Hung Up Tree

[Wendelspanswick]

Maybe one for @8ob, I've been offered some free wind blown Sweet Chestnut for my saw mill, most of it is on the ground but one of them is hung in another Chestnut which needs to stay.

It's the tree on the right which has up rooted, it's bigger than it looks, it's around 20" diameter at chest height.
Tips please on getting it on the ground.
To complicate matters the access is pretty bad, I can just get in there with the TE20, the John Deere has no chance.
I have a 1.6 ton Tirfor if that helps.

 

[Kent]

Any way of knocking it off with another tree? Pulling it off with plant?
I would not cut that like it is personally

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Any way of knocking it off with another tree? Pulling it off with plant?
I would not cut that like it is personally

I can't fell anything, only remove wind blown trees, part of the agreement is I remove this hung up tree.

 

[Screwdriver]

Well I think you need to get a rope up there as high as possible and pull it back upright. You might need a good solid anchor way off to the right and maybe a pulley system but it will probably fall once it's free.

If you cut it below where it is hung up, it's not coming down. Another option might be to lift it up. Connect a couple of planks/ladders between the base of the solid tree and just above the base of the one that's hooked up (assuming it's relatively free). Then if you pull on that hinge point (with a pulley quarter way up the fixed tree to the base of the other), the falling tree has to go up as the base is pulled toward the fixed tree. It should go up and either fall backwards or be easier to pull back or you might then be able to cut a bit of the base away.

 

[Screwdriver]

I had a similar issue with some much smaller trees.

Using rope and pulley with some strategically placed lever arms to control the fall.

 

[8ob]

I cant advise on this but if it was just me lone working and the rootplate was intact with no rot in the base ............ And I had a tractor, some rope, a ladder and tirfor I would tie into that leaning tree at about fifteen feet , with the tirfor also attached and a decent pulling rope I would anchor the tirfor at the base of an adjacent tree uphill and stand the windblown upright then pull with second rope towards the ride with the tractor. I would be careful with it even when its on the floor though and keep an eye on the cut for signs of pinching. Many a good woodsman has met his demise on sprung loaded timber and rootplates launching themselves back in the hole. In reality I would just use a saw but I cant condone that.

Bob

Need to get this one down thats hung up in a few trees, Its fallen into the forks of three separate trees, about a 120` long, got an uprooted ten foot high root plate and on a deceivingly steep hill at a height of about 50`on the last tree.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

tirfor or tractor mounted winch as high as you can get it and pull it upright, then a second winch to pull it towards reasonable direction of fall and nick it, should go over. be careful with the roots though, can be a bit bear-trappy on windblown stuff

Edit, posted the same time as @8ob

 

[mike os]

Get someone who knows what they are doing, windblown trees are about as risky as it gets, you need to assessed deal with the stem, crown and rootplate. The movement of any of them can put you at significant risk.

 

[Migmac]

Tirfor winch will pull that down easy. Put you first cut on the bottom of trunk and cut up about a third of the way. Then cut down from the top of the trunk about an inch further out from the roots than the bottom cut. Your saw won't get stuck doing it this way. Put a strop round the anchor tree and one round the cut tree, join the two together with the tirfor and start cranking the handle

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Cheers for that, Tirfor winch and tractor it is.
Then I need to make myself a log arch to get the butts the 1 mile over the common back to my place.

 

[Migmac]

Get someone who knows what they are doing, windblown trees are about as risky as it gets, you need to assessed deal with the stem, crown and rootplate. The movement of any of them can put you at significant risk.

They can be dangerous but that one is straight forward, very little compression or tension. Soft woods are the dodgy ones. Cut thousands of them and all of them are worth watching. The day you don't watch is the day you meet your maker

 

[Migmac]

Any way of knocking it off with another tree? Pulling it off with plant?
I would not cut that like it is personally

Knocking it off with another tree is a very very unsafe way of doing it

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Get someone who knows what they are doing, windblown trees are about as risky as it gets, you need to assessed deal with the stem, crown and rootplate. The movement of any of them can put you at significant risk.

If I did that then I'd lose any incentive to get the timber. I have all my chainsaw certs and I've dealt with hung up trees before it's just that normally all I'm interested in is logs so it doesn't matter how it comes down, with this tree I want it intact for the saw mill.

 

[Screwdriver]

Surely if you could get a tractor anywhere near it you just drag it out from the base

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Surely if you could get a tractor anywhere near it you just drag it out from the base

It's still attached to the root plate which is about 75% in the ground, it's going to need cutting away which is the difficult bit!

 

[Screwdriver]

It's still attached to the root plate which is about 75% in the ground, it's going to need cutting away which is the difficult bit!

Can you jury rig a tripod support or is the whole thing too unstable?

Sounds like whatever you do there's going to be a certain amount of risk.

 

[Robotstar5]

The guy who owns the stables decided to remove something like that with a chainsaw (all the gear, no idea) ended up up having a ride in the air ambulance after the trunk kicked out and broke his leg.

 

[Kent]

Knocking it off with another tree is a very very unsafe way of doing it

Only way I know personally without plant on site. I certainly would not fancy taking a saw to the leaning one

 

[Migmac]

Only way I know personally without plant on site. I certainly would not fancy taking a saw to the leaning one

There are methods of taking down hung trees without mechanical aids, you won’t get shown them unless your on a chainsaw course. Mechanical aids are the safest and best way though.

 

[Kent]

There are methods of taking down hung trees without mechanical aids, you won’t get shown them unless your on a chainsaw course. Mechanical aids are the safest and best way though.

Don't pretend to be expert to be honest if I get a hard one I phone a pro. Got a near miss once from a freak wind switch

I suppose I should do the course but it's only the difficult fells that get me and its easier and safer to pick up the phone . Besides my Mrs is the vice principal of the argi college that offers it, so I might be seen as a spy unless I went under a false name lol.