My first project when I get saw time again. Lightening hit a dead tree,,,,twice I think. Leaning over what I plan on being the new processing area. So it needs to come down before any major processing begins. Not a fan of the lightening splits. Thinking plunge cut but the trigger will be tricky. I’ll wrap the trunk with ratchet straps. Have some heavy long ones which should wrap around 4-5 times increasing strength. Direction fall will be as in the second pic. What says the crowd? Any sage advice? PS. I won’t be alone for this one. Someone will have a cell phone handy
Move all your valuables away. Without seeing it in person it’s hard to tell what may or may not happen when you start cutting a spiral fractured decaying tree. If you are not comfortable or confident in your approach call in a bucket or rent a lift and disassemble from top down.
Didnt look that twisty until the lightening hit it I’ve seen worse twist. Once you whack em down to 16” you’ll never know.
Only valuable is the stack of hickory. That’s the natural direction of fall. I wanna send it off to the side instead of moving wood. The car is just my runabout. I’ll let it drop on those pine logs. Keep it off the rocks a bit maybe. As I write this I’m thinking extra thick hinge,,,,massive really. 6” of hinge and plunge out the back. If tree doesn’t fall at least I’ve released the pressure on most of the split wood and can run in to remove some hinge. Just spitballin
Can you put a rig line in it and force it over, if it doesn’t come down on its own after you release it?
An extra big hinge could just snap without bending. Can you get a line on it and just pull it over ? If small split section is the last straw it could wind up being a brittle unpredictable cutting job.
from the pics it looks like the lean is in your favor and no major items above on the back cut side. I think I would chain/ratchet the split in a couple of places, especially low where the notch/back cut will be and cut per normal procedure.
Can't tell if it's red oak or ash. I would remove splintered wood and probe to see if it's soft/ rotten in center. Lightening does weird stuff inside trees. Looks heavy to left side. My uncle who survived 50 sorties as a belly gunner over Germany in WWII always approached these with a tight azzhole and a stiff upper lip.
To rig a line I’d need my trailer with winch attached to my truck. Neither of which have room in the fall area. Not much out there as an anchor point to pull from a different direction either. Trying to wrap my head around your snapped hinge comment. I mean yes I imagine it would eventually snap but hopefully not until it did I it’s job of sending it in the right direction for a ways. Once that momentum is set in motion I’m not sure if I care if it snaps or bends. Hope to be over the state line at that point LOL With that fractured wood and pretty decent lean I worry a normal hinge May fracture and allow it to go over the hickory pile. Not the worse thing that could happen but I’ll be standing right there when it decides to go haywire. There is a good chance that may happen either way. It’s the holding wood that’s most compromised. I’m thinking here, thinking. Seeing your concern. Let me mull that over a bit and think of the parameters.
I don't know, might be worth calling in the army and have them shoot the tree down from a safe distance using field artillery Short of that though, as was mentioned before, getting up high and doing some cutting to reduce some of the mass of the tree first can't hurt. At least if you're only dropping a limb-less trunk, the chances of it disintegrating on the way down are lessened.
Red oak. Never can tell for sure but little chance and zero sign of rot. It was a nice healthy tree until the gypsy moths killed it a few years ago. The cracks are fairly deep and radial into the tree and on the holding side. If I remember my history right not many men accomplished what your grandfather did. My hats off to his service. I approach these things pretty much the same way. Tighten your azz and get it done. In this case I can at least think through some scenarios first.
Guess I could always whip up another civil war era artillery piece and have at it was sort of hoping those days were behind me tho. Amazing I lived through my youthful yet fruitful experiments. Ever see what a 1 1/2” bore lead slug will do when put in the barrel backwards? It’ll rip a 55 gallon metal barrel right in half. Like shooting a dinner plate in retrospect I probably should have cut a mouth into it, maybe some back cut and let those wind storms we just had have their way with it. If it was out in the woods I probably wouldn’t touch it. Let nature do her thing.
If it was me, I would just have a very clear path away in any direction, make my face cut and start in on the back cut like any other but I would be keeping a very close eye on everything it's doing when starting the back cut.
I’m coming around to that way of thinking. The more I think about plunge cutting on stressed and fractured wood the less I like it. Better chance of getting the saw stuck and I’m not leaving without the new 462 LOL What’s great about this site. Can share and bounce ideas off people you’ve learned to trust.
