite a grapple belayed round a coupple of posts and a burly bro hangin on the end, still ended up with a dent in my ladder and a snapped 6 inch fence post
Best of luck mate - given its ova a building i would say bring at least the most part of it down piece by piece

 

[pierre girard]

All went well. My brother thought it would be too heavy with the top, so he spiked up to the first large crotch and cut the top. He cut a "pie" from the side on the direction in which he wanted to top to drop and started on his back cut. Wind came up and blew against the back cut, trapping the saw. As he'd been careful to go slow with the back cut, he threw the rope, weighted by a billet of wood, over a higher branch, and a friend and I were able to pull the top in the right direction. Over it went. didn't break off any of the small spruce trees.

We hooked the rope to the main part of the trucnk and attached the other end to a one ton van. I reversed, and as my brother cut the base of the tree, I kept tension on the rope. Over it went in the right direction, and again, spared my small spruce.

Everything missed the neighbor's building - a very good thing.

(the tree was leaning right over the roof of the building in the photo)

 

[BorderReiver]

Nicely done Pierre.

I'm sure your neighbour was relieved when you had finished the job.

 

[pierre girard]

Nicely done Pierre.

I'm sure your neighbour was relieved when you had finished the job.

I waited until he was gone. He is from London and gets way too excited about such things.

Tough to see in the photo, but the tree in question was about twice as thick - and a third again as high - as the standing birch to the right in the photo. Should make about a rick of fire wood.

 

[Wills]

I've got to dig out a mate's tree stumps tomorrow. they are lleyandii (sp?).

Looks like you had fun. I find that theres more to tree felling than simply hacking it down. Its very hard work too.( well for a damp flannel like me .)

Wills

 

[bambodoggy]

I've got to dig out a mate's tree stumps tomorrow. they are lleyandii (sp?)

That'll be fun for you...especially in this weather!!!! Dig as wide a hole as you can coz they've always got deeper root bowls than you think they are going to have! lol (I speak from bitter personal experience )

Have you thought about nipping to HSS or similar and hiring a stump grinder....believe me it's well worth doing.....

I grind stumps out as a large part of my working day (when I'm not climbing and felling trees) and to give you an idea of what a pain they can be if I have to dig it then I quadruple the quote for grinding and then add some

If you lived closer I'd offer to help but Essex is a bit of a trip I'm affraid

Pierre, nice one on getting it all down safely....think you did the wise thing in reducing it before it was felled

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[pierre girard]

I've got to dig out a mate's tree stumps tomorrow. they are lleyandii (sp?).

Wills

When we do this, we leave the stump about four foot high as a kind of lever. We dig down on one side to a large root, attach a cable to the root, run it over the top of the stump and run it to a 20 ton winch attached to another tree. As the winch pulls the roots out (very slowly) we cut those one at a time. Best to have an axe you don't care to much about.

The winch is from the 19th century and is a hand cranked affair with several gears or speeds. Pulling out stumps requires the lowest gear. It is a lot of work, but every time I check on getting one ground up - the price tag decides me I'd best do it myself.

On the farm, we would use dynamite to remove stumps, and by the time I was 15 I was, if not an expert, at least familiar enough with it to blow a stump out of the ground without shattering all the windows in the barn. Today, with all the concern about explosives, I'm not even sure how hard it would be to get hold of some. At that time, you just went to the hardware store and bought it - like any other farm tool.

 

[Wills]

Thank you for your help.

I'm by no means a skilled person in this( just helping out a friend), and wouldn't even think about chopping a large tree.

The stumps came out okay, still hard work though.

We left the height at 4 or 5 foot. Then dug around the stump about 3 foot diameter.
Any roots are cut at the stump and at the edge of the pit and removed.
Eventually the stump starts moving and we lever it in all directions untill its free.

Just lucky they are small 4 to 6 inch trees!

Wills

 

[bambodoggy]

Just lucky they are small 4 to 6 inch trees!

I took out a 3 foot diametre Sweet Chestnut stump last thursday......all on my own (Well, I did have a little help from one of my Bandits ).

Glad to hear they came out ok for you

Bam.

 

[Wills]

:yikes: :aargh4: i want a bandit!!

 

[bambodoggy]

Lol...it's just a big remote controlled toy! lol

This is it at work:

 

[JonnyP]

Lol...it's just a big remote controlled toy! lol

This is it at work:

Just remember, you need strong ramps for it Bam

 

[bambodoggy]

Nahh, that one wasn't my machine remember

 

[Buckshot]

I took out a 3 foot diametre Sweet Chestnut stump last thursday......all on my own (Well, I did have a little help from one of my Bandits ).

Glad to hear they came out ok for you

Bam.

When I read that I thought you'd pulled it out on the back of a motorbike!!!

 

[EdS]

I got to admit I'd favour my grandfathers method of removing tree stumps - but then agin he was a shot putter in a local quarry