The Faller Came Early

[MrWhoopee]

I'm not afraid to fell a tree, but I also recognize my limitations.
This one made me pucker just thinking about it, but it had to go.





Doug arrived at 7 am Sunday. I was still working on my first cup of coffee and scarcely had time to set the camera up.
He is 81 and quite deaf, but he sure knows his business.

It took less than 5 minutes from first cut to crash. He placed it in the only possible spot where it would do no damage. He then went on to drop 5 more, including a huge white fir that was 3-1/2' at the butt. He was here less than 1-1/2 hours, and that included a fair amount of conversation.
He'll be back later this week to jack over a big cedar behind the house.

Now I have months of limbing, brushing, bucking and splitting.
Wish I was as fast as he is.

 

[Tomc938]

Thanks for the video! Pretty cool to watch him at work. I can only imagine the calculations on mass, horizontal and vertical location of that mass, and who knows what other calculations are going through his mind when he is looking up. Wish we could watch the mental process as it plays out in real time.

 

[Chicken lights]

Thanks for the video! Pretty cool to watch him at work. I can only imagine the calculations on mass, horizontal and vertical location of that mass, and who knows what other calculations are going through his mind when he is looking up. Wish we could watch the mental process as it plays out in real time.

Actually, that video does a great job of showing what he's thinking. Put the notch in, looked like he hit it with the axe to knock it out. Set his back cut height while he's by the notch. Went to the left to start the back cut. Set the wedge with a couple taps so it wouldn't pinch the bar, kept cutting and alternated driving the wedge. Left more hinge on the left to help pull it left. Once the wedge starts pushing it over grab the saw and time to move

Roughly

 

[mickeyf]

Recently had to have a couple of trees down but there really was nowhere to drop them without clobbering something - fence, apple trees, neighbor's or our house... Guy climbed up and lowered chunks from the top working their way downward. All very tidy, professional and relatively quick.

 

[Tomc938]

Actually, that video does a great job of showing what he's thinking. Put the notch in, looked like he hit it with the axe to knock it out. Set his back cut height while he's by the notch. Went to the left to start the back cut. Set the wedge with a couple taps so it wouldn't pinch the bar, kept cutting and alternated driving the wedge. Left more hinge on the left to help pull it left. Once the wedge starts pushing it over grab the saw and time to move

Roughly

Now I know nothing about dropping a tree, but I’m guessing the angles and cuts you are talking about are dependent on where the centre of mass for the tree is, and what direction it is leaning in already. I’ve seen a few videos where someone cuts the notch, figures out where they want a hinge, and then drops the tree on a house or truck. I imagine this is the same technique I would use - with similar results.

 

[Chicken lights]

Now I know nothing about dropping a tree, but I’m guessing the angles and cuts you are talking about are dependent on where the centre of mass for the tree is, and what direction it is leaning in already.

Sort of. General rule of thumb is the notch is the direction you want it to go. Which is what he did. The wedge might open up the back cut 1", but that might've moved the top mass 2-3 feet, so even though it's leaning slightly over the house it wants to fall into the notch. Him leaving more hinge on the left but very little on the right helps it "swing" and pull left to drop it in the hole. There was probably more branches/leafs/weight in the open area above the roof. If you watch he's very efficient, he does one thing at a time in a specific order.

 

[terry_g]

I had a big birch tree leaning toward my house. The arborists that took it down climbed the tree with belts and spikes. They cut the tree down in short sections and lowered them to the ground with block and tackles. The best part was the company owner said if he could have the wood he would only charge me $100.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I had a big birch tree leaning toward my house. The arborists that took it down climbed the tree with belts and spikes. They cut the tree down in short sections and lowered them to the ground with block and tackles. The best part was the company owner said if he could have the wood he would only charge me $100.

That's cheap to have a tree felled, ridiculously cheap to climb and piece it down, wood or no wood.
It would have been $1k-2k to have that done to this fir. And then they would charge to haul the wood if I didn't want it.

 

[trevj]

Have a cousin who is a Faller, and another associate who is working on a Fallers certificate. Learned a LOT from both of them, but still figure I am a rank amateur. I can make a tree fall more or less at least, where I want it, but that comes nowhere near, to the mad skills of the folks that can MAKE the tree fall where they want it to,

 

[Elektrishun]

Mad respect for that gentleman's skills!

