How would you guys drop this tree?

[Cord]

Walking around our property up north and noticed this Poplar tree. Because these trees like to top themselves I generally keep them cleared back from the buildings. This one somehow escaped me. If it fell in just the right direction there is a chance it could reach my garage so I'd like to take it down on my terms. The tree is viable and appears to be otherwise healthy. I've climbed and topped the Pop'ls in the past, but I've learned that the cankers they get are scabs over rotted spots. Because I don't know how solid they are, I no longer climb Poplars.

My concern is how the tree will react with so little material remaining at the base? I figure that only the sap wood is remaining so the walls are probably 2" thick. Tree is about 18" at 4' up and it's 80' high, dead straight. The area is remote so using a dozer or winch to pull it over isn't going to happen. I'm not as concerned with controlling the direction of the tree as I am with the extreme pressure those thin walls are under. With hollow trees, do they try to spin or splinter? Trying to gauge just how dangerous this tree is to fell.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Perhaps not a winch but you might be able to use a come-along. I generally do this to guide the fall away from structures but it may serve your purpose.

 

[Cord]

A little off topic, but this is the Mrs standing next to a large paper birch tree. This tree is maybe 100' from that crummy Poplar I want to take down. I calcaulted the tree as a 270. If that's correct, then this would be the champion tree for Wisconsin.

 

[bcp]

Perhaps not a winch but you might be able to use a come-along. I generally do this to guide the fall away from structures but it may serve your purpose.

I usually do that, but, with only one line, the tree can possibly fall nearly 90 degrees to the line. That's usually OK, but 2 lines would direct it more surely, if necessary.

Bruce

 

[Egon]

Use a wood auger to check for soundness. Then make a plan.

 

[Silvic]

You state that you have climbed in the past. Is that like climbing as most folks think; or is that like climbing like a logger/arborist/tree faller thinks?

If the later then you know what a barberchair is and the chance of that tree barberchairing is very high.
If the former type of climber, and you have no idea what a barberchair is, then google it watch and read some accounts.
That tree is potentially very dangerous to your life and limb.
If you have no experience with falling timber and especially hazard trees you might want to find someone to help you that has the experience to keep you safe and alive.
There are some techniques to lower the risk that should be employed on that tree and will still be problematic from the picture you post.

 

[Thomas]

If I,I would use come along and calble around as high as you dare to go,and leave plenty distance from tree while working come along,than slowly cut and watch...wedges may come in handy.

 

[Cord]

You state that you have climbed in the past. Is that like climbing as most folks think; or is that like climbing like a logger/arborist/tree faller thinks?

If the later then you know what a barberchair is and the chance of that tree barberchairing is very high.
If the former type of climber, and you have no idea what a barberchair is, then google it watch and read some accounts.
That tree is potentially very dangerous to your life and limb.
If you have no experience with falling timber and especially hazard trees you might want to find someone to help you that has the experience to keep you safe and alive.
There are some techniques to lower the risk that should be employed on that tree and will still be problematic from the picture you post.

I'm the latter, but I'm not a pro by any means (nor do I pretend to be). My skill set lands somewhere in between. I've cut a couple of hundred trees down, but it's not my profession. I do know what a barberpole is, but I only associated the phenomenon with weak grained leaning trees (Box Elder is notorious for this). This one is dead nuts straight. I've cut hollow trees before, but never one this thin and tall. Maybe I'm over thinking it, but I believe that tree could react the moment it sees a saw. I just can't envision what it's going to do.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Are you throwing it away from the open place, to one side or away from the open place? If I was cutting it away from the crack and not to one side I would cut it and not worry too much. I would pull it over but not until after i had cut it. I would not want any pressure on the tree till I finished cutting.

 

[Cord]

My face cut would be away from the split and then I'd make a plunge cut towards the split. I'm pretty sure the face cut will penetrate the sides so I'll end up with two short hinges.

The last one I cut was also a dangerous tree and I didn't want to be under it's widow makers when it started to fall. That one I made a plunge cut but left a very small piece at the back edge. Then I pulled on the tree until it snapped and fell. Maybe I can apply that trick again.

 

[dave1949]

It might help to clean that heavy bark off for a couple feet before starting so you have a better view of the wood, or not wood . It looks fairly loose.

