Heavy leaner needs to come down sideways.

[dmonn]

My next door neighbor has a "half tree" that he wants down. The "left half" came down on its own. The remaining half needs to come down approximately perpendicular to the lean. The full tree was 26 inches dbh. If it comes down in the direction of the lean he could lose part of his garage.

My thought was to add a guy line up above mid-height for leverage and tension hard against the lean. I would add a pull line in the direction I want it to fall and put a little tension on it before cutting. I would make a typical face cut 70-ish degrees and leave a pretty thick tapered hinge. I would have the pull line attached to a truck and hopefully pull it over before gravity would take it down in the direction of lean.

It's a heavy tree so I plan on using a double line for the guy--a 5/8" and a 1/2". I don't have anything bigger. The pull line would be 1/2" since it won't require a ton of force to just pull the tree over.

I'm looking for suggestions and critiques.

Photos attached.

 

[Treetopflyer]

What are you using for a back stay on the guy lines?

 

[Njdelaney]

Looks like a Mulberry maybe? Your plan sounds good to me. If it is a Mulberry, the hinge wood is strong so that's working in your favor. You could also take as many limbs off the "wrong" side as possible, increasing your pull in the preferred direction.

 

[dmonn]

What are you using for a back stay on the guy lines?

I'll be using a 48 inch soil anchor (disc type), hopefully buried all the way to the eye.

 

[Serf Life]

I don’t have experience with a soil anchor used like that, sounds iffy given the lean but maybe it’s ample? I quite like sizwheels, never 100% depend on them, and lots of variables if they engage, but another option to stack the deck in your favor. Norway maple? If so they are brittle as fuck compared to other maples. Looks like a good bucket truck or crane tree…

 

[chiselbit]

It would benefit you to get rid of as much weight as you can, could you guy it and then get up there and bomb some stuff out?

 

[dmonn]

I don’t have experience with a soil anchor used like that, sounds iffy given the lean but maybe it’s ample? I quite like sizwheels, never 100% depend on them, and lots of variables if they engage, but another option to stack the deck in your favor. Norway maple? If so they are brittle as fuck compared to other maples. Looks like a good bucket truck or crane tree…

A sizwheel looks interesting, but this is not a good tree for me to try something new. It's definitely not a maple. It has compound leaves. That also rules out mulberry. I suck at tree identification. I tried to key it out and kept coming up with ash. Since the tree is still alive I can't imagine it's an ash. The leaves look like black walnut, but my neighbor says it's not a walnut. I'm stumped on the ID.
I agree that this one might best be done with a bucket truck.

 

[flushcut]

I would piece it apart. Norway maples hinge for shit.

 

[dmonn]

It would benefit you to get rid of as much weight as you can, could you guy it and then get up there and bomb some stuff out?

My wife says "NO!" Two years ago I would have done that. I've had some "old guy health issues" since then and to save my marriage I had to promise my wife that I would no longer climb trees. That's been very frustrating for me but I can see her concern.

 

[Jehinten]

I think that may be a boxelder. It looks bigger than they normally get here. You can confirm by cutting a couple of limbs. There will be red streaks in the grain. Or if your neighbor remembers from cleaning up the other half. Brittle wood with pretty weak hinge. I'd try not to fell one leaning like that with something valuable in the path.

With no climbing, how about a tow behind lift rental? They go up to 50 feet, that'd likely do the whole tree, but even if it doesn't reach the top, it'll remove a considerable amount of side weight before falling.

 

[Dan Thornton]

My next door neighbor has a "half tree" that he wants down. The "left half" came down on its own. The remaining half needs to come down approximately perpendicular to the lean. The full tree was 26 inches dbh. If it comes down in the direction of the lean he could lose part of his garage.

My thought was to add a guy line up above mid-height for leverage and tension hard against the lean. I would add a pull line in the direction I want it to fall and put a little tension on it before cutting. I would make a typical face cut 70-ish degrees and leave a pretty thick tapered hinge. I would have the pull line attached to a truck and hopefully pull it over before gravity would take it down in the direction of lean.

It's a heavy tree so I plan on using a double line for the guy--a 5/8" and a 1/2". I don't have anything bigger. The pull line would be 1/2" since it won't require a ton of force to just pull the tree over.

