Been a nice oak right near the back yard teasing me for 6-7 years now. Had the nastiest widow maker branch at the top. Just never figured my odds of cut and run was at all in my favor. Prudence prevailed and I just left it knowing someday that widowmaker branch would fall. Or the whole tree might come down. Wether the wood was still worth getting was a question but this thing was a serious maniacal killer. Branch finally came down. Been a long time coming but I think I made the right call. Winching it to the arch. Pull up with tongs. Set chain, drop onto chain. Wrap line around and connect to eye hook. Winch up and reset chain, drop back down. Short distances, small wood, I don’t bother with the chain but I think transport with chain is better for the longevity of winch and rope. Extra steps but it’s mostly button pushing. Been standing dead a long time but the bulk of it looks good still.
I’ll add a pic of my train. Was gonna disconnect the splitter,,,that’s why the jack is down.. Then thought I should take a pic of this setup. Getting all the equipment to the processing area in one shot LOL Love this atv. Could have used one thirty years ago.
Tree looks good to me. Yes sir, I think holding log in place with chain is much better, less wear on the rope, for sure.
Hahaha, no that’s the trunk. With branch gone it was safe to harvest. Now this is a big branch. LOL Ok technically a crotch,,,,,,which is technically a branch because it branched out. Same deal with this one. I left it one year and it came down on its own. Thank God for that. I was thinking of explosives on a long pole to dislodge that one.
I admire your persistence for waiting for the right opportunity to cut the tree. They can be killers unless approached correctly. I never knew the right way for many cuts so I had to wait or get help. Was no youtube or FHC back when I was first cutting. Looking back, I am sure it was a higher power who kept me safe. I have a lot of respect for experienced tree cutters. Recently spent a chunk getting my oaks trimmed. My sons wanted to do it but I said no and went with someone with many years experience.
Same here. In previous years I did some fast learning and it wasn’t always pretty. Still learning of course. There was a higher power looking out for this fool and so far so good. Perhaps Dennis can make a small amendment to his three year supply protocol. When your that far ahead you no longer feel the need to rush into obviously dangerous situations. Felling trees in the forest is dangerous enough. The real bad ones can wait for nature’s help. Or at the very least sit back and think about it for awhile.
Certainly is. No more loading rounds into a trailer. Cut, split and stack all in the same neighborhood. What’s really nice is the atv can pull it no problem. Getting too old and crippled to be climbing up and jumping off that John Deere MT 20 times a day. There’s absolutely no thought given to human access in the design of that tractor. And it hurts when you don’t get it right.
It’s a biggun for my neck of the woods. One of the tallest and thickest oaks. Havent decided if I’m going to cut the entire thing or leave the rest standing. Probably leave it. There’s plenty more to get that’s already down or further along in decay. I figure 48” trunk over 100’ tall.
That's the kind of area I keep trying to keep my grandchildren from playing in. At least that is a tree I don't see kids trying to climb that tree once that half of the tree is removed. There are woods next to ours, much larger area, the owner frequents that area to harvest fire wood. He is selective like you. My grandkids are always walking their dog in those woods.
