No, I am NOT going to try to take down a dead 100' Hickory tree!

[Diggin It]

If you have a safe backstop...





Bruce

I'd imaging the trunk is 25' or more circumference

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Tannerite
lots and lots of tannerite

I'll go along with this.

I have more than a couple widowmakers on my land. I swear one of them has a skyhook attached.

I've thought of using tannerite, I'm just not sure how far away I need to be or if I can get a clean shot with all of the rest of the tree around it.

 

[tradosaurus]

The longer it stands the more dangerous it becomes to do anything with the tree. Cutting it down later vs sooner means the chainsaw operator is danger of a limb breaking and falling on him, even if there is a spotter watching for falling limbs the saw operator could not move fast enough to get away.
I like the suggestion of getting a large rope around limbs now and pulling them off; BUT- the upward pull exerted on a tractor invites a roll-over.

An aside; 2 years ago I had a 80' Oak tree 35' from our house topped/ cut off the crown, the trunk is still standing. The tree firm charged me $2,000 because all the cutting had to be performed by a climber, no way to get a bucket truck close enough.

They can charge that because what else you gonna do?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I had a dead cherry that was similarly situated. No way to safely climb it or drop it.

I started by using a rope saw to remove all the limbs. To get the rope into position I used a bow to shoot an arrow. I taped fishing line to the arrow, with the line on a fishing rod and the reel set for casting. Once the fishing line was in place I tied the rope saw to the line and reeled it in. It was slow going cutting all the limbs but it never felt unsafe.

Once the limbs were off I had a trunk about 30' high. I set up scaffolding next to the trunk and just took it down 16" at a time.

It was time-consuming. Definitely something that requires a certain personality type.

 

[Merck]

I don't care if it's dropping branches the diameter of my thigh.


I don't have the tools and I don't have the experience.

And I don't have the money to hire anyone to do it, nor do I want heavy trucks in the yard.

I guess I just have to avoid the area for the next year or six until enough of it drops off to no longer be a threat.


No risk to house or shed, so no issue there. Probably take out a couple of other smaller trees, but I don't care about them either.



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Good decision. I have almost bought the farm a couple of times and I cut trees a lot. When they are dead you never really know which way they will go.

 

[Sid Post]

I would do a notch and backcut to drop the tree toward the camera.

I have done that to 100' pines here in East Texas. Notch in the direction of the desired path of the fall on a day with favorable winds, and then backcut backoff (run) as soon as you see some lift on the cut in case it "high chairs" on you.

 

[JackDaniels1982]

I'll go along with this.

I have more than a couple widowmakers on my land. I swear one of them has a skyhook attached.

I've thought of using tannerite, I'm just not sure how far away I need to be or if I can get a clean shot with all of the rest of the tree around it.

It is actually really challenging to take it down with tannerite as an earlier commenter reminisced. You need the tannerite contained to do any damage and by the time you cut it in, you might as well just drop the tree. It's a lot of fun, but in my experience, it takes longer and is less safe then just making a standard cut.

 

[Muley Gil]

It was fully alive two years ago. Bugs got to it I think. Lots of bore holes.



That's one plan. But part of it is hollow and I don't really want a giant Roman Candle next to a guy's hay crop.

I have a barbeque place not too far from me. They declined it saying Hickory burns too slow for them.

I have another picture that has a 60 gallon spray tank at the base of it. The tank looks like a thimble. Picture is from a camera mounted about 25' up, so the perspective is off a bit.

Where are you located? I don't know of any Southern BBQ joint that doesn't use at least some hickory.

 

[qualsite]

I've got a massive oak tree in my front yard that's dead and needs to come down. I am gonna have to climb it and take it down from the top down. Worst of all is it's right next to large power lines. Not looking forward to it...

Usually, most utility companies will come out and take it down if there is any danger of it falling onto their lines. That's a whole lot cheaper for them than dealing with downed lines or an outage [or a fried customer]. And their tree people are very used to clearing trees and branches away from their lines. I had a dead elm that needed taking down, and it was back about 30ft from their line, but they came out and cut it down, just in case it fell the wrong way if I did it. Plus they left me a load of wood chips and the logs too.

 

[airbiscuit]

Hire these guys (see 3:55 mark).