I listened to the storms all night and the rain did come down; some three inches of it (7.6 cm). The valley flooded and washed part of the garden away; the drainage ditches clogged and overflowed. I spent the day working on clearing them; if I had known that much rain was coming I would have done the ditches and left the trees. I am hurting as much today as I was last night; I need to see about getting some help. At least it was not as bad as some had it; a possible tornado did some serious damage to residents of a nearby town. Anyway, to get to the title of this post, I have another problem. I had noticed what I think is a dead hickory that I was planning on dropping before I put the fence up. In the storm last night it fell but as luck would have it, it hung in a small sweetgum. I can tell the sweetgum is under load which makes cutting it scary; barber chair as I have heard it called. This tree is beside the poplar I was going to take down so now I am nervous about getting near that tree. I don't think it is in the poplar but I am going to check better tomorrow using binoculars. Question: should I attempt to cut the hickory at the base to see if it will finish falling to the ground?
This may not be the "approved" method but when Ive been in this situation, I cut the underside of the leaning tree (fire wood sections of 20 inches). I keep cutting letting the tree shift forward toward the upright tree until the leaning tree is almost upright. Then I simply push the tree over because most of the weight is gone. About half the time the tree will roll off the upright tree as Im working it. Needless to say you will need to read the tree after each cut to make sure you can move out of the way if it comes toward you. It can be a little nerve wracking but it has always worked for me with no problems. However, If I can pull it with a chain and truck, I will do that if at all possible.
I do what log dog III wrote. Some trees you can do this somewhat safely because they are leaning far enough that there is little chance of them dropping any direction except farther down, or shifting toward the tree in which it is hanging as log dog III describes. It looks like your tree is leaning pretty far over.
I was going to try cutting at the base and see how that goes. However, it is gusty winds here today so I am going to wait. Maybe the winds will rock it down to the ground.
I usually will try and pull a tree before I cut if its at that angle. Its pushing against the standing tree with a lot of force meaning that it can prematurely snap your cut before your ready if you cut the standing tree to allow the dead to fall. If that happens theres a good chance you will be wearing one or both trees. If your talking a ford 8N thats a 2400lb tractor so its got some weight to it. I would bet theres enough to pull the tree just enough to let it slide down. There doesn't appear to be much holding it up in the first place. If I where to cut that tree I would stand on the opposite site that its hanging from and cut a notch bottom up as far up the base as I could just to the point its starting to spread ( and I mean the spiit second you see it move stop ) then tie a rope above the notch tie it to the tractor and yank it so it will snap and fall with you well away from it. Other wise you can cut 2 or 3 foot sections at the base till it falls but thats not gonna be a safe tree to be around.
Here are more photos. I see it is also up against the poplar I was going to cut. If it was not for these dang rains, that poplar would not have been there. I see where it damaged the bark on the live tree beside it. This property was logged way back when. These are from the shoots off the old stump.
Not to worry, the Ford N8 will pull that with no problem as long as you have safe operational area. Hook a chain or heavy rope around the base and pull staight back and boom, it's down!
Tractor looks like a good option. Not too hard to cut, but just in case there is a bizarre load on it, the tractor is safe. Slightly harder cuttin learners when trees are leaved out. Get it down today?
No can do; there is an old logging road but I can not access it. There is a huge elm or ash at the end where I could get to the road; I want to open that road up for use. Most of the property is just one huge slope.
No, I went to a BBQ for my sister's birthday. I am going to inspect this tomorrow. Heard that more rains are coming.
I watched a few vids on this. I would rather not have to deal with it but it is over the fence line where I need to be working. Dang, I really didn't need this.
