We have an oak in our back yard, perhaps thirty-five feet tall and about 12 inches at the base, not a particularly large tree, but in a position to smash into my house if I'm not careful taking it down.

A couple of years ago, the tree was hit by lightning and died. Recently, the tree lost a limb and I figured it was time to take this thing down. The first thing I did was get the 50 feet of 3/8" nylon rope I keep in my truck. I tied a stick to one end of the rope. One by one, I tossed the rope over the limbs and let the rope drop down until I had hold of both sides of it, then broke the limbs off by pulling on them. Some came down immediately but others didn't want to give. On some of these limbs, I was actually putting all my body weight into it, and ended up swinging across the yard like I was a kid again, and I have to tell you- it was fun. Some of the limbs I couldn't get down easily, I left and went back to them. It's funny- once I heard that first crack of wood on a tough limb, I knew I had it. It's almost as if the bending and torquing of the limb created friction inside the limb, which made it more flexible and in turn, easier to snap off. No doubt, a live tree would behave differently.

Anyway, I removed all the limbs, processed them down with a bow saw and a pair of Fiskars loppers, and on out to the street it went.

Now, I'm left with the de-limbed trunk. I don't own a chainsaw (if that wasn't obvious by now) and I'm not gonna be the yutz who rents one and then buries a running chainsaw in my thigh. I don't own a pole saw, though, given what I have in mind, that would probably work.

The wife is particular about how I drop the tree. There are dogwood trees around it and she doesn't want them damaged. What it comes down to is there is a narrow corridor where the tree can be dropped. I could take my bow saw and trusty Gransfors hatchet and get this thing on the ground PDQ - probably where I intend it, but I have never before done this and now is not the time to try out new skills.

I intend to cut the trunk a bit more than halfway up it. This top fifteen or so feet won't damage anything, no matter which direction it falls. To do this, I am going to use a gadget I bought many years ago at Brigade Quartermasters, the Pocket Chainsaw. Some of you would be surprised at how well this thing works. I've used it to cut up a downed tree, six inches in diameter. Getting through that trunk took perhaps twenty seconds, but boy, did it take a lot out of me. So, what this gadget does is allow you to carry a 24" saw in a very small space (the container for the saw is about the size of a shoe polish can, but a bit taller) but at the cost of manpower. I wouldn't want to try to use this saw for an extended length of time. It would wear me out.

In this instance, though, I need to make just one cut, but the cut is about twenty feet in the air. So, I'm going to throw my rope over the stub of a limb, right where I want to make my cut. I'll tie one side of the saw to the back end of the rope, then, remove the stick I've been using as a weight and tie the other end of the rope to the saw, so that I now have a 50 foot loop of rope with a saw blade tied into it. Then, pull the saw up to make the cut, and no, I won't be standing under the tree when I do this. After the top section is on the ground, it'll be a piece of cake to take down the rest. My one concern is getting my saw stuck up in this tree.

Just thought I'd share. If it wasn't so damn hot right now, I'd be doing this instead of writing about it.

I don't have anything to add except I do have a Kobalt cordless 40v pole saw if you want to borrow it


And, please have a camera running just in case

Chainsaws are scary if you don’t use them much. After Hurricane Ivan I was using it a bunch and got pretty good with it. A couple times though I looked around and realized I was at the beginning of a story with a horrible ending. Good luck with the tree. Trees and electricity are two things I recognize my own limitations and try to go professional. It is fun dropping a tree though.

This thread is useless without pictures.

Ya, we need some pics so we can adequately evaluate this feat of engineering.

That’s pretty unusual, and sounds like a good idea. Are you going to try to tie off the upper section and maybe have someone pull from the opposite direction as you saw, to guarantee it falls away from you? I know you said you’d be away from it, but still… extra insurance never hurts.

Speaking of insurance.....

Turn on the gopro. You might win $10000!

You only live once...
Tannerite! About 8lbs should do for a 12in oak tree.
Break out your favorite rifle, and have at it.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Are you going to try to tie off the upper section and maybe have someone pull from the opposite direction as you saw, to guarantee it falls away from you?

No. In order to make the cut more horizontal than vertical (it's gonna be a diagonal cut, either way) I'll have to make the cut while standing as far from the tree as my setup allows. Also, since this tree has been dead for some time, there's a possibility I won't even complete my cut before the top section hinges over and just hangs there.

Given the weather, It may be some time before I finish this up.

