Twin widow makers and the neighbor wants them gone

[WiscWoody]

Actually access isn't bad, there's a driveway where my ATV is parked and another driveway right by the furthest problem tree in the pictures. If I take the trees down I'll likely do it using a throw rope over the horizantal parts and pulling tjem down from a safe distance as recommended from a few in the thread. There is a lot of scrounge wood up here to be had and I've never had to buy any of my wood so I'll wait and see what comes up before I take time to take these down the safe way. Thanks to all for the advise!

 

[Babaganoosh]

This is one my dad and I took down today. Chains and a winch strapped to a tree behind us.

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[phishman]

"This is one my dad and I took down today. Chains and a winch strapped to a tree behind us."

how did you get that chain up there and around the stem?
and how strong was the winch?
nice work btw

 

[sportbikerider78]

Both of those trees look like they are still very much attached to their trunks. They also look like there is quite a bit holding the other sides up. I'm not suggesting you do anything, but if you do try to pull them down, you are going to need a great deal of force.

 

[Whitepine2]

This is one my dad and I took down today. Chains and a winch strapped to a tree behind us.

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Good job that's the way to do it!

 

[30cal]

Wait for a windy day...go get trees after windy day..

 

[Vikestand]

Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill. If you have the chain length, I would toss the chain over it and hook to a vehicle/tractor. No big deal. Even a cable and come-along would work just fine. No big deal.

 

[BobUrban]

New
I wouldn't use a 4 wheeler to pull them with. I want something heavier than the tree so it doesn't turn the 4 wheeler into a rocket with me on it.

x2 My quad is a little light in the arse to be the ballast for pulling 3-4 or more times its weight when there is no certainty of the fall. Even in a best case scenario where no one gets hurt it would certainly hurt to see your bike bouncing off trees as that bugger comes down. us a truck or come along and get the 90 down or pointing down with any potential BACK pressure relieved before tackling the base and then, as mentioned, cut notch/drop perpendicular to the widow maker.

I did a big oak the other day that was similar in configuration and with preplanning, getting the WM angled to the ground and wedges if fell where I needed.

 

[BoiledOver]

This is becoming an energizer bunny of a thread. Congrats

From the photos WW posted, I would say it will be some time before nature drops them. His neighbor stated their desire in having them taken down.

In my experience, the snap point of a healthy or semi-healthy tree often remains married to the trunk, as does the hinge we create when felling until tree landing.

Woody, if you take this endeavor, best of luck and be safe. In my mind, it is an easy drop.

 

[Jon_E]

I'm going against the grain here.... ok, pun intended. I would not hesitate to go in and drop either one of those. A careful evaluation of each one is in order, far more than can be obtained by advice given based on a photo. If they were my trees, I would drop each one perpendicular to the direction of the broken top. Open-face notch, bore-cut and wedges. I'd make sure to have a helper standing by doing nothing but watching the tops. If either one was being held on by only a tiny bit of wood fiber, I would pull the top down first as a lot of these other guys say. If I were a betting man, I'd bet the poplar breaks clean and the sugar maple is still held on by a lot of wood fiber.

 

[Babaganoosh]

"This is one my dad and I took down today. Chains and a winch strapped to a tree behind us."

how did you get that chain up there and around the stem?
and how strong was the winch?
nice work btw

I was actually able to throw the chain up there. If it was higher I'd have thrown a rope up first then pulled the chain up.

The winch was my dads so I'm not sure. I was going to use a come a long but you know how dad's like to take projects away from you. I did all the prep work and he took over the fun part of squeezing the trigger on the winch. haha.

I was thinking you could always get a few 1 pound containers of tannerite, a rifle and blow the tops off!

 

[northwinds]

I've got one that looks just like this near the entrance of my woodlot. It's looked just like this for three years and will continue looking just like this until it falls on its own. There are other trees to process. There have been lots of folks seriously hurt by less difficult looking trees. I often think of Gooserider on this forum. I've cut down lots of standing trees, but I would personally leave those alone. If he wants them down now, he can pay a professional some money to drop them, and you can clean them up.

 

[Vikestand]

Who/What happened to Gooserider?

 

[northwinds]

Who/What happened to Gooserider?

Gooserider is a former moderator at hearth who was paralyzed in a woodcutting incident. He used to ride a motorcycle but rides a wheelchair now. He continued participating for awhile after his accident, but not sure if anyone is still in contact with him.

 

[D8Chumley]

That is sad, and sobering. Reminds me what we all love to do can seriously eff us up even as careful as we try to be.

 

[northwinds]

That is sad, and sobering. Reminds me what we all love to do can seriously eff us up even as careful as we try to be.

Yeah, I love cutting down trees. There's nothing like the rush of a big tree falling in the correct direction and landing on the forest floor. But bad stuff does happen even for experienced, careful people. I couldn't find the post detailing Gooserider's accident, but my recollection is that it involved an unpredictable tangle.

 

[firefighterjake]

I've got one that looks just like this near the entrance of my woodlot. It's looked just like this for three years and will continue looking just like this until it falls on its own. There are other trees to process. There have been lots of folks seriously hurt by less difficult looking trees. I often think of Gooserider on this forum. I've cut down lots of standing trees, but I would personally leave those alone. If he wants them down now, he can pay a professional some money to drop them, and you can clean them up.

Same here . . . any time I've got something a bit hairy . . . even when it is just a large branch caught up a few feet in the air I take a minute or two to really figure out the scene and how things could go . . . Gooserider is never far from my thoughts when taking down a tree or anything remotely sketchy.

 

[WiscWoody]

I've got one that looks just like this near the entrance of my woodlot. It's looked just like this for three years and will continue looking just like this until it falls on its own. There are other trees to process. There have been lots of folks seriously hurt by less difficult looking trees. I often think of Gooserider on this forum. I've cut down lots of standing trees, but I would personally leave those alone. If he wants them down now, he can pay a professional some money to drop them, and you can clean them up.

I have heard of this guy and that he was paralyzed by a tree falling on him but I don't know the details. But for that matter I still thought of him seconds after I had a mishap with a tree trunk that I decribed in message 11 in this thread. I came close to having a ton of wood come down on me with no one around to help. I was lucky and that all it was. Sheer luck.

 

[ihookem]

I cut a lot of firewood in Price co. forest crop land and saw those all the time. Noone ever touched those trees. In a few yrs they will come down. I have hurried mother nature by cutting notches on the sides. We left those alone otherwise. A bit of firewood is not worth it.

 

[Typ0]

Looks like a job for an RPG to me.

 

[BoiledOver]

How ya doin Woody? Did your trees come down on their own for ya?

 

[WiscWoody]

How ya doin Woody? Did your trees come down on their own for ya?

Hi, I just got my internet back after a forced 90 day hiatus to get a better price for the service. I haven't touched the two trees and I probably won't at least for this year. There's more than enough free wood available already on the ground of non wood burners (same lot of the widow makers too) and all of my racks are full with a four year supply in them plus I still have rounds on pallets for next years refill. Between the $.94 propane and the abundant free wood up here we will be nice and cozy warm this next winter no doubt!

 

[BoiledOver]

Welcome back to the wired world.