Hanging a tree on purpose.

[dmonn]

I've got a lot of dead ash trees in my woods (EAB) that are too far gone to be safe to climb. I have other trees in the woods that I don't want damaged by either letting the ash trees come down on their own or dropping them from the ground. I've tried deliberately leaning an ash against another tree and then cutting pieces off the bottom. It worked OK, but once it got close to vertical pulling the bottom away from the tree it was leaning against seemed like a safer way to work the rest of the tree. At close to vertical it seemed too unpredictable to cut from the ground. As long as I kept some decent lean to it, the behavior when cutting seemed pretty predictable. Is this an OK way to drop a tree? Most of the trees I'm cutting are less than 16 inch DBH. To pull the bottom away I used a rigging line from near the bottom of the cut tree up to a rigging block 10-15 ft above ground on a nearby tree, then to a 2:1 Maasdam rope puller setup 90 degrees from the direction of pull on the bottom of the cut tree. That put me out of the danger zone when working the rope puller.

 

[Phil]

I've got a lot of dead ash trees in my woods (EAB) that are too far gone to be safe to climb. I have other trees in the woods that I don't want damaged by either letting the ash trees come down on their own or dropping them from the ground. I've tried deliberately leaning an ash against another tree and then cutting pieces off the bottom. It worked OK, but once it got close to vertical pulling the bottom away from the tree it was leaning against seemed like a safer way to work the rest of the tree. At close to vertical it seemed too unpredictable to cut from the ground. As long as I kept some decent lean to it, the behavior when cutting seemed pretty predictable. Is this an OK way to drop a tree? Most of the trees I'm cutting are less than 16 inch DBH. To pull the bottom away I used a rigging line from near the bottom of the cut tree up to a rigging block 10-15 ft above ground on a nearby tree, then to a 2:1 Maasdam rope puller setup 90 degrees from the direction of pull on the bottom of the cut tree. That put me out of the danger zone when working the rope puller.

That seems fine. Was the 2:1 necessary in addition to the masdam? The masdam gives 10:1 on its own. Adding a 2:1 means you're cranking twice as much. That's alot of extra work if it's not needed. You could probably keep the redirect block lower to the ground as well. Say chest height. If you're installing it 10-15 feet up, I'm assuming you need a ladder or some sort of way to reach that high. As long as the redirect block is higher than where you tie the rope to the butt of the tree, you should get an upward lift.

How are you cutting the bottom of the intentionally hung up tree prior to using the masdam? Are you doing a top notch and then undercut?

My consideration for how to handle getting a hung tree like that on the ground kinda revolves around how bad it's canopy is hung up. Sometimes branches nest just right and it's like trying to pry apart two flat lego pieces.

 

[Daniel]

should work well as long as you make good cuts...

getting the but to kick back away from the target tree with a nice triggered cut that trips when pulled is the trick.

only other thought is use equipment to pull rather than cranking by hand

 

[dmonn]

Thanks for the input. Trees are too close together for a vehicle for that tree, but that's the other possibility for some of the other trees. I used a 2:1 with the Maasdam because sometimes I could pull by hand, but sometimes needed the extra to lift the butt over an obstruction.

When a tree is hung, to take pieces from the butt end I do a top notch and undercut. The hinge keeps the trunk from kicking sideways. For the tree in question, I also installed a rigging line (from the ground) around dead canopy branches and broke them off to reduce how tight the top might wedge into the tree it leaned against.

 

[Daniel]

Use redirects with vehicle pulling... easy peasy

 

[dmonn]

Use redirects with vehicle pulling... easy peasy

Just watching you make that cut made my old shoulders hurt!

 

[rico]

Nothing more than a simple slice cut/salami cut, which he managed to make look difficult and complicated...Certainly no need to cut above your head like he did, and as usual a sharp saw certainly would have helped...

 

[Brocky]

When the tree gets more vertical, put notch on bottom and back cut on top, then push it away from tree. It can also be steered by placing notches to one side or other to try to roll it out of the other tree.

 

[dmonn]

I'll try that to see how it behaves on a smallish tree. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[SingleJack]

 

[dmonn]

Sweet. It looks like you had to climb the rigging tree to set things up. In some cases I could do something similar, but sometimes the only nearby trees are pretty sketchy for climbing. They'd also be dead ash. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to set the rigging from the ground. I've got a ring and ring sling I made using 3/4 inch Tenex Tec and x-rigging rings that might help. It'll be a fun project to figure it out. Fortunately I have time to play with ideas.

 

[Jehinten]

I will also rig whole smaller trees out like the video above when it makes sense. For me though I like to make the removal cut as close to the ground as possible. This lets the butt of the trunk sit on the ground and reduce the load on the rigging point, and has a less dynamic loading of the rigging system. From there you can take off little pieces until the weight is fully transferred to the rigging system, then proceed as usually with either piecing it out or lowering it.

It looks like you had to climb the rigging tree to set things up. In some cases I could do something similar, but sometimes the only nearby trees are pretty sketchy for climbing.

I know extra considerations are given to climbing situations than rigging as it is considered life support, but I'm my mind they are very similar. Often bad things happen when rigging breaks... my point being if a tree is too sketchy to climb up and set rigging, its likely not a good candidate to rig out of. If its simply some brittle limbs up there that you don't trust and it is a future removal, you can set a rope up high and use it to break out the brittle limbs before setting the rigging

 

[dmonn]

Good thoughts. Thanks.

 

[SingleJack]

Sweet. It looks like you had to climb the rigging tree to set things up. In some cases I could do something similar, but sometimes the only nearby trees are pretty sketchy for climbing. They'd also be dead ash. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to set the rigging from the ground. I've got a ring and ring sling I made using 3/4 inch Tenex Tec and x-rigging rings that might help. It'll be a fun project to figure it out. Fortunately I have time to play with ideas.

All that rigging was set from the ground … no climbing that day.

 

[SeanRuel]

Rigging trees whole is my absolute favorite! With a good high strong rigging point you can hang some big pieces.

Steering descent like Brocky said. Can also steer with spear/slash cut, bottom of the point is direction the butt will slide

 

[Daniel]

When a tree is hung, to take pieces from the butt end I do a top notch and undercut. The hinge keeps the trunk from kicking sideways.

Gravity will take the but straight down.. there is no force that will take it sideways. So you don't need a hinge for directional control

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Use redirects with vehicle pulling... easy peasy

Handful of slings, carabineers and pulleys can be your friend to redirect force from angle needed.
If 1 ton with good traction, weight loaded in rear
>> can be great help even 100' away as a simple power source.
Whatever portable power chosen should be in its gentle giant powerband
>> overwhelming force to task
>> but only judiciously/ barely applied.