Cutting Down a Big Cottonwood Tree

[Bird]

Of course we've had a number of threads and discussions about chainsaw safety equipment, hard hats, gloves, chaps, hearing protection, and eye protection, and no one has recommended doing it the way these guys do it. This is about a 60 foot tall cottonwood tree next door. A lot of big roots are above ground so there's some concern that it could fall on the house where a young couple with a 3 year old daughter and a 3 month old son live. There's also some concern that those huge roots might damage the house foundation and/or the sewer line from the house out to the street. And all that is in addition to the unbelievable amount of "cotton" that thing puts in the air and in our air-conditioners every Spring. So today it came down. A 4 man crew arrived before 9 a.m., but only one of them worked up in the tree and he was up there for over 9 hours with only 2 short breaks. Only one of the guys on the ground wore a hat and sunglasses. None of them used any of the safety items mentioned above; no hard hats, eye protection, gloves, hearing protection, or chaps. The guy in the tree did use a safety rope. See if you find him in the second picture. Incidentally, they had 4 or 5 Stihl chainsaws of different sizes.

 

[joes_427_vette]

The last two days I removed 3 huge pine trees ( 2' x 60+ ' ) next to my storage building. Fortunately I had three paths for the trees to fall that would not cause damage to other trees and electrical fixtures. I crawled up as high as possible and used a combination of 80' of chains to put tension on the fall path. All of them fell exactly in their perspective location. It just makes you nervous when the 22" saw bar doesn't cut all the way through the tree. Of course waiting for the wind to die down helps also. One double to go !

 

[Bird]

I think these guys had thought they'd do the complete job today. They brought the stump grinder with them and plan to grind the stump and those big roots down below ground level. However, they've now been at it for 11 hours and they still don't have it all cut up, and loaded in the truck. The big pieces they load into the truck whole while the smaller ones go through a big chipper. So right now the stump is about 30" tall and is 27" in diameter at that height.

 

[Egon]

One could make a few boards from that tree!

 

[Bird]

One could make a few boards from that tree!

I suppose so, Egon, although I don't think I've ever heard of anyone making lumber from a cottonwood tree. In fact, I don't know of any use for one except firewood, and of course, it's a softer wood that burns up fast, but I've used some cottonwood in the past for firewood when it was free except for me cutting and splitting it.

 

[TractorChick]

Tree guy stories just get crazier and crazier.

I heard about a guy who routinely wore pink hip hugger bell bottoms who was a climber (spikes on his ankles, climbing saw in hand) and I guess he thought it was 30 years ago and he was still doing acid, but the dude could fell a tree. Not sure if he's still alive though.

 

[ToadHill]

Bird: You should have stripped off as much of the bark as you could. Woodcarvers love the thick bark to carve, you could have made enough to take the wife out for a very nice dinner.

 

[texasjohn]

Bird, the real problem may not have been the tree, but rather the spring that MUST be somewhere in the immediate neighborhood... cottonwoods are notorious for always being near water.... those folks may have an interesting hydro structure under their slab. I have two huge cotton woods... springs are within 30 feet of each.

 

[Bird]

Bird, the real problem may not have been the tree, but rather the spring that MUST be somewhere in the immediate neighborhood... cottonwoods are notorious for always being near water.... those folks may have an interesting hydro structure under their slab. I have two huge cotton woods... springs are within 30 feet of each.

I have no doubt that there's a spring or two in the area. We're on fairly flat (very slight slope to the south) ground, but uphill to the north. We have asphalt streets with no curbs or sidewalks and in most of the area, pretty good sized borrow ditches. We're in one of the few spots that doesn't need a culvert under our driveways. And in next block south, on our street, is a bridge over a large drainage ditch that has a little water in it all the time, I think. I learned that, until a few years ago, this area periodically flooded. I'm pretty confident that the drainage has been designed such that we'll see no flooding in the future. However, even though mortgage companies do not consider this a flood plain or require flood insurance, I bought the flood insurance anyway.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I would have kicked some tookis if those guys were working for me without more Safety gear. That is a big heavy tree to fall and not damage the yard or house for the folks. That is what usually takes the most time trying not to leave big "divots" in nice yards. Like someone said that tree is getting water from someplace to be that big. Sewer lines are a favorite choice. If they had a big chipper that's where that tree would have gone.
They grow cottonwood farms here in Washington to make toilet paper out of them. That's all that they are good for. The lumber and firewood value is pretty nill.
Taking down a huge cottonwood in my back yard when I bought my house I had to lower big branches down to the roof over the house. When I finally got it all cut down there were cottonwood sprouts for about 3 years that came out of all of the roots still in the ground. I would just use the mower and shave them down.
Being in the tree that long for the climber is pretty good. Been there and done that.

