Tree felling vids

[lxskllr]

I figure you have a ~45° area of fall if things get crazy. That may or may not matter, and should be accounted for. Not for every tree either.

edit:
I didn't study the video, but it looked like a notch was cut to allow for the jack. I wonder how much time is really saved if you're cutting a notch anyway.

 

[davidwyby]

One day there will be a barberchair. And any side lean or uneven limb weight can and will cause a loss to that favor.

I agree. Unless the side of the tree is flat, it’s a triangle and a triangle is the strongest shape known to man, strong enough to resist the crown weight. 😁

 

[Mellow]

Tree work is a hobby/learning experience for me, so I have time to vid stuff, share and learn. Goes pretty quick with a couple
iPhones.

I like how guilty of treeson shows his learning experiences.

I agree the negative stuff seems to get the most views. My worst vid has 2-300,000 views now. Never was going for views and that’s not how I want them, whatever.

So how about this? Funny because a lot of the negative comments on my vid are from people who don’t see my face cut.

I don't understand the title of your video. I can see the wedges from your face cuts lying on the ground in front of the tree.

 

[davidwyby]

I don't understand the title of your video. I can see the wedges from your face cuts lying on the ground in front of the tree.

I’m not the Finnish lumberjack. My YT handles is the same as here. I’ve gotten a lot of comments on mine because people can’t see my face cut laying there. I didn’t really watch the Finnish guy’s.

 

[SeanKroll]

Those jacks seem like a specialty tool, expensive, heavy, long, and not a great replacement for wedges, overall.

Some trees, some times.

 

[lxskllr]

I see the jacks being more useful with a largish truck close by, and doing residential/municipal type work. I wouldn't want to hump the thing tree to tree offroad, but it looks like it might be a good tool for the types of trees in the video. Maybe better than banging wedges, but I wouldn't want to pay what it likely costs to find out.

 

[davidwyby]

@Mellow

yours - truly

 

[gf beranek]

Ha! that was good. The limbs absorbed a good part of the impact.

I see in your vids you get a lot of wind down there.

I watched a similar video on YT. It looked like it would work, but it was a hard hit and bent the axles on the trailer . Little things, details make all the difference.

 

[SeanKroll]

I like the gravity-powered loading.

For your direct loading method, as needed on bigger trees, you might try cutting it with a thicker hinge until you can push it with a pole or a cut limb for leverage at height. As well, a hold-back line on a portawrap, with a midline tie on the tree and a little standing end after the POW can allow you to lean it over some before letting go of the rope and allowing it to run through the POW, releasing the tree onto the trailer/ truck.

 

[davidwyby]

I’m pretty sure I have posted these before cuz burnham and I went round about them. The Carson car trailer in my vids with the little trees is pretty heavy duty, 6” frame, steel deck. This miller tilt top is much heavier, it’s a mini heavy equipment trailer. It also has a hydraulic cylinder converted to a damper for the tilt which absorbs some shock, along with the limbs on the trailer. These trees were the ones where the guy climbed the boards nailed to the tree, and got caught in the top and yanked out of the tree when he topped it…a large top. At least 20’ up. Him surviving was a miracle. Or not landing under the top really.


That’s the top on the ground behind me in this one:



I use the trick whenever I can. I would not do it with heavy green wood or eucalyptus of any size. Dry pine is very light. I don’t have vid but I once dropped an ironbark on 16’ trailer and 20’ truck, then cut the center at the hitch out. It was a tall tree but skinny trunk, all fluffy limbs. I cut it with a 20” bar. Worked a charm…


I thought about the lowering trick, but concern about pulling it backward off the stump. From a high point would be better.

I was thinking about maybe a triple hinge and making the entire face a tall soft Dutchman. Maybe cut two wedges out of the top of the face on either side, creating a wedge to crush down through the Dutchman…then winch the tree down onto the trailer with the Winch in the truck.

It all requires a good seat of the pants feel for how much one can get away with….and if I ever did break a trailer, I have a big machine and welding shop…

 

[davidwyby]

@gf beranek the wind can be annoying but keeps the temps down.

 

[davidwyby]

Trimming my own palms today. Stupid berries…

Got a pretty decent swing on the one I felled 😆

Got my bird 💩 supplement in for the year

 

[davidwyby]

I figured out why my little tree vid is blowing up on YT. It’s because it has points that at a glance are easy to pick on for young guys that think they know everything. All their stupid comments keep it bumped up in the algorithm, ha!

