One I think I'm gonna walk away from

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
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Location
Western Oregon
I was requested to take a look at felling this tree...and I just don't think I like the chances of getting it down without hammering this historic barn into splinters.

All of the crown is over the barn, and the tree is a big sucker at 50+ inch DBH. It starts straight for about 10 feet, but corkscrews out over the roof bigtime.

It would be doable with an experienced hand on a large winch equipped dozer to pull it and then release it to the lay, off 90 degrees to the lean, but there aren't too many of those guys left around here, and we certainly don't have the equipment or the operator in house any more. There was a day, not even so long ago, when that was not the case...but no longer.

I hate to turn down a felling job, but my gut is telling me to say no.

Here's some pictures...what do y'all think?
 

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I think that's a lot of weight to trust to a winch; I'd rather climb and rig at least some of it. I think you're gut is correct.
 
I dont think you could rig enough brush off that to change felling scenarios. gnarl-asty
 
Move the barn, drop the tree, put the barn back. Easy peasy.
 
You're there, I'm here looking at pictures. I trust your own judgement. Call it the way you feel it..... If the feeling is scary think again...
 
On special cases is it so problematical to bring in equipment and an experienced operator from outside? Cut and pull in multiples and don't sign anything. That is a lot of weight there, perhaps Jerry can offer his advice as consultation, and it will help to put it in your comfort zone.
 
Nah... Don't ask Jer... He and cabins don't really mix too well.... (Ref. High Climbers and Timber Fallers) ;)
 
Hey B: What about roping lots of limb weight off the bad side and then busting her in half? (Bull rope pull with a pickup?)
 
Looks like a historic tree. Why is it going away? Signs of decay?

What will happen instead of you doing it?

Will it stay or be contracted out?
 
You need to swing it past the big fir I'm assuming? Looks doable from the pics if that's the case with a good pull from a decent sized piece of iron. I'm sitting here looking at pics though, and I can certainly say I wouldn't question your judgement on the viability of a falling scenario. If it's the other way that it needs to be swung, that looks even dicier to me.
 
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  • #12
Hey B: What about roping lots of limb weight off the bad side and then busting her in half? (Bull rope pull with a pickup?)

To put it as succinctly as I know how...NFW. That tree, even the top half of it, would toss a pickup like a stone in a slingshot.
:D
 
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  • #13
You need to swing it past the big fir I'm assuming? Looks doable from the pics if that's the case with a good pull from a decent sized piece of iron. I'm sitting here looking at pics though, and I can certainly say I wouldn't question your judgement on the viability of a falling scenario. If it's the other way that it needs to be swung, that looks even dicier to me.

If I could get it to drop just barely to the left of that big fir in the first pic, I'd be free and clear, but anything less than a brush of that bole means at least a third of the building is crushed...and I don't think with a compromised hinge it can be done with enough certainty for me to try it.
 
From the pics that looks pretty tight. If you favor to far from the cabin I'm guessing those crowns mixing up could bring down some debris that might crush the cabin anyways? Tough to tell from pics. Generally if you need to pull hard, you need something heavy doing the pulling. And that's a big tree, iron to pull on that is expensive if it isn't readily available on site. If you had something sufficient could you pull it basically 180 from it's lean? To the right of the fir?
 
I would think, that hard of a lean is going to compromise the hinge. You would need to cut a tapered hinge imo to compensate for it and hoping to hell that you've steered/tapered properly so that the hinge doesn't fail and the tree goes where you want it, doesn't pull to far over or not far enough. From the pics, that looks like a bastard of a lean.
 
Seems like unless your are falling it definitively away from the building, as opposed to parallel, you risk the butt bouncing against the building, or should I say In To or In Through the building.
 
Looks like a climber to rig it out job to me. Lot of weight!
Burnam, if you feel iffy with felling it.... That tells me everything I would need to know.

Have Smiling Dave do it ......

:lol:


;)
 
Whizzy won't work on a compromised hinge.

How is that compromized BTW? Doesn't look rotten in the picture.

Unless there is a tree of similar or bigger size near enough to use for a rigging point, I think Brett's idea is probably the cheapest solution.

Move the barn.

Whenever I remove hazard trees for the forest service here, it is always about finding the cheapest ( safe) way, since they have no money.

I surmise that the same goes in Oregon.

So it comes down to simple math.

What is cheapest: rigging it out, getting a D9 with a winch on the scene or moving the barn.

No way I'd fall that one without a motorized HEAVY duty winch on the scene, if you can't get that, walk away from it.
 
Do-able, but as has been already stated, only with a very heavy duty winch. I used to run a Ford County 1184 skidder with double winches. The beauty of the double winch is offsetting the pulls so that you can steer a tree down. Takes a good operator though.
 
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