 

[EddieWalker]

One of my many fears is the fear of heights. I can go up so far, then I freeze up. Usualy about two stories is my max, and that takes allot of effort. Seeing those guys who climb up those trees and swing around while the tree is moving is just amazing to me. Probably one of the professions that scares me the most, and impresses me the most all at the same time!!!!

Great pics Bird, thanks for posting them.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

what usually takes the most time trying not to leave big "divots" in nice yards

Yep, and they were doing that; i.e., using ropes to slowly lower the limbs as they were cut off. And most (not all) of the time, he was using safety ropes to hold himself if he fell. Basically, they were using a blue rope for him and a white rope to lower the limbs he cut, and then, in addition to the blue rope, he had a smaller brown rope attached to his belt that he'd hook around the tree at times. But the yard is going to be a mess anyway because of all those huge roots on and above the surface. They're supposed to grind all of them down below ground level.

And Eddie, I'm like you; no way I'd have been up there where this guy was, and he had to be one strong, tough fellow to have the strength to stay up there as long as he did.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Wind barrier - thats about all I can think of poplar use in my country. But Bird, those are nice pictures and I am sure the process was worth watching. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dmccarty]

A neighbor at our old city house was on .20/.25 of an acre. The back yard was full of large pines which most of the houses including our had as well. After all of the canes he had ALL of the pines taken out. The crew had a bob cat, backhoe, trucks, chainsaws and rope.

They where climbing those trees like monkeys. I thought for sure they would drop SOMETHING on his house but they tied off limbs/trunk sections which when cut fell the way they wanted. It was very impressive to watch. I did not see over ear protection when they ran the Stihls. They may have had plugs and they may have had on safety trousers but I don't think so.

They were there a good part of a week and I think they only charged him 3K. They made money off the pine though. But for 4-5 days of work with all of that equipment and 3-4 men I though 3K was pretty cheap. My FIL had to pay close to 6K to have a couple trees removed after Floyd left them hanging over the house. It required a crane to remove.

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

can think of poplar use in my country

Poplar is used in furniture for parts that are hidden from view. Back panels and drawer bottoms, backs and sides may be of poplar. We also have poplar plywood that is used as sub flooring and one can by poplar step boards.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Hammer you might be traveling in the wrong crowd if all of the climbers you met have drug problems. I have been at it 20 years and have only ran into one with a drug problem so far. That schmuck took one of my good climbing saws... I would like to find him up in a tree working some time.. I will start up one of my saws at the base of the tree and scare the <<<< out of him.
Now if you were to do a sanity check on us climbers you probably find about 100% were a bit looney

 

[srjones]

Hammer you might be traveling in the wrong crowd if all of the climbers you met have drug problems. I have been at it 20 years and have only ran into one with a drug problem so far. That schmuck took one of my good climbing saws... I would like to find him up in a tree working some time.. I will start up one of my saws at the base of the tree and scare the <<<< out of him.
Now if you were to do a sanity check on us climbers you probably find about 100% were a bit looney

A friend of mine (a tree guy) told me this joke: "How do you tell which one of the tree climbers is the foreman/supervisor? He's the one with the drivers license and car."

I once hired a guy to limb up some tall doug firs. One day, from 6 feet away I could smell alcohol. I didn't think much of it since he did good work and his rates were pretty cheap. After I thought about it a while, I wondered what would happen if he fell and died while working on my property. (think liability, lawsuits, etc.) I haven't hired him back, and if I get more trees limbed, I'm going to make sure I deal only with a licensed and insured outfit.

 

[KevPH1]

One could make a few boards from that tree!

There is a reason why no one builds with cottonwood. I wouldn't even include Cottonwood as a species for firewood. Yes, that bad!!

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Yep it is too soft for anything structural. That's why they grow large plots of it here to make Toilet paper.. That's all it is good for.. Great for sucking up water if you have area's you need to dry out...

 

[Egon]

Check out wood structural strength tables.

Pound for pound it's appears just as strong!

Same goes for BTU value.