 

[davidwyby]

I also see why people do troll accounts…gets views! Like Joes Premium Firewood (IIRC)

 

[davidwyby]

@Mellow if I’m not mistaken, the wedges you see laying on the ground in the Finnish vid are from cutting the notches for the pushing tool.


🤔 That tool might be good for small back leaners.

 

[SeanKroll]

Wedges are for small backleaners.

You can get a lot of wedges for $1700, the cost of the Stalpen tree jack.

Nylon cutting boards from a thrift store for stacking plates can also fit in that budget.

 

[davidwyby]

Wedges are for small backleaners.

You can get a lot of wedges for $1700, the cost of the Stalpen tree jack.

Nylon cutting boards from a thrift store for stacking plates can also fit in that budget.

I once helped on fire prevention project. Bunch of tall 4-6” hard back leaning trees. We had to throwline every one, very tedious. The Stalpen would have been perfect…but for that price I’ll make my own. 😁

On second thought, those lines probably didn’t have to be set as high as they were…low back cut and pull. But the idea is, trees too small to wedge easily, a lot of them, and too big to pull by hand. Stalpen would be nice there. It was fast too, kept the closed time for the road to a minimum.

 

[Burnham]

I'd bet any shade tree guy (like myself ) could finagle a high lift Handyman style jack to do that type of pushing.

 

[lxskllr]

That tree jack blew waaaay past the estimate I had in my head. I was thinking ~$700. $1.7k is 'LoL, no' money.

 

[Bermy]

Why are you cutting so many green fronds off your palm tree?

 

[davidwyby]

Why are you cutting so many green fronds off your palm tree?

Mostly because I don’t know what I’m doing?

I cut the pod arm things and anything hanging down.

 

[Bermy]

Classic palm pruning mistake, removing too many fronds.
Retain the fronds on an arc from about 9-3...10-2 max removal if they are thrashed, NOT 11-1
Old fronds relocate their resources into the new ones, then change colour and die off. In that time they also provide support for the new ones emerging, allowing them time to stiffen up to be able to hold at those more obtuse angles.
Palms have ONE growing point.
When fronds are removed too soon, when they are still fully green, or just going a bit yellow, the whole NEXT set of fronds then must give up their resources for the formation of the new fronds...and it becomes a cascade, people see that next set turn yellow, and they cut THEM off, lather rinse repeat and you end up with
'A feather on a pimple'
One starts to see narrowing of the trunk under the head, a point of weakness, diminishing returns of products of photosynthesis from diminishing numbers of fronds, susceptibility to disease and insects.
Thus endeth the lesson.
PS, removing excess flower spikes or spent seed heads, or a bit of the 'fabric' (or coconuts) is ok

Aesthetically, its a hard sell. People are averse to seeing slightly yellow fronds, and they want 'high and tight' that overgroomed appearance. Why? Because we must subjugate nature to our whims.
And they thing taking more fronds means a longer interval between pruning. Wrong

 

[davidwyby]

Classic palm pruning mistake, removing too many fronds.
Retain the fronds on an arc from about 9-3...10-2 max removal if they are thrashed, NOT 11-1
Old fronds relocate their resources into the new ones, then change colour and die off. In that time they also provide support for the new ones emerging, allowing them time to stiffen up to be able to hold at those more obtuse angles.
Palms have ONE growing point.
When fronds are removed too soon, when they are still fully green, or just going a bit yellow, the whole NEXT set of fronds then must give up their resources for the formation of the new fronds...and it becomes a cascade, people see that next set turn yellow, and they cut THEM off, lather rinse repeat and you end up with
'A feather on a pimple'
One starts to

Thank you!

 

[davidwyby]

@Bermy how often should one prune? I do once a year mainly to mitigate the berries

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I once helped on fire prevention project. Bunch of tall 4-6” hard back leaning trees. We had to throwline every one, very tedious. The Stalpen would have been perfect…but for that price I’ll make my own. 😁

On second thought, those lines probably didn’t have to be set as high as they were…low back cut and pull. But the idea is, trees too small to wedge easily, a lot of them, and too big to pull by hand. Stalpen would be nice there. It was fast too, kept the closed time for the road to a minimum.

The Maasdam rope puller works very well for this application, even better than the jack if there are tangled limbs, vines... It needs only a light anchor point and for this size of trees, you can just choke the line by hand over head. The leverage is sufficient, with the advantage of a short pull for tipping fast the trees. Throwlining the tree means an easier but longer pull. This isn't needed in most of the small caliber trees, even the tall ones. For the heavy trees, that's an other story.