limb removal

stirmantrees

just removed a Sycamore the other day that had the top blow out of it. There was one cut that i decided to make that was semi critical and i took a video of it. nothing fancy. yes i did have one hand on the saw and one hand on the stub(my lanyard almost slipped of it right before this cut because of the way the rip was). if i did not do it perfect i could have busted a fence. i knew it would role off the jungle growing fromn the neighbors a little which would help my cause. i kept nipping at it to get a real good undercut and went for it. Its all about decisions out here.
critique away.

Eric Frei

Yeah I got some critique.

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Garry Brockley

its not a critique Just a couple of questions,
1 if you were concerned about the fence why didnt you rope it down.
2 why did you use the saw one handed? it's a top handled saw not a one handed saw.
3 why did you take several slicing cuts at the base of the limb? why not put a gob or just a simple up slice then a top cut or just a top cut to control it down then release the limb, easiest cut to do and it brings it to the base of the tree.
4 how many tie in points did you have when you made the cut.
maybe more later

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Eric Frei

Geee.. I thought I was tough on him!

I would have scarfed it downward at a slight angle (imagine straight down is 6 o'clock so scarf it for say 8 o'clock) with a shallow gob and cut it in such a fashion that it was a pie cut with more hinge on top and as it slewed a little to clear the fenceline with the hinge closing cut through it so there was no chance of the tip hitting the ground first and the butt coming back at me. Sharp saw, lots of grunt and wham bam thankyou maam.

I would have had a lifeline cinched around the stem a little bit down for sure, You could have also cut a notch in that stem for your lanyard to sit in a groove.

If that lanyard came over the top I doubt your hand there would have stopped you falling back.

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Garry Brockley

I wasn't being hard i was just trying to get an idea of how he thinks in a tree, hard would have been a scathing attack like on other forums, we are all constantly learning and this is a good chance to do exactly that.

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kiwi_tree_steve

OH MY GOD WHAT THE F*#K are you doing up a tree with a saw buddy... your dangerous and lucky to be alive...

to any un skilled person or aspiring arborist NEVER EVER cut a tree like this!!!

Ekka i think your onto it there, i reckon a Scarf cut directed right and should be good (maby a Pulling rope to ya groundie if there a worried type custy)

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"You have to feel and touch a tree" Shigo

stirmantrees

i had a feeling that was coming but i am willing to take it.
you guys cant possibly tell me you dont take calculated risks that could go wrong. the entire tree was perfectly roped down, no top to work with, fence was completely rotten, tied in 2 places, and believe me i have put a rope on many trees and hinged themm before. my goodness, how many people have popped tops right next to buildings? all of us?
any ways just playing arounds with videos and appreciate the critique, i dont know it all and ofcourse if i broke the fence rope would be dearly missed.

Eric Frei

LOL, you took it well. I reckon you just staged that to get us going.

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Garry Brockley

yeah good windup

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stirmantrees

im going to be a piece of furniture in this place by the time its all said and done.
mission 1 - catch up to galbee

Garry Brockley

hahahaha thats not hard just 3 posts a day for a year and your sorted unless you mean physically then ho hum

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Apocalypsse

Could have totally done that with a milk crate and a polesaw and some careful balancing acts.

stirmantrees

polesaws are very useful
its how i roped the rest of the tree. i used two milk crates

stirmantrees

whats a gob you goobers?

Jeff Darby

ahh, assie slang. well cobber ya gob is the hole in the front of your kisser.lol i'll leave it up to me mates to sort ya out. tie me kangaroo down sport...mind the drop bears now!

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stirmantrees

well that didnt help me understand precisely what a gob is in ekka's counsel. just playing around.
now i need to know what a goober is?cobber?drop bears?
here you go.
may somepone please elaborate on what a gob is that ekka is referring to so that i can appreciate a different approach without trying to guess.

Eric Frei

Gob = mouth

As in "shut ya mouth" or "Shut ya gob!"


Shallow gob meant narrow scarf not deep in like say only in 1/4 the dia of tree.

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stirmantrees

i'll shut my gob now

Eric Frei

Also has other methods like, "yeah, she's been gobbing off again as usual"

or

"man, has she got a gob on her, couldn't get a word in edge wise!"

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Therrin

Terrible tie in procedure, but hey, its your life.

Why couldnt you have left a bit of the tree above where that limb tied in so that you would have an anchor point to rope it down on? Or with the rest of the tree still up, limbwalked out that one and sectioned it out in pieces?

Did make for a scary short video. Thanks for posting it though.

Made for an intersting look at what some folks call "making last minute decisions".

stirmantrees

top was blown out. thats all that was left.
tied in two places just cant see it.
and i was not going to straddle that thing
thanks for the thanks