I may post some pics of the tree, but there's nothing to be gained from photos of a sweaty old man running from falling lumber.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
I don't have anything to add except I do have a Kobalt cordless 40v pole saw if you want to borrow it

Thank you, but I want to know if what I have in mind will work.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
That’s pretty unusual, and sounds like a good idea. Are you going to try to tie off the upper section and maybe have someone pull from the opposite direction as you saw, to guarantee it falls away from you? I know you said you’d be away from it, but still… extra insurance never hurts.

I took a tree down that way, once.
I did tie a line above the cut and attached that to a friend's pickup truck. No problem with the truck applying considerable pressure.

Ain't the first amp of electicity or ounce of gasoline gonna touch this project. It's just me and the tree, you see.

quote:

the Pocket Chainsaw.

Now, THAT is cool!

Good luck!

Now whichever method is finally decided upon, we will get a video of the action, right?

(Preferably with some Benny Hill music in the background?)

The cut part of the tree will fall when the downward force on its center of gravity (CoG) overcomes the tensile strength of the uncut wood. This is true whether you are cutting the tree, pulling down branches, or the wind is doing it. The no-longer-suppported wood will fall with the uncut wood beig a hinge that controls the direction. Timberers use this to fairly precisely lay down a trunk where they want it, they control their cuts so that there is a wide (but not thick) hinge of wood perpendicular to the desired direction. Otherwise, the trunk's CoG not being in line with the direction of desired fall, the trunk will twist as it is falling, and land exactly where it will do maximum damage (ref. Murphy c. 1866).

So the answer to Para's question "will this work?" is "it depends on what you mean by 'work.'" It may bring the upper portion of the tree down, but exactly where is not predictable or controllable unless the cut(s) can be made precisely, which I don't think is practical with the tool described. You are risking injury, and perhaps worse, wifely scorn.

Perhaps almost as bad, it isn't unlikely that the CoG will tend to pull the cut closed onto the saw blade/chain trapping it in the cut without recourse (until the next windstorm when Murphy will take over).

I couldn't say for sure without a close examination of the situation, but I think I'd rather take the whole trunk down at once, if there is room to do so, with the conventional two-cut method (so as to establish a hinge) with a chainsaw. Piecing it down in a controlled manner will almost certainly require climbing, and ropes to control the fall of the cut pieces. That's how every professional tree service does it when there is danger of damage to nearby objects.

My dad used to tie a line to the tree in question (up as high as possible)and run it out the direction he wanted it to fall. Halfway down the line he’d tie a milk crate to the line and fill it with rocks to make a weight. It would pull the tree the direction he wanted it to go when he began the back side cut. Of course cutting a notch in the direction he wanted the tree to go first. Worked every time.

When he couldn’t get up high enough, he’d take one of us kids and shove us up a ladder to climb into the tree.

I used this method when I was clearing a 100 year old cemetery near some power lines once. Worked perfect. Sometimes I’d use a four wheeler to pull the tree as I cut it. Making sure the line was longer then the tree was tall so my buddy wouldn’t get hurt.

Good luck, and having a healthy respect for the chainsaw will keep you from being hurt

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

the Pocket Chainsaw.

Now, THAT is cool!

You can see it in action. This guy is OK:




In the video, he points out that you want to buy a saw with a tooth pattern like he shows you, and that's the blade design/tooth pattern of my saw.

It took him about forty seconds to saw through that fence post. He's a young guy, doesn't appear to be out of shape, and you can see how much that cut took out of him. He says so at the end of the video.

So, the trade-off with this gadget is very compact storage size, but a fatiguing, calorie-burning tool to use. In a survival scenario, this gadget would be far better than nothing at all, but I can't see anyone processing lots of wood with it. Short-term use only.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
You are risking injury, and perhaps worse, wifely scorn.

That's me, alright- livin' on the bleeding edge of danger.

quote:

Perhaps almost as bad, it isn't unlikely that the CoG will tend to pull the cut closed onto the saw blade/chain trapping it in the cut without recourse (until the next windstorm when Murphy will take over).

Yes, I've considered that and if the saw gets stuck, that means I've made a partial cut, and in that case, I'll try to pull the upper section of the truck down with the rope.

I've already oiled the gadget and right before it goes up the tree, I'm going to coat it in Vaseline, in case it has to stay up there a day or two.

Well, I was going to offer you my chainsaw and my help, but my dad-bod ain't cut out for manual sawin'.

Thanks, but everything I've done so far has been manual and I'll apply power tools only as a last resort.