Fellling an entire tree

Large tree felling in residential neighborhoods is my absoulute favorite part of this work.

If you're not comfortable with making the drop, don't do it. If someone can make you more comfortable, seek their help. If you wan't I'll come out to Colorado, we can go skiing, drop big stinky cottonwoods, then go skiing again!

FISTA courses may be available in your area. May be worth checking into...
 
The back strap trip is very useful for a heavy head leaner but not something I use on balanced or backleaning trees.

Tom, Wedges are very useful and habitually setting one into the backcut to prevent set back is a good practice. Quite a bit of lift CAN be obtained with multiple wedges with a considerable movement of the top, however, stacking more than two is NOT the way I advise trying to overcome a backlean in residential work. In a forest setting using many wedges may be worth trying and utilizing a hydraulic jack can achieve moving a huge tree toward a lay that can't be achieved with wedges alone, but where "targets" like homes exist setting a line and utilizing the tree's length as a moment arm is more reliable and secure. Pounding on wedges for extreme lift sets up shockwaves and stresses the hinge in ways that a pull on the top does not, increasing the possibility of breakig the hinge before the tree is committed to the lay and losing control.
 
Ive thought about that. Seems that having a line set higher and having a pull farther from the tree on the line would exert less static load to the tree verse pounding wedges that really take up allot of force pushing up the tree where the weight and forces are greatest. I dont stack wedges on top of each other but bore about an inch away from another bore below the back cut and drive the wedges in the bores that way. The trees weight keeps the wedges in and the wood inbetween the wedges breaks and acts as another wedge in the mix.

Zac, I like the way you think, if I could fund it you would be here. I think A-basin is already rollin but I may be mistaken. Lots of other stuff to do.

I dont see how your going to fit a bottle jack in the back cut with out a whole lot of extra cutting.

Lastly I wouldn't say I feel uncomfortable dropping the bad boy, but that second sense definetly kicked in. You know the one? A healthy sense of something greater than me.
 
Play around with it a bit, only on trees you're comfortable with.

I think you'll be amazed at how much tree you can move with little effort.

Oh.....Don't forget to back up the jack with wedges on the trickier trees.

Be careful though bud, I'm far from an expert when comes to using a jack. Pretty sure Jerry has a book with useful info for you.
 
From your description the issue is the amount of weight to the house side of the tree and causing the centre of gravity to shift to the one side of the hinge. You can set your tag line to pull in a counter direction to that load. Or put in a secondary line that will keep the tree from falling in the direction of the house. Your concern over the tag line snapping suggests you may not have a rope with ample safe working load capacity. Make the investment in a line that can handle the anticipated load.

Post some pics!
 
no one mentioned wind yet. on a big tree just a slight wind can make a big difference quick. to quote kenny rogers,"you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run" "i love to loudly proclaim "eight ball corner pocket"during the few seconds of silence after a big tree hits the ground when several people are watching it land in a small space.always use a pull line.and if your pulling with a truck,remember if you pull hard enough, your back wheels leave the ground if you hook to the bumper, ive seen trucks go backwards as the tree went the wrong way, rear wheels off the ground as soon as enough tension was applied. a company i used to work for hired an 80 ton wrecker from time to time to pull over residential leaners. had a climber put in a strap, hook up the winch cable,notch the base, tension up the cable and make the backcut. works great,lol.
 
Bottle jacks aren't the best choice. Their seals aren't good enough to take the load that might be generated if a tree made a setback or wobble. Use Silveys or stick with wedges/pull line/proper face-backcuts.
 
The other thing to think about, if using a bottle jack, is the little amount of surface area the jack has. Think about the little one inch diameter (or so) head. I can visualize it simply plunging into the wood. So, perhaps a cheap fix for that would be to weld a 4"x4" metal plate to it for more surface area.

I'm guessing that is why Silvey jacks are designed that way.
smirk.gif
 
Yes, yes, pictures I know.....I dont know how to shrink my files enough to post a pic. If anyone can steer me in the right direction youll get you taste buds treated with a pic.

If i can post a pic of this one i have another potential feller with even more uneven distribution of weight I want you guys to see.
 
sounds like ot much work. agreeable that yes flopping huge tree's is fun. But at the same time doing it safely would be the more appropriate way to go about it. Having the chance for a floor jack to fail or a seal blow to me dosen't sound that promising. Don't know that i personaly would take the risk
 
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