I was at a friend’s today cutting a dead hedge. I’m not sure if you can see in the pics but if I drop both trunks where they stand , they’ll land on the fence. I’m looking for suggestions how to get them down and save the fence. Thanks for the help in advance!
Rope or cable anchored to a winch/atv/come along. Pull them sideways. Put some tension on it. Cut. Put more tension. Finish cut.
Take the clips off the post about 40-50’ on each side of where it will land and just drop it on it! You may bend one post but that’s easily straighted or replaced. Wire could be a little stretched out you can minimize that by taking more clips off on either side and/or lay a couple logs in either side of the fence parallel with the fence for the trunk to land on and keep it elevated a foot or so.
Park your truck along the fence? One on the right you could pull or winch away easy enough. Left one looks to be hooked or at least on the wrong side of the tree next to the fence. Laying the fence down may be your best bet.
This is what I was thinking about doing but never tried it before so not sure if it would work. I was hoping someone on here could confirm that it would work.
Properly done it'll work fine, wedge & hinge will need to be cut correctly. Winch with steady tension & a strong pull to bring them over. Easier to lower the fence I think.
Fence looks like runs of wire. If they are held to the post with clips they should be fairly easy to drop. Then you can just drop the trees on them. Unless it is barb wire and some of that is nasty stuff to work with. In which case it'll probably be easier to winch and swing them away from the fence.
Need to be carefull with that, too much tension, especially before the cutting, could cause a barber chair or cause the trunk to fracture and split as you cut. Lots of potential danger there. I'd opt for laying down the fence. It can't be that hard.
If youv never cut under tension with cables ropes trucks and all that good stuff it would be better, safer and smarter to lower that fence or even drop it rt on it after laying it down. Laying some wood down parallel with the fence to drop the trunk on is a fantastic idea to a safer solution. Its not like its chain link or expensive panels, atleast it doesnt look like it.
Well you don’t want my advice, I took down a standing dead elm yesterday. It had some lean toward a ratty woven wire fence with a hot wire across the top. I thought I could wedge it over the other way. NOPE I thought about taking some pictures to post here but didn’t. You know “ no pictures = didn’t happen” Luckily the property owner was pretty cool about it. May have to help him with it when I get it all cleaned up.
happened to me couple years ago. Small cherry snapped off leaner top from snow load. Ill cut and push it over. Right next to a chain link fence. Went into other yard. Minor bend to the top pipe. Had to wheelbarrow wood around though. PITA but lesson learned and no one hurt...except our ego maybe
A method I’ve thought of but never needed to try. Find a tree further from the fence off to the side and just a little further behind the tree being cut. Tie a rope high up on the cutting tree and low on the anchor tree. Place felling cuts in direction you want it to fall, angled away from fence. As the tree falls the rope will tighten and pull the tree away from the fence. Provided you’ve used a strong enough rope As long as the rope is strong enough no matter what happens it won’t go into the fence,,,,I would hope. It’s possible you may get a little twisting in the hinge during sawing. I doubt it tho. You’d need to tighten that rope with a Come along to be that tight.
When a tree has that much lean, it is extremely difficult to pull it fast enough to drop it where you want it. So I would not try it with those trees. Better to remove the fence and drop it then put the fence back up. In the end it will save work and for sure a bit of worry. But if you insist on trying to pull them, be extremely careful and make sure you have someone who is doing the pulling that knows what he is doing and how to do it right. Remember, once the tree starts to go, you must act fast and correctly. That is difficult for anyone who does not have the experience of having done it more than once or twice. And for sure wedging won't work on those trees as the lean is just too much.
As others have said, take down a section of fence. I have also learned the hard way. If you are counting on the truck or tractor to pull away from something you don’t want to hit because the lean is making it impossible to fall the way you want it to, make sure you are the one driving and not cutting. It never fails that your driver will hesitate or be to passive...
Case in point, silver maple hanging over my shed. Old man driving, instructions were to hit it hard acceleration wise and not stop until it’s on the ground away from the shed. Wedge had been cut out and I was taking my time on the back cut just to be sure it would be pulled completely away. He pulled it for 5’ and felt it was enough, tree went through the roof. I blame myself.
