Careful with that tree...

[Another John]

*Also* worth mentioning that the tree is a fully grown Douglas fir, maybe 24" diameter at the base, and that it seems to have grown up through the decking outside a house. They've decided to cut it down, and they've decided to fell it in one go (instead of taking it down in sections), and they've *clearly* decided that if it sways a bit on the way down, and demolishes the house corner, or the shed on the other side, then ... ah, what the heck. It's surreal!

On the other hand, when it goes down so well they seem to Thank the Lord so much, in the American way, that maybe it was their Faith which gave them so much "confidence".

J.

[stuart noble]

It's a Douglas Fir in the video. Straight as a die and probably very predictable

[Dave Liquorice]

A dumpy bag of cut, split, air dried, hardwood logs costs about £70 delivered aroud here. I bet a "large Sycamore" has yielded rather more than 8 dumpy bags of logs ...

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

As said, it is a perfect drop between a bungalow and a shed.

I have been waiting for AJH as our professional feller to comment....

It seemed to me that the pre-cut wedge forming the directional hinge was cut on the wrong side. maybe they cut two? Also, from the size and position of the tackle removing the butt, there could easily have been a rope; hidden by the trunk, giving an initial tug in the right direction.

[David P]

Why 90deg? I'd have expected the wedge to be taken out in the direction you want the tree to fall in. Thinking of a clock face, if I want the tree to drop at 3 o'clock I cut the wedge at 3 o'clock and then cut in from 9 o'clock.

[Andy Burns]

Yahweh gets an end credit.

[The Natural Philosopher]

we spent nearly a grand on having a large maple removed..and netted nearly a grands worth of firewood..

[Andrew May]

I think it was just a form of words. To cut a wedge out in the direction you want it to fall you need to have the saw at 90 degrees to that.

[Johny B Good]

I did notice that. I guess this was a "Cut and Hope" exercise.

[Dave Liquorice]

[Johny B Good]

Oh, and btw, did anyone else have the song title "Careful with that axe, Eugene." come to mind on seeing the subject title? :-)

[polygonum]

Certainly did.

[news]

Yes looked good to me

I think they removed bark at the back in order for the wedges to bite into good wood.

Hard to tell, there seems to be no sign of the hinge on the piece being dragged out. This should be a parallel (on a vertical stem) piece of timber left after the final cut and being about 10% of the thickness of the trunk and set in by 25% of the diameter, the front edge being formed when the 30-40 degree sink is initially removed. It's the tension wood in this hinge that prevents the stem falling sideways (backwards it just closes the cut which is why the wedges are used.

If you think about it lowering or ziplining the crown out of that little space would have put the buildings at more frequent risk rather than the one big one of a straight fell.

AJH

[Bob Eager]

Yes.

[Scott M]

Got a ruddy big fir (prolly lleylandii) to get shot of. So 50p of firewood. Grrrr.

[Another John]

Hm. I felled a few old leylandii for a neighbour some time ago -- up to

18 inches across at the base.

I've found that - given a few months weathering, and a year in the log shelter -- leylandii is good firewood. It burns pretty fast, but given that it was free, and that I have tons of it, I'm happy with it!

John

[Huge]

I started burning the leylandii that came down in the storm a couple of months ago almost immediately. Sawn into 9" lengths and quartered lengthways, it burned just fine after 2 or 3 weeks in the log store.

[Another John]

Oh aye it'll burn Huge, but doesn't it contain vast amounts of oils/creosote etc, that you need [or ought] to weather off? As illustrated by the **fantastic** bonfires I had when burning all the loppings off the trees I cut down -- nothing like a leylandii bonfire for recreating boyhood thrills: cor, it wasn't half fun for a few days!

J.