Think this will work to get my wood down??

[Woody Stover]

catapulted a 15 ft section of the trunk about 40 feet into the river.

Yikes!

 

[Jags]

Yikes!

Exactly why you don't want to use the root ball as a shield.

 

[Woody Stover]

Exactly why you don't want to use the root ball as a shield.

I was thinking more along the lines of standing to the side, not behind, so I'd be out of the way if the tree slid down from where it was hung and the trunk came back at me.

 

[Woody Stover]

I don't know....will the root ball be less springy if it has been in this position for three years or so? I would think so....

 

[Jags]

I was thinking more along the lines of standing to the side, not behind, so I'd be out of the way if the tree slid down from where it was hung and the trunk came back at me.

Hmmm....I want to say "that leaner ain't coming out of that tree without assistance" but I seriously don't want to make a blanket statement.

 

[Jags]

I don't know....will the root ball be less springy if it has been in this position for three years or so? I would think so....

Maybe a little - but it really is all about the stored energy and without my boots on the ground in front of it - I ain't gonna make that call. Maybe it is time for Zap's pole saw trick?

 

[clemsonfor]

I would not "sheild" myself with the rootball, there is about a 70% chance give or take 10% maybe that it flops back upright.

I have seen plenty that have flopped back. Watched plenty of sawmen "buttoff" storm and tornado damaged timber in the 9 years or so i have been in the timber business. I look after 200+ thousand acres in the south, were bound to get a tornado somewhere every year!

 

[oldspark]

I'm out, only way I mess with that tree is if I have a way to pull it out of there at a safe distance, like I said I am a chicken shiit but I have cut a lot of leaners, even the small ones can surprise you once in a while.

 

[maple1]

I would first just try wrapping a cable around the butt of the black close to the root ball & winching/towing it sideways, towards the camera in pic 1. I think I read it's been like that for 3 years? That ball doesn't look overly big for that size of tree. And looks like a lot of the major roots have been cut off for quite a while - and there should be some rot going on by now underground. It might pull right out of the ground & slide right down. If you tie your cable so it rolls the trunk around (top of trunk rolls toward camera) at the same time as it pulls, that should help break it loose too.

Not sure what you've got for a log hauler truck though - even a tow truck parked at a safe distance generates a lot of pull.

If that doesn't move anything, I'd then make some partial cuts close to the ball & try again.

Whatever you do don't get under either one of them and assume at any time it is all going to break apart & go in any direction.

 

[lukem]

IF...you cut that without managing to pinch your bar...it will just want to press back against the stump. The only way to get it off the stump is to make an angled cut to get it to drop straight down. Then you're only option is to make a perpendicular pull (90*) and drag it out of the tree (the stump will be in the way to pull straight back). The butt end of the log is going to dig in hard, especially with that angled cut required to get it off the stump.

That tree doesn't look 30" to me, but maybe it is the picture. A pickup may be able to get it down...but you might need something with more traction.

 

[thewoodlands]

All I can say is they all act different when cutting them, I never enjoy doing a tree like that. Like Sav said, I would never tell anyone how to do it.



Stay Safe
Zap

 

[maple1]

I'm modifying my suggestion.

Just a bit.

Do the towing/winching thing I mentioned, but instead of tying around the trunk, run the cable/chain from the tow vehicle over the bottom of the trunk, then loop it around the big cut-off root end I'm seeing far right in the second pic.

Any luck and that will roll the root ball out, then tie around the trunk & pull it sideways. The root ball should drag across the ground easier than a cut trunk.

If you can get it to roll out.

 

[thewoodlands]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/uprooted-leaner-hung-up-cherry-down.68088/#post-855494

 

[Butcher]

I've done several widowmakers using this guys method with success. Not for the faint of heart though. You will notice on that particular tree he had trimmed the top out first which means climbing or a boom truck.