 

[Deere Dude]

I felled a bunch of trees by pulling with the truck or tractor but when a tree is still to strong for that and is leaning toward something I use a different approach. I climb up maybe 15' or so and wrap a log chain around. I hook two long cables or wire ropes to this and run them out farther than the tree is high and hook to other tree bases maybe 15' apart from each otherwith heavy come-alongs. I notch somewhat, and then I crank one come-along until I can't move it any more, then go to the next. I alternate until both are as tight as I can get them. I have had a 60' 14" diameter tree leaning one way 8 feet at the top move to 6' or so the other way.

Then I go to the back of the tree and start cutting a little at a time. Cut a little and step back and listen to it, and repeat until it drops.

 

[s219]

Problem with a tree like that is that there isn't consistent enough holding wood for a predictable drop -- no way to get a reliable notch or hinge. I guess I'd spend a lot of time trying to determine if there's enough wood for a notch in a falling direction that would work, and go from there. If not, I'd probably put a rope on it as high as you can, take up the slack, and then bore it out carefully so that it goes over in the direction of the rope when tensioned. So instead of creating a notch and then back cut, you're pretty much just doing a back cut to relieve tension fibers. But this is all conjecture -- I'd really want to examine that tree on site to really recommend an approach.

Last time I did a tree that was a little worse than that, I pulled it over mainly with rope/tractor. I used very minimal sawing to nibble away at tension fibers at the back of the tree, gave a pull with tractor, then slackened the rope, nibbled a little more with the saw, then gave a pull, etc, until the tree went over. If I recall right, it took about three "iterations" of this procedure until the tractor could pull it over. I wouldn't have wanted to cut too much since it could have caused the tree to rotate or fall over in an unknown direction by itself. So I basically kept nibbling at the back fibers until just enough had been cut that the tractor could pull it over, but not so much that the tree rotated/fell by itself.

 

[amaxwell]

Could you use a pole saw to cut this tree? I have a 12 bar on mine ,and it looks like there is less to cut thru than that, at any point. That way I could be 12 to 16 feet away from the tree if it decided to do something strange.

 

[s219]

Could you use a pole saw to cut this tree? I have a 12 bar on mine ,and it looks like there is less to cut thru than that, at any point. That way I could be 12 to 16 feet away from the tree if it decided to do something strange.

Heh, 12-16 feet barely even qualifies as a head start when it comes to trees!

 

[bcp]

Cut from a safe distance and annoy the neighbors at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c02WxTG9Xus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyOEn0rOjzQ

And this will REALLY annoy them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC8jnSaCqxY

Bruce

 

[gladehound]

If the tree is so rotted that cutting isn't safe, I suggest you put a rope high up on it (you could use a pole to get the rope up if it's unsafe to climb) and pull it with whatever you can get up there (come along, tractor etc.). I've only had two large trees that were too far gone to cut. One was a 3 foot diameter oak. I put a line up it and pulled it over with an F-250 (yes, it was that far gone). The other was a 4 foot diameter leaner. It already was leaning over about 30 degrees from vertical. Since in this latter situation, there were no branches above me and the direction of fall was certain due to the severe lean, I just cut about 2 inches into it on the back side (back cut, no front cut). And it started snapping. I just backed away and waited until it was down. That one only had 2-3 inches of wood all the way around. The entire inside was hollow. Since your tree is strait, I suggest using the pull method. One trick I've found helpful is to use a very elastic rope so that it continues to pull like a rubber band once the tree starts to go. This helps it go the direction you want. You can also put two more ropes at 90 degrees in each direction from the pull rope. These should go from high on the tree to the ground (the base of near by trees or some anchor point). The use of three ropes (pull rope and stabilizer on each side) will keep it going where you want. If you pull and it doesn't move, it is sturdy enough to make a cut. release some pressure on the pull rope and make a back cut then try pulling it over again. It will eventually go. Often with questionable trees I try to pull or push them over with the tractor and if they don't go over easily at least I have some assurance that they aren't going to buckle as soon as I touch them with the saw.

 

[tcreeley]

Just wait, it will come down on its own!

 

[Ed of all trades]

I would cut it without making a plunge cut on the back side. That way you get a larger hinge. I do like to make a plunge cut before I start the main cut but have cut many trees without it.

 

[Egon]

Okay, time for a new approach.

Make a metal charcoal holder such that the briquettes will stack on the side of the tree. Light it and let the heat flame burn out one side of the tree. Different but it should work.