Problem leaner/barberchair.

D

dmonn

Branched out member
Location
Port Washington Wisconsin
What's the safest approach to bringing this tree down? Dead ash that fell about 30 degrees before getting hung up on another dead ash. No decent crane or lift access, and not enough horsepower from my lawn tractor to just pull the bottom of the broken stem off the stump. I have a rope puller and plenty of rope and blocks to get very creative if needed.
 

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Most of your options here will be based on what kind of targets, if any, are below/around this leaning tree. Is it just the woods, and you can crash the tree down?
 
I can crash the tree down in the direction it is leaning, but it would have to slide down along other dead ash trees. No sensitive targets in that direction, but some nearby in the opposite direction.

One thought I had was to cut off the upper "splinter", then pull the tree more upright so the remaining piece of the stem breaks from the more vertical force. I would guy it from both sides so it doesn't fall off to the side. I think the tree would just slide off the stump opposite the direction of lean. Other thoughts?
 
I have no clue on the site or your skill. I’d consider walking it down, or felling the one it’s hung up in.
 
Felling the tree the leaner is hung up in seems sketchy to me. I would be right under the upper part of the leaner while working on the one it's hung up on.

I have decent "Advanced beginner" cutting skills. I've removed about 300 trees in the last four years or so, most of them ash, and all of them done solo.

By "walking it down " do you mean cutting the stem one piece at a time from the bottom up and letting the rest drop a few feet at a time? I don't think I would get more than a few feet cut before the remaining tree would be vertical and unstable.
 
You said there are other dead trees nearby , is there one that you could fall into the leaner and knock the whole mess down? Keeping in mind of course that dead tops can fold backwards when they hit other trees and come back at you.
 
dmonn said:
Felling the tree the leaner is hung up in seems sketchy to me. I would be right under the upper part of the leaner while working on the one it's hung up on.

I have decent "Advanced beginner" cutting skills. I've removed about 300 trees in the last four years or so, most of them ash, and all of them done solo.

By "walking it down " do you mean cutting the stem one piece at a time from the bottom up and letting the rest drop a few feet at a time? I don't think I would get more than a few feet cut before the remaining tree would be vertical and unstable.
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You can walk it down with face cuts and even use pull lines, but this might not be an ‘advanced’ beginner tree. You said the tree it’s hung in is also a dead ash, I know squat about ash but I do know what I’ve heard is they turn to shit quick from EAB. Around here it’s not uncommon to climb the support tree and piece out the broken/uprooted one but not an advanced beginner move.
you are very much correct on both of the risks from felling the support tree and or walking the broken one down
 
chiselbit said:
You said there are other dead trees nearby , is there one that you could fall into the leaner and knock the whole mess down? Keeping in mind of course that dead tops can fold backwards when they hit other trees and come back at you.
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I'll look and see tomorrow. Because the leaner in question isn't leaning all that far (30 degrees from vertical), it's going to take a pretty good bump to bring it down that way.
 
evo said:
You can walk it down with face cuts and even use pull lines, but this might not be an ‘advanced’ beginner tree. You said the tree it’s hung in is also a dead ash, I know squat about ash but I do know what I’ve heard is they turn to shit quick from EAB. Around here it’s not uncommon to climb the support tree and piece out the broken/uprooted one but not an advanced beginner move.
you are very much correct on both of the risks from felling the support tree and or walking the broken one down
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I've climbed support trees and pieced them out, but no way will I climb an EAB killed ash around here. This tree was 9.5 inch DBH and came down in a 50 mph wind. Very few of the other trees had issues with the wind. Just a few more ash trees, and they're not so problematic.

A tree that's uprooted and down all the way is pretty straightforward. One's that's completely snapped off and down is the same. One that's cut but hung up is also not too bad to deal with. I've done that several times to prevent damaging a sensitive target. A barberchaired tree is something I've only dealt with a few times, and not often enough for me to be able to predict what will happen when I cut it. Too many odd forces at play, so I'm being super cautious. I'm trying to avoid cutting, and would prefer to bring it down from a distance or a redirect, and just using mechanical advantage.
 
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rico said:
Since you are here asking I am gonna assume you are not completely confident that your cutting skills are up to the task... Why not set a line in that thing and pull it down...Should come fairly easily.
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I've tried the "pull it down" method several times in similar situations (not with one that had barberchaired), and not had much success. There are too many nearby trees, and the tops just get more tangled. Rigging a pull line through a block fairly high up in a nearby tree has worked pretty well, where the rigging tree is in line but away from the direction of fall. This takes a lot of the weight off the butt of the tree and allows it to sort of slide down gradually as the butt end is pulled away from the stump. Unfortunately in this spot no such rigging tree is available.
 
Ash in our neck of the woods tend to break off at the ground due to rot, or to barber chair, and it doesn't take much of a lean for a dead Ash to barberchair. What about ratcheting it back together with a big strap a foot or two above the break and then felling it as you would have if it wasn't barber chaired? You have to have a clear idea of the forces on the top where it is hung up but that would at least eliminate or mitigate one variable.
 
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