I'm looking for suggestions and critiques.

Photos attached.

Your plan sounds safe enough, assuming your soil anchor is adequate. If there's any doubt there, you can back up the soil anchor with a rope to a tree or a second soil anchor. Taking off additional weight makes it safer, of course, but not necessary in this case.

 

[flushcut]

Should things go south what’s going to get smashed? Maybe weight that cost against the cost of a rental lift.

 

[SeanRuel]

What's it going to hit if it goes to it's lean, looks like just scrubby landscaping from the posted pictures-

I ask because folks can often get fixated on not damaging stuff that doesn't actually matter/isn't important to anyone

 

[Treetopflyer]

I'll be using a 48 inch soil anchor (disc type), hopefully buried all the way to the eye.

We are in very sandy soil here and I’d require something more to give me more faith! I’ve never tried to guy for felling purposes only utilizing for tree repair and straightening, so I don’t know if you calculate the weight of the tree vs the holding power of that anchor ?? Maybe add a few for back up if you can’t get somthing heavy in that area or a tree to use is usually my luck! It’s looks pretty open is why I asked to begin with. As others have added and that was next question what are we trying to avoid beyond that lean we can’t see!?

 

[Treetopflyer]

You did say compound leaves @dmonn
We don’t have many ash or box elder around here , some not many. It’s half of crown looks like some variety of ash to me, but I do think the hinge ability of the tree play a huge factor in felling side leaners more than any other direction! Haha

 

[TreeCo]

I think that may be a boxelder. It looks bigger than they normally get here. You can confirm by cutting a couple of limbs.

I think your are right. Here's a cropped image of the stump sprouts and it sure looks like boxelder.

 

[TreeCo]

My next door neighbor has a "half tree" that he wants down. The "left half" came down on its own. The remaining half needs to come down approximately perpendicular to the lean. The full tree was 26 inches dbh. If it comes down in the direction of the lean he could lose part of his garage.

My thought was to add a guy line up above mid-height for leverage and tension hard against the lean. I would add a pull line in the direction I want it to fall and put a little tension on it before cutting. I would make a typical face cut 70-ish degrees and leave a pretty thick tapered hinge. I would have the pull line attached to a truck and hopefully pull it over before gravity would take it down in the direction of lean.

It's a heavy tree so I plan on using a double line for the guy--a 5/8" and a 1/2". I don't have anything bigger. The pull line would be 1/2" since it won't require a ton of force to just pull the tree over.

I'm looking for suggestions and critiques.

Photos attached.

I'm not fond of the ground anchor idea. When it fails it is going to be launched towards the person felling the tree with the rope under a lot of tension. It could easily injure or kill.

Something to consider when doing what you have suggested with the guy line is as the tree starts to move does the line get tighter, get looser, or is the geometry such that it remains almost exactly the same? The last would be a good question for the late Dr. Pete D.

I would opt for a geometry that slightly tightened up the guy line as the tree goes over.

Whatever the anchor point is be very concerned about that anchor point being launched towards the tree feller.

PS. Note a chain saw kerf exist about two feet off the ground on the trunk.

If it is chosen to be climbed(my suggestion and others, too) and pieced down a guy line is still a good idea until at least a lot of weight has been removed. Whenever I've climbed a 'sketchy' I am always relived when I've removed my body weight and even more relieved as multiples of my body weight is removed. (5x, 10x, etc.)

 

[Jehinten]

I think your are right. Here's a cropped image of the stump sprouts and it sure looks like boxelder.

View attachment 96421

Full disclosure, I cheated. it looked familiar and I was inclined to agree with mulberry until I looked at the structure of the tree. I've never seen a mulberry with the limbs not all twisted up and interlocked with each other.

I ran it through an ID app that suggested box elder. Then the light bulb came on.

 

[TreeCo]

Full disclosure, I cheated. it looked familiar and I was inclined to agree with mulberry until I looked at the structure of the tree. I've never seen a mulberry with the limbs not all twisted up and interlocked with each other.

I ran it through an ID app that suggested box elder. Then the light bulb came on.

Hey that's not cheating!

Life is an open book test.

 

[ATH]

Hire someone to blow the top out of it and leave....no cleanup, not felling the trunk. That won't take very long so won't be too expensive and could very well save a life and garage.