55.5" Willow oak Removal

[Winch]

55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Well, it's day finally came. This is the story of a removal that has been in the works for several years now. The tree was an original planting on the Biltmore Estate, and was situated very close to the 55" cucumber magnolia that I posted here 1.5 years ago. Actually, you can see this tree in the background from that photolog in some of the pictures. Weirdly, that 'cuke mag was removed exactly 1.5 years ago, to the day. Same diameter (55"), same area. Anyway, I have a bunch of pictures to share.

I will start with some pics from 2.5 years ago, summer and the tree looks beautiful.

The second photo shows our climber, Johnny, performing some end-weight reduction.

Soon after our EWR activities, the tree decided to do some of its own "pruning," much to our chagrin:

So we decided to do a little "checkup" with the (borrowed, at the time) Resistograph:

Even the roots weren't safe from the mighty resistograph!

Nor the crown:

The resistograph gave the tree a clean bill of health. But there were other clues that this tree may not be 100% healthy:

The next year, in winter, we came back to do some further end weight reduction, and found more bad stuff:

Note the paths below the hollow by my boot:

A major winter storm happened Dec. 18, 2009, and brought down more branches from this stately old tree. Branches that had had significant EWR performed on them, sometimes even twice before. We talked about it, and made the ultimate decision. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago.

This tree was Awesome:

Stuff growing on trees is cool:

Right?

 

[Winch]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

So you know what is coming, I will post more later, out of time for now.

 

[Winch]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

So we decided to remove it. We started on a Friday morning with a whole lotta heavy tip-tying and balancing. There were loads of targets underneath.

The next picture shows some of the rot that had us worried:

Jake and Johnny waiting for the next piece...

Some of the chonkers we were lowering...

View from above, and our two-block system:

And what was left by noon the second day (about 8 hours in)...

Two days later, we had our crane company of choice come in and set up. I didn't take pictures of the way in, but let me tell you it was no piece of cake. About 35 sheets of plywood and Alturnamats were utilized, and maybe fifteen people leap-frogging the crane.

The following picture shows our 395xp with 44" bar, about to be totally submerged in the cut:

And why I had to go back to the chiropractor yesterday...

And away it goes...

The following few pics show the heaviest piece, at 11,000 lbs. We bought the slings based on this weight/size.

Not one-handing here, the tip of the bar was pinched, "cable up!"...

I gotta say, it wasn't pretty on the crane getting the piece to lay down. But I wasn't the crane operator...

Just one more piece before that nice little stump...

And now for the hour-long stump cut...

Fly away little stump!

And the stump. You can see our 6' bar for our 3120. Not a fun bar to use. Taking this tree out was a good call, due to the crack that ran to both side of the tree from the hole. It was bound to fail at some point soon.

 

[Dan_Watkins]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

mint pictures

 

[chris_girard]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Awesome job!

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos too.

 

[Starlet]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

great job and fantastic pictures.

 

[treehumper]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Great presentation. Job well done!!

 

[Ambur]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Wow! Great job!

 

[Tr33Climb3r]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Awesome stuff!

 

[MnDLawn]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Very nice job.

 

[southsoundtree]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

SaWeet!

 

[Winch]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Thanks, all. No questions?

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Nice pics of the process. It would be a treat to use that bucket truck on a tree like that.

You're too generous for the stump grinder crew. I'd never cut that low. (I also hate dulling a nicely sharpened saw).

 

[Winch]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Well, we contract the stump out to a company called "Stumpy Beavers." My man Bill Griffin owns the company, I use him for all of my side work stumps as well. Great guy, charged us $408.00 for the stump in question. I think that is pretty reasonable.

Oh yeah, Jamin - I wonder how long another crew (sans bucket) would have taken to remove this monster. Those cuts with the 385 (36"), 395(44"), and 3120(44" and 72") would have SUCKED.

I do plenty of big climbing removals both here and outside of the Estate, and let me tell you a bucket not only makes things easier and more efficient, but safer for both the climber (and their back), and the ground crew.

 

[Reg]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Great work, great photo's winch.

Do you use back handled saw's the whole time for bucket/removal work? if so which?

Would there have been aything to gain by using a crane for the entire tree as opposed to just the logs? Thanks

 

[Winch]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

Reg,

We would have loved to use a crane for the entire removal, but the access was sooooo tight that we couldn't get the chipper, dump trucks, crane, and bucket all in at the same time.

For this particular removal, I started with a Husq 346, quickly moved to a 575, then with the crane went to the 385, 395, and 3120. I may have used a Stihl 650 somewhere in there as well, but not as much as the Husqys.

 

[climbncut]

Re: 55.5\" Willow oak Removal

That was a beautiful tree! Nice pics! Didn't realize how big it actually was until you used the big bar on the big wood