Dog Lover
Silver Member
Watch the Ax Men on TV and you will see just how dangerous it can be...Be careful
How Do I Take This Tree Down Safely ?
- Thread starter CurlyDave
- Start date
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OP
CurlyDave
Elite Member
Ok Dave it's been a week.. Is the tree still there or did you figure out a way to safely put it on the ground?
The tree is still there. One of the beauties of being retired is that I can take my time & think stuff like this through before I do anything.
The only real deadline I have is that I ned to deal with the drainage before the fall.
Immediate plans are that Thursday is golf day, can't miss that. Friday I am going to take the backhoe and work on getting safe access to the area around the base of the tree. If this works out OK, then I am will change out my 4-n-1 for the rock bucket and modify it to become a root grapple. Then I will get most of the downed wood out of the area.
Probably attack the tree itself on Saturday.
There is a more to this than just taking the tree down. I am going to have to look at the results of gaining access for a long time, I want to make sure it isn't too ugly.
Taking the downed wood out is another issue. No matter what happens I have to pile it somewhere temporarily and then burn it next fall. Southern Oregon is very wooded and they are very careful about when you can & can't burn a pile. While it is still burn season, I suspect that is going to end in the next few days. Anyway, I want the burn pile out of sight, but not too far away.
I will take pictures of the whole thing.
The tree is still there. One of the beauties of being retired is that I can take my time & think stuff like this through before I do anything.
The only real deadline I have is that I ned to deal with the drainage before the fall.
Immediate plans are that Thursday is golf day, can't miss that. Friday I am going to take the backhoe and work on getting safe access to the area around the base of the tree. If this works out OK, then I am will change out my 4-n-1 for the rock bucket and modify it to become a root grapple. Then I will get most of the downed wood out of the area.
Probably attack the tree itself on Saturday.
There is a more to this than just taking the tree down. I am going to have to look at the results of gaining access for a long time, I want to make sure it isn't too ugly.
Taking the downed wood out is another issue. No matter what happens I have to pile it somewhere temporarily and then burn it next fall. Southern Oregon is very wooded and they are very careful about when you can & can't burn a pile. While it is still burn season, I suspect that is going to end in the next few days. Anyway, I want the burn pile out of sight, but not too far away.
I will take pictures of the whole thing.
Egon
Epic Contributor
And in the mean time maybe a wind comes up and gives you that helping hand. 
OP
CurlyDave
Elite Member
OK, the tree is down & in my "tree area" waiting to be sent to the burn pile. No chainsaws were used.
Everything went much easier than I had any right to expect. The only real problem I had was that one of the hydraulic quick connects on my grapple failed Friday, so I had to use the 4-n-1 bucket for all of the tree moving.
Not as convenient, but I could make it work.
I started by making a path to get the tractor into the area. This was more to drag out the downed trees already there, and to drag out the trunk of the hung up tree.
The I dragged out all of the downed trees, and moved them to the tree pile for eventual transfer to the burn pile.
I noticed that there was a second tree which appeared to have fallen over at about the same time as the hung up tree, judging by the degree to which bark was falling off, and the color of the weathered wood exposed.
I decided to try to pull this one off its stump first to get a feel for what the hung up tree might be like. This went so nice & smooth & easy that I decided I could try to pull down the hung up tree without any other chains or cables.
So, I just chained it up with about 70 feet of chain (The tree was 50-60 feet as measured by my rangefinder) and pulled. The tree broke off the stump very easily. I dragged the trunk away from the stump until the hung up part fell clear of the oak tree holding it. The trunk was obviously old & weathered, since it broke into three pieces when it hit the ground.
Dragging it out was not too hard. It pivoted around the standing pine in the picture and came right out along the access path.
Dealing with the tree and the downed wood took about 2 hours, digging the drainage ditch I wanted in the first place was 3 more.
Everything went much easier than I had any right to expect. The only real problem I had was that one of the hydraulic quick connects on my grapple failed Friday, so I had to use the 4-n-1 bucket for all of the tree moving.
Not as convenient, but I could make it work.