I witnessed my brother-in-law fall a tree up at the family cabin. Put it perfectly between the side of the cabin and an outdoor shower stall with barely any room to spare. Would have been more impressive except for the fact it was directly opposite of where he intended the tree to go.

 

[Elektrishun]

That's cheap to have a tree felled, ridiculously cheap to climb and piece it down, wood or no wood.
It would have been $1k-2k to have that done to this fir. And then they would charge to haul the wood if I didn't want it.

We have a 50 year-old ash in our backyard that is IMO priceless. To keep it in good health and make sure there wasn't any accidents with branches falling onto our buildings or our neighbors we decided to get it trimmed up. A team of 3, 2 in the tree and 1 on the ground, spent 2 solid hours trimming it. We paid $800 which included the clean-up.

Word of advice to anyone getting a tree trimmed by a contractor - make sure you ask about their methods of work and see if they mention sterilizing their tools between jobs. Had a co-worker lose a tree after he had it trimmed by a contractor. Unsterilized tools was believed to be the source of the disease.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Big tree, dropping went great, but I got very uncomfortable by how slowly he got through that back cut.....

I've got a big white pine that size hanging over my house that needs to come down. I might actually hire that one out......maybe....

 

[Brent H]

That would be a beauty to mill up into boards

 

[Susquatch]

We have a 50 year-old ash in our backyard that is IMO priceless.

Most ash trees in eastern Canada are doomed to die. The invasive Emerald Ash Borer is killing them by girdling them internally. The ministry is deliberately cutting them down to stop the spread. It is devastating to see entire woodlots deliberately flattened.

The ash borer looks like a small green grasshopper. Kill them on sight. I'm not sure if there is anything you can do other than cut down all the neighbouring ash trees.

You should be ok if it's a blue ash tree.

If you love the tree, I'd recommend some detailed research. By the time the borer arrives, it is too late. There are no ash trees left here. You have to stop it from getting there at all.

 

[Elektrishun]

@Susquatch

For what it's worth the contractor that trimmed the tree last year said it was in good health.

Apparently the city has early detection traps in place for the Emerald ash borer. So far, no signs of the borer have been reported.

If it comes it doesn't sound like much can be done.

 

[Chicken lights]

Most ash trees in eastern Canada are doomed to die. The invasive Emerald Ash Borer is killing them by girdling them internally. The ministry is deliberately cutting them down to stop the spread. It is devastating to see entire woodlots deliberately flattened.

The ash borer looks like a small green grasshopper. Kill them on sight. I'm not sure if there is anything you can do other than cut down all the neighbouring ash trees.

You should be ok if it's a blue ash tree.

If you love the tree, I'd recommend some detailed research. By the time the borer arrives, it is too late. There are no ash trees left here. You have to stop it from getting there at all.

Elm, butternut and even bitter nut are scarce now

Chinese elm, Manitoba maple and bam are just weeds

 

[Elektrishun]

All this tree talk got me looking a little closer at the two ash trees on our property. I think I may have finally figured out the difference between the two. Back yard ash looks to be a green ash and the front looks to be a velvet ash. Always wondered why the timing of the leaves budding and falling between the 2 was about a month apart.

 

[philipFROM-PNW]

Recently had to have a couple of trees down but there really was nowhere to drop them without clobbering something - fence, apple trees, neighbor's or our house... Guy climbed up and lowered chunks from the top working their way downward. All very tidy, professional and relatively quick.

I had to fall a broad leaf thats way, next to a fence, and the Next Door Neighbor was yelling Sue You, if a limb touches my property.

The house owner I was working for was a 100% Arkansas Hill Billy, said "Doan Mind her None, she ain't been happy in 40 years . . ." (Does *Canadia* have a version of "Hill Billy ????")

I had good rooe, spikes and saw, climbed up, dropped 7-10 feet at a time, with Miss Hill Billy on tension to lower the Limbs.

REALLY !

but I am no where near that Man, No sir Never was and now @75 Never Will be!

philip, from the Great Pacific NorthWET, Oregon, USA​

"The Truth spoken softly, is LOUDER . . . .

. . . . . . . . than the Lies that are SHOUTED."