Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Green Acres Homestead]

Here is a 20 second video of my tractor hauling a trailer full of wood.

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[Yogi05]

^^^^^

The problem I see isn't the tree you are concerned with. First you need to notice and deal with that dead maple just to the right of it.

There is a reason why those are called "Widowmakers".

If you aren't comfortable doing it you should call a fully insured professional. The price might seem high at first, but it's always cheaper than a funeral.

Edit; I wouldn't even consider hooking onto it with your tractor, unless you will be at least as far away as the tree is tall. (One reason that I like my winch.)

I have a bunch of dead stuff around like that maple. It's why I don't tramp around my property
I took down a similar dead one in the early winter because it might fall on a shed, or my tractor.
Simply threw a rope on it, and fed the rope around a good tree which gave me a 90 degree angle on the pull. Pulled that one down by hand onto the driveway.
I learned about widow makers quite a few years ago riding my atv through the back of my property. Hit a tree and a large piece broke off the upper part of the trunk
and landed beside me. Would have done me in. I CAREFULLY made my way back home and haven't been back there since.
This one in the pic is on the edge of my driveway as well and I'm trying to increase the size of my parking area. ( the multi-stand of trees it's up against may end up
on the ground in the end, but I'm trying to keep it at the moment.
I have a friend who cuts all the time. I guess I'll get him to take a look.

As far as my hooking it to my tractor, I'm afraid it outweighs the machine and might do unexpected things if it goes the wrong way. I won't be hooking it to, or
lifting/moving it with tractorpower.

 

[Yogi05]

If you think it will slide out of tree's it's wedged in, then at your house you might have a good anchor point (like another tree of good size) that a directional pulley could be attached to.

Then you should be able to pull in another direction.

I don't know if you were considering using cable or rope, but if it were me I'd be using 1/2" static rescue rope, a 4" diameter (minimum) pulley rated for the rope, and connection hardware that's also rated for the rope (all with a safety factor figured in).

I have these items available for me to use, others might have 5/16" or 3/8" cable.

KC

I might have another tree that would be a decent anchor point but it's 50yds or so away, then you'd have to come back toward the leaning tree and beyond to pull it upright. Lots of cable for that.
I wasn't really considering cables/rope or pulleys because it strikes me as too unpredictable.
I mentioned a friend in another reply on this tree and IIRC he has cables, pulleys, and a winch on a big JD tractor he once claimed he could get another huge pine down for me from right beside the house. I'll be asking when I run into him next. That tree has been hanging up like that for a year or two already. Maybe if I wait long enough it will decide for itself when to come down

 

[Jstpssng]

Maybe if I wait long enough it will decide for itself when to come down

As I said before; that isn't the one which you need to worry about. It's hung in the other trees pretty good, and since it's a poplar will shed it's limbs then slowly deteriorate. The maple looks rotten and has been dead for a while, based on the lack of small limbs and the mushrooms on what's left of the bark. It's also free standing, and can come down in any direction, probably in large chunks.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Can someone tell me how to safely take this tree down?
I think trying to use my FEL to move it, either from the top(ish) or bottom, would end badly for me or the tractor, or both.
Can't pull the base away from a distance because there is not enough room (house).
Can't just cut as it stands as far as I know because it could end up anywhere.
I don't really want to take down the stand it is leaning into (piece by piece).
It's broken at the base as far as I can tell.
I'm no expert, or even much of an amateur really.
It's about 8 to 10 inches diameter
View attachment 736506

you can hook a long chain to the bottom of the tree to the tractor and slide the bottom out until the tree top falls out of the other tree and slips down it to the ground. If doing that you have to make sure the tree is not wedged in the dirt and the top starts toppling over. I had that happen to me but luckily never hit the tractor.

Other ways is with the power saw but it is to dangerous if you haven done it before. You cut 4 foots junks off the bottom until the bottom actually end up so close to the tree that it is hung in. When cutting these 4 foot chunks of the bottom of the tree you have to cut the underside of the truck or the saw will jam. The tree trunk will fall towards the tree it is hung on as you cut off the 4 foot chunks. Here is the catch.... With the butt end close to the tree that it is hung up in the tree will be leaning towards you and the top will topple back towards you. You have to be ready. I did it many times but it is a dangerous thing to be doing and not recommended unless you have lots of experience doing this sort of thing.

 

[Loaderman22]

You cut 4 foots junks off the bottom until the bottom actually end up so close to the tree that it is hung in.

Some areas of my woods are dense, so I end up with this situation at times, just no clear spot to drop the tree into. I am cutting out the weaker, broken, or otherwise damaged trees, so they get hung up in the larger, healthy trees. My hope is to only have to do this now, thin the lot to where I can drop the larger trees later without damaging to many young ones.

It also seems I've lost all the ash already, a lot of the cedars blew down a few years ago, now the poplars are going. I lost 2 big cedars right behind the house this winter. I cleared out around them a little, hoping they would thrive. But I think I got rid of their wind protection and they slowly fell over, a little each day for about 3-4 days. Man I wish I had a sawmill!!

 

[Jstpssng]

Man I wish I had a sawmill!!

I said that for years... last year I finally broke down and bought one.
Now I’m saying “Man I wish that I had time to set up my sawmill!!!”

 

[Loaderman22]

I said that for years... last year I finally broke down and bought one.
Now I’m saying “Man I wish that I had time to set up my sawmill!!!”

I was curious how you were doing with your mill... Now I know the answer is "not at all"!

 

[deezler]

Not really. With 200 acres, living where trees grow like weeds and trees grow big, it does not take more than a couple of trees to make enough for our winters.

When I built my house with only a woodstove and no furnace, one of my good buddies asked me "so how many acres of trees do you need to clear each winter to heat it?". It was hard to wrap my head around his perception of firewood scale. Uh.... one big tree ought to do it, bud.

In reality I am wrapping up our 7th winter here now and have not cut down a single living tree for firewood yet - still working on whatever log piles have accumulated by simply clearing a little bit more open space, or just snatching up deadfall and blow-down limbs from the forest.

3-4 full cords of wood per winter for our cozy little passive solar home.

 

[BnRidge]

Trying out the new ms462. There is a lot of oak wilt going through the area now. Quite a few are 180yrs old. Interesting when counting the rings, the first 100yrs the things were only 4" dia or so, then take off to 30".