Structural Mutilation

[BeerGeek]

Agreed on Dave's assessment above. As I've stated before, most tree guys around here consider them "yard trash", and quite a few homeowners are not fans of them, especially all the litter them dump in their yards. I've only climbed a few, but they all sucked (too big in too small a space; usually left by previous owners for new owners to deal with). More that I've dealt with have been storm accidents/partial collapses, rather than whole take downs, so I tend to agree that they are weaker than most other Maples (Sugar, Red, Norway, Crimson King, etc...).

 

[TINYHULK]

Here’s a picture of the actual tree. Was about 36in dbh and seemed quite healthy. That back leader was quite large. I had to set a rigging line through two small unions in the top right leader and swing the back leader around in 4 different pieces. The wood at the anchor seemed to hold the weight very well but my first cut was free falling one of the front left leaders, only needed about two feet of hinge wood activity to clear everything. Instead it just broke the way it leaned and landed on the chipper. Luckily the silver maple brakes so easily the 1/4in piece of metal it hit was all it needed to brake the leader in half and caused zero damage to the chipper. “Pros and cons” of fragile wood I guess 😂

 

[Treeaddict]

From the little I’ve worked with them, they are poor hingers and have weak wood. So is tulip poplar though as well as dead ash and tree of Heaven. I still like them as a native tree. Saw a grove of them in the woods by a stream for the first time yesterday. Usually they are single specimens in an open area. These forest trees we’re about 80’ tall and straight as an arrow. I wonder if their properties are different in that scenario?!

 

[flushcut]

I don’t mind slicing and dicing a big silver out in an open yard. Lots of possible rigging points.

 

[Bart]

One of my character voices cautionary sayings is "What, you wanted a hinge?". It reminds me that some wood completely ignores your efforts at control by hinge design.

 

[Treeaddict]

I’ve had good success with the 10% hinge wood holding on and using a tag line for directional control. It breaks early but some direction is established. I’ve never cut one down (just trimmed) but curious to see it’s behavior on the stump.

 

[gf beranek]

It's surgery.

 

[flushcut]

One of the larger silvers we have done.

 

[TINYHULK]

I saw the same thing with the hinge wood. You will get just a little bit of steer but it’s going to break quick. On my first one I needed a 6 ft steer to the right. Not much for any other tree I normally do but the maple wouldn’t hold for that. When I dropped the final top I only needed a 2ft steer to the right so I had an aggressive pull line in that direction and I did more like a Dutchman/pie shaped hinge. Just barely held long enough but she held beautifully. On the hinge when I dropped the tree, I was pulling 180 degrees off the back lean. Keeping atleast 10% hinge wood and wedging it to see how it acted before I had the skid steer pull hard on it. She came over pretty good

 

[Treeaddict]

That’s what they look like over here as well Rajan. Big old solitary octopus like things. How do you deal with the power line running through the center? Currently (pun) I leave them alone when power lines are within striking distance.

 

[Altissimus]

Looks a Phone line ...

 

[flushcut]

They said it was cable tv and they said the line was dead. But we worked around it as if it were live, can’t trust anybody.
I usually set three blocks, one to keep favorable line angles into the porty(GRCS or stand up block for the mini), one up high, and another catching the chunks on the limbs being rigged.

 

[flushcut]

If it were a power line I would have called in a make safe request from the utility company. It was a pole to pole line but clearly not power transmission. Pole to house we work around sometimes but most time will have the line dropped and reconnected after the tree is gone.

 

[Treeaddict]

Does the power company charge for the drop and rehang?

 

[flushcut]

Not in my area it’s a free service same as calling in a “ make safe” but they leave a fantastic cluster fudge of a pile for you to clean up.

 

[Bermy]

If I want a line drop, just residential feed, it's $450 just for the power Co, it has to be signed off by an electrician both disconnect and reconnect, goodness knows how much that would cost...

 

[flushcut]

My insurance deductible is only $500. It sounds cheaper just to tear the mast off the house and set it on fire. That’s crazy $450 for a service drop!

 

[SeanKroll]

Here, is free for tree work.
$300ish to drop& hookup the line for electrical work.

Had a customer sync the tree work and electrical work.





Commercial buildings may be more, or maybe it was because it was larger apartment building... the owner told me $500 many years ago.