on my brother's neighbor's property while helping put up some fencing. Neighbor gave his blessing and a friend of ours pulled with a cable. Back cut was too low (almost no hinge), but it went down right where we wanted. The only problem with all this? I didn't get to take it home with me.
That definitely is a problem Dave. Not a big problem with the back cut as you can get along with it so long as you don't have a tight spot to drop the tree and so long as you have some hinge. I've seen many loggers do the same and I also remember one in particular would barely take out a wedge. I chided him once and then watched him cut an oak that was around 35" diameter. He took out a 2" wedge. All went well and I about crapped. lol
I seem to have an occasional problem keeping the back cut level. I'm workin' on that. Our friend had his tractor at the other end of a cable with some tension on it, and he just pulled as I cut. I was concerned about the trunk popping off backward and hitting the fence.
Just my opinion, but I think you did fine! If your concerned about a tree popping off backward, make your back cut an inch to two above the face cut. That prevents it from popping back. BTW, you did cut the stump closer to the ground, right? Otherwise that's a waste of good BTU's. I tend to cut high stumps (32 inches) any more due to difficulty in bending and getting back up to exit, but I tend to take the stump off about two inches from the ground after.
Yeah, that's where it started........ This was at my brother's place and the tree was on his neighbor's just a few inches from the property line........right next to the new fence we were putting up......with a lean toward the fence.........and dying. My brother asked/got permission to take it down, but neighbor wanted the wood. Boo, hiss.
BUT, there is one little thing your forgetting! It came down safely, and no one got hurt in the process. Back cuts are over rated anyway. Sure a level back cut is nice, but there are times when it's just not possible. As long as you don't go below the face cut, your fine regardless of the angle of the back cut. A couple of years back I felled a dozen or so Tree of Heaven, and one I had to make the back cut at almost 70 degrees since it was up against a fence. Your brother should have mentioned the cost of having a tree service come in and take the tree out, or the potential damage the tree could cause your fence, and since he knew the tree was dying, he could be held liable. So he should just let y'all fell the tree and take the wood. (and he could clean up the branches) After all, he would have gotten off cheaply giving y'all the wood for removal of the tree instead of having a tree service else come in. Sorry for the late reply, but I've been very busy.
my response you want wood you cut it down on last 40 inch.. sugar maple he got price of 1600 to drop it I been doing it for free since but I get the wood!
Well, I get the idea, but his neighbor is an Id10T. I wouldn't trust him to cut an apple. It was much safer for us to take the tree down with much less chance it would hit the new fence.