I started by making a path to get the tractor into the area. This was more to drag out the downed trees already there, and to drag out the trunk of the hung up tree.
The I dragged out all of the downed trees, and moved them to the tree pile for eventual transfer to the burn pile.
I noticed that there was a second tree which appeared to have fallen over at about the same time as the hung up tree, judging by the degree to which bark was falling off, and the color of the weathered wood exposed.
I decided to try to pull this one off its stump first to get a feel for what the hung up tree might be like. This went so nice & smooth & easy that I decided I could try to pull down the hung up tree without any other chains or cables.
So, I just chained it up with about 70 feet of chain (The tree was 50-60 feet as measured by my rangefinder) and pulled. The tree broke off the stump very easily. I dragged the trunk away from the stump until the hung up part fell clear of the oak tree holding it. The trunk was obviously old & weathered, since it broke into three pieces when it hit the ground.
Dragging it out was not too hard. It pivoted around the standing pine in the picture and came right out along the access path.
Dealing with the tree and the downed wood took about 2 hours, digging the drainage ditch I wanted in the first place was 3 more.
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wedge40
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Messages
- 2,196
Congrats Dave. Things are usually much easier than they seem. But if you dont spend some time analyzing things you can get into trouble, or the project becomes much harder than they could have been if you'd takenthe time think things through.
Wedge
Wedge
FredH
Platinum Member
Dave :
Fire Season begins Monday , June 16 .
Here is a real good link to check out for those of us in Southern Oregon .
Oregon Department of Forestry Medford Unit
It is the Southern Oregon Oregon Department of Forestry website .
Wish I would of seen this posting earlier , could of helped you rather than doing my chore list here at home . Its always cooler to help someone do work at their house than to do your own .
Fred H.
Fire Season begins Monday , June 16 .
Here is a real good link to check out for those of us in Southern Oregon .
Oregon Department of Forestry Medford Unit
It is the Southern Oregon Oregon Department of Forestry website .
Wish I would of seen this posting earlier , could of helped you rather than doing my chore list here at home . Its always cooler to help someone do work at their house than to do your own .
Fred H.
OP
CurlyDave
Elite Member
Fred:
Thanks for the link.
Fire Season begins Monday , June 16 .
I knew this was coming soon. All it really means is I have to save up my burn pile until next winter. I may be able to get rid of a lot of it as firewood, if I sort it out. I have a neighbor, who, like me, doesn't have a wood fireplace, but does cut up firewood at his own pace and either sells it or gives it to some of the widows at our church. There are more than a few folks around here who would be grateful for a cord or two in the cold weather.
- - - - - -
Larry:
I retired from being a rocket scientist (no lie) about a year ago. Until then I had never cut down any tree. I probably have 15-20 years ahead of me. Even though you seasoned pros might laugh at me for being extra-cautious, I don't have the years of experience you do in telling what is really dangerous and what is really easy. I already have found out that there are some things which look easy, but end up being more dangerous than I suspected.
I would far rather take my time and ask questions than get hurt in a preventable accident.
Spend a few minutes reading the safety forum here. I have been amazed at the number of seemingly trivial things that can go wrong.
Thanks for the link.
Fire Season begins Monday , June 16 .
I knew this was coming soon. All it really means is I have to save up my burn pile until next winter. I may be able to get rid of a lot of it as firewood, if I sort it out. I have a neighbor, who, like me, doesn't have a wood fireplace, but does cut up firewood at his own pace and either sells it or gives it to some of the widows at our church. There are more than a few folks around here who would be grateful for a cord or two in the cold weather.
- - - - - -
Larry:
I retired from being a rocket scientist (no lie) about a year ago. Until then I had never cut down any tree. I probably have 15-20 years ahead of me. Even though you seasoned pros might laugh at me for being extra-cautious, I don't have the years of experience you do in telling what is really dangerous and what is really easy. I already have found out that there are some things which look easy, but end up being more dangerous than I suspected.
I would far rather take my time and ask questions than get hurt in a preventable accident.
Spend a few minutes reading the safety forum here. I have been amazed at the number of seemingly trivial things that can go wrong.