Bombing Redwood Chunks

[poetmk]

If anyone has some experience with coastal redwood wood I have a question. I've removed plenty of these things but exclusively in tight spaces where bombing a 15'-20' long 15"- 40" diameter piece from 100'+ was never an option. It (is) at this job. The person wants to mill the wood from 15" up. The question is whether or not the wood will crack/split from such a height? Here's a few pics to give an idea of the tree. Felling the whole thing isn't an option - to many obstacles a ways out.

Thanks in advance!

Matthew

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

Depends on how it lands and how clean the DZ is kept. If the log hits others on the ground or lands flat (like a belly flop) I would think you would a better chance of splintering them.

 

[stihl076]

you could dump a couple of truck loads of chips on the drop zone to cushion the fall but then you would have the task of cleaning it up after your done.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

you could dump a couple of truck loads of chips on the drop zone to cushion the fall but then you would have the task of cleaning it up after your done.

Or spread them out and charge for mulching!

 

[LimbLoppa]

Would it be possible to rig them to an adjacent tree?

 

[Drewtree]

I've seen some chunks of eucalyptus hit the deck from 100' and not break, it all depends how it lands, and the properties of the wood.

 

[Kris Anderson]

Tip tie em to another tree and lower?

 

[Daniel]

not sure about redwoods but I don't recall ever cracking a piece coming off a spar... its mostly when there are limbs that get tweaked hard, that has enough leverage to split the big wood...

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Slower turn on hinge/ just fast enough for clean break,
hands off to line that controls acceleration but allows fall to ground,
(takes confident, gloved hands)
into soft landing pad of branches, chips, covered pile of dead tires etc.
.
line could hand off softly or share load to another tree,
but would watch angles and try to keep any loaded line
much less than 30degrees(5/7 o'clock) deflection from vertical hang (6 o'clock).
.
would NOT rig line from 1 tree as 'support'
to pulley on climbing tree
as cross axis pull on spars would draw both tops together...
.
All day/ every day;
unless bowline etc. hitch on load spar
meets perpendicularly
(spar perfect balance horizontal, no sidewards pulls from shared supports etc.)
>>would always and all ways precede Bowline w/halfHitch or marl in direction of pull.

"To withstand a lengthwise pull without slipping is about the most
that can be asked of a hitch..."
-Ashley Book of Knots/knotting bible ,
chapter_21 HITCHES TO SPAR AND RAIL (RIGHT-ANGLE PULL)
separate dedicated chapter to this unique angle of pull rope isn't maximized to

ALL hitches in chapter show some kind of preceding halfHitch or marl;
or even Chinese finger puzzle imagery of grip (Dunlap-ism),
that carry to our friction hitches;
as inline pulls by line on a host lifeline
(instead of spar but same mechanical angle of pull thru same device/rope to a host mounting)

 

[erik smith]

I been chunking down big redwoods for decades. All this talk of lowering logs is silly. Take a log tape up in the tree with you so you not wasting any wood. If the logs are going to be milled then you need to leave 6" of trim for short logs (20 feet and under) and a foot of trim for long logs. So a 32 foot log is actually cut at 33 feet, and a 12 foot log is actually cut at 12 foot 6 inches. Obviously there is a relationship between how high you are and how long of a log you can get to land flat. Thats where expertise and experience come in. Hit your lie and stay away from other logs or stumps you should be good to go! Enjoy.

 

[BOTS]

Ive done plenty of Red's and never seen one crack or split, but ive never gone really big because of lack of DZ room

Find out what sizes they want....smaller is better at heights....

 

[poetmk]

I been chunking down big redwoods for decades. All this talk of lowering logs is silly. Take a log tape up in the tree with you so you not wasting any wood. If the logs are going to be milled then you need to leave 6" of trim for short logs (20 feet and under) and a foot of trim for long logs. So a 32 foot log is actually cut at 33 feet, and a 12 foot log is actually cut at 12 foot 6 inches. Obviously there is a relationship between how high you are and how long of a log you can get to land flat. Thats where expertise and experience come in. Hit your lie and stay away from other logs or stumps you should be good to go! Enjoy.

Thanks everyone - especially Erik Smith ! My concern was the initial 4 chunks which started falling from 180'. First one was only 10"-12" diameter as about 14' long: it disintegrated when it hit - but I figured it would all the rest no problem at all. Infact, I got three 15'rs to rotate exactly the same 1x end over end and land in the exact hole - the 3rd one almost stayed on end before it slowly fell over

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[erik smith]

Good work! Most of my work is chunking down large trees for millable logs. There a many ways to manipulate the flight of a large log. The height and depth of undercut, undershoot or overshot backcutts, and the moment of weightlessness when you can increase or slow down the flipping by grabbing onto the butt are just a few examples. I have been blessed to have lived for 50+ years in the Redwoods of northern California, and there is no place like it on earth.