falling a leaning maple

[Gord]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNmNQIoQ5hU
click the 'watch in high quality'

Short clip of a maple we fell sidehill using a guy rope tensioned back to a porty. I lowered a bunch of limbs off the one side to lighten it up a bit a make it fit in the space we had. It's hard to see in the video but there is a bunch a holes with rebar ready to be filled with concrete directly below; that's what's being avoided. Big-leaf maples are really brittle and prone to barber-chair. George is on the saw.

 

[Kevin]

Where was your hold line Gord, in back of the intended lay or off to the side inline with the hinge opposite the lean?

 

[TC]

Gord, its very difficult to understand where the holding rope is, I was expecting to see it fall at right angles to the slope.

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Guys, it looks plain to me that the hold line is 55-70 degrees uphill from the lay. And it did fall perfectly, right across the slope.

Schweet work, Gord....that's "gruflock" running the saw, right? Is he a relative?

That would be a good scenario for a full static line, as long as the PW guy pays out some line as needed to reduce shockloading. My 19 k line (only 9/16th) is safe to use repeatedly at a very high percentage of tensile. But the 12 strand spectra would be even better, 24k at only 1/2 inch, and super light! You guys wanna buy 300 feet of it? Lots cheaper than retail!! Any of yous derelicks comin' to Boise? Bring me your virgins of age (female persuasion of course), and we could cut a heck of a deal....

Say, ya'll got any of them puny saws woods ported yet?

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

It's always a blast when falling a leaner in a direction it is not leaning

 

[Gord]

Here's a little diagram. Grufrock is my youtube account Roger. George (the guy with the saw) is who I work for.

I've got a 110' length of 3/4" Amsteel Blue that I've been looking for a use for. A while ago I used it to swing a 170' Doug-fir that had leaned over (root rot) a fairway at a local golf-course, it was leaning a good 25 degrees of vertical. The superintendent us asked to damage the fairway as little as possible...the amsteel held it back so hard it stayed in the bush. They thought it was magic, ha!

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Well, at an average strength of 90,800 lb, I reckon that little line would hold up a coupla firs that size, eh?!

So, ya comin' to Boise? Did ya ask George if ya'll could use that 1/2 inch line?

Wow, your diagram shows the hold line at 180 degrees off from the lean, and 135 degrees from the lay....

From the direction you show the lean, I can see that my guess that the pull line was just 50-70 off from the lay wouldn't have held it. Seems to me that 90 degrees off would have....Are you certain that the hold line was 180 off? Seems like less would have been more optimum. Likely the choice of anchors was limited.

I done similar tasks a few times. It does take some thought as to where the best placement of the hold line is, for sure. And, I think I can see that perhaps the way ya'll did it was the best. Just maybe needed a pull line of good wedges to get it started falling to 45 up from the lean.

'xcuse my ramblings.....