How to get a Dangerous leaning tree down

Dead leaning tree hung up in another leaning tree. Using some throwline magic to get it down safely and efficiently

[johnndavis]

There's nothing more dangerous than a dead tree. It's difficult to predict how they will break when you cut them.
I like that little iron pulley thing you had to lower the weight. Never seen one before. I always just wrapped rope around a nearly tree and lowered heavy things that way.
I sometimes used a slingshot and a weight on a fishing rod to get my line over tall trees. It's easier and faster to get your line exactly where you want it..
I used hand cranked winches a lot to get trees to fall exactly where I wanted them to fall.
By digging around and cutting six inches out of the main roots I could winch a tree over and the whole stump would pop out of the ground.
There's a lot of tricks to tree work and more than one way to do any job. At the end of the day, nobody gets hurt, and the fastest way makes you money.
Thanks for the video.

[michaelgow]

Mick Gow ( Central Coast ) I am a Tree Surgeon and instructed for TAFE for quite some years. One of the things I introduced was a few days of "Strom Damage" which I created at a property I managed. I figured it's one of the more dangerous things we have to do, so better to learn and practice it in a controlled environment. We also actively practiced Climber Rescue. Our Storm Damage exercises entailed trees up to 700mm girth, deliberately fallen into another. We used a very similar technique to get them down...often with everything coming down on a rope. One comment I will make....once you got going ( you being the guy on the saw ) things got more dangerous, once the butt end was in the air, and the remainder of the tree....which was continuously raining down dead bits of crap, was now swinging around. Even though you only had two operators ( other than perhaps someone on the camera ) you could alleviate this added risk by attaching another rope to the butt end ( above your next cut ) this can be tied-off to another tree. This will greatly limit the amount of swing and therefore reduce the risk of the tree rearing upwards or sideways. If it's hard to read which way it might swing?....just use yet another rope, they're very quick to set and can save an awful lot of trouble. As I used to say to my students...."Branch-work can look like Puppetry, and YOU are in in full control" Another comment...the offsider looks VERY familiar to me?? Good job and great little video. Cheers Mick

[davidmayer]

I like how you approached this leaner. I had good luck with this technique as a beginner. Good Vid. Thanks

[marcofemto]

Awesome job! We've gotten many emergency jobs with that situation a couple of times and tried the sketchiest methods. Now I'll do it just the way y'all did in this video 🤘

[Aussie-Emlyn]

Depending on fence construction, unclip wires so they can rest on ground. Put decent winch or big tractor on tree to tear it down, clean up, clip wires back up.
No workers put at risk. Relatively low cost.
Dead trees are widow makers.

[thelastdetail]

From the 3rd big butt piece onwards you were in unnecessary danger, cutting a dead tree directly under a broken tree, out of which you could have been hit by any number of falling pieces beyond your control. A butt-tied winch and tow set-up (Fireman´s winch, 4x4 vehicle, or Tractor) would have been optimal. It would have dragged the tree out of the other one and not placed anyone in danger. You could then cut it up safely. 50kg of dead wood on the head is a long goodnight, best to avoid the risk.

[DiViLi]

Sawing dead trees is dangerous. Good job, my friend.

[laurencebrill]

🪓 No1 I wouldn’t be guaranteeing to save the fence. Fences are cheaper than broken bones 🦴 and funerals 🤷‍♂️
🪓 So bloody good to have some Aussies working with our hardwood‼️ 🥇
🪓 I’ll Save and watch this in more detail 👀 Good job 👍

[fqo]

Ever think of getting yourself a fixed line puller like a Tirfor? Both the 3/4 ton and 1.6 ton ones are what I have. Lots off application to use on leaners and hung up trees and whatnot. They can add a lot to tree work safety, and sometimes expediency.

[samday]

I would’ve (not attempted) undercut only and sacrificed the fence. 😁 The vertical dead tree hanging by rope scared me.
Sawing down wind is also problematic.
Well done.

[bossman]

Great job, well done. That is why you bring in a pro like Tree Climber Harry. You can fiddle with this yourself. Even if you have a tractor to pull the bottom out, it would still be a dangerous job.

[shermanhofacker]

Commenting before watching. I would climb the live tree, tie two lines onto the dead one. One line through a pulley that is tied into the live tree, the other to pull the dead tree away, after cutting chunks from the bottom until it is standing beside the live tree.

[Republican_Extremest]

So what if you can't climb? If I undercut from the bottom? without the fear of damaging anything from the ground area?

[David-ukkb]

Great job, you did the job exactly how I would have done it. Wicked dangerous job, that one. God bless and be safe

[Hammerdak]

If you take the time to cut a small wedge out from the underside, like when normally felling a tree, then your bar won’t get pinched when you do your top cut. It’s more predictable and you won’t run the risk of bending your bar in the pinch.

[glennstevenson]

That happened to me 45 years ago. I used the old 303 saw. Had it down in no time!

[jacked-]

Reading these comments 😬 everyone's a arborists. 😅 Excellent job 💪 without a tractor.

[andym]

I had an old timer do one of these (much bigger fir tree) next to my house. After a wind storm the root ball had been dislodged by a nearby tree up rooting (100+ ft) doug firs. He did a block on a nearby tree and climbed up the good tree to get it near the top. He roped off to his truck and backed it on the other direction. with the rot in this tree, you couldn't have used that method. Dropping in place was best.

[capecodarbortech]

I did a similar situation a few years ago . Rigged dead tree into another dead tree then backed the line into a live oak for extra reinforcement.. once I cut the dead tree from ground the other dead tree uprooted and swung towards house and windows .. the live tree stopped both of them before hitting house 😮😮😮 .. it was very close call but no damage 🎉

[willtricks]

That is what tree work is all about, assess the risk, trust your tools and your crew, then get on with it stick to the plan and wear a hat. Cheers