 

[Thistle]

Did this nasty leaning Red Oak snag entangled in another upright Bur Oak last July with pole saw.Shallow "V"cut on top,another cut underneath an couple inches to the side,it folded like a house of cards,landing right where I wanted.Plus I was safely on the ground 15 feet away from where it came down. Every tree is different,some I may take a few days/weeks thinking over the best way to bring it down.Always have a clear escape path planned out,nothing on the ground to trip over if I need to bail quickly.

Bigger one was easily 2000lbs total,no way was I getting under it to even make the first cut on that Bur Oak.And being on a slope next to ravine,was too tight a spot to get pickup close enough to pull it down....

 

[Woody Stover]

I've done several widowmakers using this guys method with success. Not for the faint of heart though.

That is sweet. I'll be using that here on smaller trees. But I'm not equipped to get this thing on the ground. Even if I had a 32" bar, I'm not sure I could plunge all the way through 30". I guess in that case I could come out the top and bottom, opposite the plunge entry, leaving a strap which I could then cut from the other side. With the 25", I might be able to get it from both sides, putting a string around the trunk and marking the line with chalk. Then maybe I could get plunges from both sides to line up. But the fork branches on the Black are so long that it's not gonna drop out after the first cut like in Butcher's video; It will end up vertical. I would need more equipment, like a pulling or winching vehicle.
The neighbor guy I took over there (don't know him well enough to call him a buddy yet) is busy, and not really interested even though I see it as easy money for him; I would do the cutting. At any rate, when I dropped him off I got to see some of his cool stuff. He's had a Wood Miser for years. It's got a log lifter and a claw dealy that can spin the log on the table. His newest acquisition a couple months ago is a custom mill which he designed and had a guy build. It's got a seat on it, and bicycle pedals that he moves the cutting head with. It will cut a 54" slab.

The owner will just have to get some quotes on getting that thing on the ground. The folks that gave me the chain grinder know some young guys that might give him a cheaper quote. I think they're insured....
I told him I'll come over and pick up the wood that was trimmed out of the top of the Black, and get the rest of the wood after they get it down. I want that White in the worst way. I've got a couple other down trees to get first, and I need to figure out that chain grinder so I can spend less time keeping my stock of chains sharp.

Thanks, guys, for all the input on this. I've learned a lot here that I'm sure I will use in the future. You guys are great!

 

[ScotO]

Woody, if I was closer I'd come and help you get that thing on the ground. I would DEFINATELY climb the still-standing tree and top out the leaner first and foremost.....really bad things can happen if you don't first get that top out. As Sav mentioned already, I hate giving out public advice on the forums on tree removal. I've said it before and it's worth saying again, EVERY SINGLE TREE has it's own set of unique circumstances, no two jobs are alike. That job you have there is particularly precarious.....kinda like diffusing a bomb. Slowly, steadily, piece by piece, very methodically......heck the standing tree possibly could be saved from removal.

I'll send you a PM, brother......

 

[Woody Stover]

Woody, if I was closer I'd come and help you get that thing on the ground. I would DEFINATELY climb the still-standing tree and top out the leaner first and foremost.....really bad things can happen if you don't first get that top out. As Sav mentioned already, I hate giving out public advice on the forums on tree removal. I've said it before and it's worth saying again, EVERY SINGLE TREE has it's own set of unique circumstances, no two jobs are alike. That job you have there is particularly precarious.....kinda like diffusing a bomb. Slowly, steadily, piece by piece, very methodically......heck the standing tree possibly could be saved from removal.

Yeah, the power company subs didn't top it back far enough. Those long branches could end up flying. I would be on the other side of the standing tree, well away, before anything was pulled. I think the whole damned thing is pretty solid and tough, though. I don't think anything will be flying. If I was cutting the trunk of the Black, I would be concerned that the trunk would roll right. The left fork is hung on a branch of the White, but the right fork could drop when the trunk is cut free of the root ball. As far as saving the standing White Oak that is supporting the Black, the whole top is busted out. Besides, the White is what I'm mainly after here and the Black is just more Red Oak stuff, which I have tons of.