I cut down a triple trunked Leylandii, more than 20 feet high. I had an advantage as it was close to my garage so I stood on the garage and cut off the tops first. My advice, if you do go DIY, is to check that the teeth n the bowsaw have an adequate amount of 'set', otherwise it sticks, have another person out of harm's range pulling with a rope, make the appropriate wedge shaped cuts in the trunk, one on the back, one on the front ( I think the one on the front goes below the rear cut ), and for heaven's sake, make sure there is either no wind at all, or a very light and steady wind going very largely in the direction you want the tree to fall.
I don't think the OP can allow his to fall. It would have to be a piece-meal task, lowering branches and trunk sections vertically downwares to avoid damage to other features. That would have to be the case here too.
I payed £400 to have two 14 metre Leylandi removed from a difficult location (no possibility of felling, and all the bits had to be hand-carried down a narrow alley). This was probably slightly expensive, but I wouldn't have liked to do it myself (I did try). The tree surgeons climbed to the tops of the trees, and then climbed down, removing the branches and trunk with a chainsaw as they went. The logs do burn well, so if you know someone who can make use of them, the tree surgeons may give you a discount for leaving the heavy stuff behind.
I've just felled four 30ft leylandii, 10 inch diameter at base. A long rope tied high up and looped over a handy branch of the next tree allowed them to be lowered gently to the ground after cutting through with an axe. I didn't wnat to cut them down in stages as I am going to use the timber. It is very strong and the heart wood is very durable. It's a cross between Monteray Pine and Alaska Yellow Cedar, which has a couple of natural chemicals that are toxic to fungi. In New Zealand and Australia leylandii are grown comercially for the timber. The smaller pieces do make excellent firewood, even the leaves having a very high calorific value sa there is so much resin. One day we'll be planting them everywhere as a fuel and timber crop.
if youve got enough felling room, no need. Use weight and rope to avoid having to climb it either, just sling the weighted rope over a branch twice so you get it round the trunk, make a knot at ground and pull it closed.
If you do cut it, _do not_ cut right through, or pull it to break it while up the tree. Always get right out the way during breakage. If you do one you'll see why.
not seen the plan.
yep
I diyed it. Its not rocket surgery, all fairly basic. Bowsaw is fine, and user friendlier than a chainsaw. But you must take care that your plans are right, and think about what can go wrong: if something does go wrong, death is possible. There is a very simple way to avoid this: stay out of the tree's height radius at all times during felling. Ie cut far enough till you get cracking sounds when its pulled, then get out, and pull it over by rope. That way, no matter what happens, it wont hit you.
The stump end often flips backwards if youre pulling it over with a rope. Even the thinner branches can cause serious injury, stay out the way.
Certainly dont do it if its windy.
Take sensible precautions and its perfectly diyable, and you'll have enough wood to pay for the tablesaw and more. Lots of wood in a 10" 30' leyland - just a shame its not a nice hardwood.
Spouse made a very serviceable longbow for a grandson from the greenwood of one. Boy used it, I used it, it's still going strong after eleven years (boy is now 6'6"and 21 almost).
We've felled some quite substantial Leylandii (18" or more trunks) around our house but we're in the fortunate position of having lots of space so that we just felled the whole thing in one go with no risk of hitting anything important (except ourselves). Thus all we needed to do was rope the trees to ensire they fell the way we wanted and make
*very* sure no one was in the vicinity when the tree actually dropped.
Using a chainsaw while half way up a tree is a *very* skilled/dangerous occupation and is something I don't think I'm ever going to attempt even though I've felled trees etc. with a chainsaw.
Yes, we burn ours, it's pretty good for burning as long as it's properly dried/seasoned.
As you say too it's also very durable out of doors. We've used some of the straighter pieces for marking out a manege (for exercising horses). They're just laid on the ground and are still quite sound after being there for several years.
I took down two monster leylandii , about 49ft as best that I could measure.
Use a laddder with a board tied across the top, say 3ft by 6" or whatever you can find. Then just lean it into the tree. With a bit of jiggling it works a treat. Use a bow saw to take out side branches to reduce weight/volume. May need a smaller saw to start with to make access for bow saw. Use ropes to restrict fall of any heavy branches so that they don't swing into your ladder.
Surely if cut properly with a notch on the falling side about 1/3 of the way through and then a cut on the other side about 2" above the notch this should form a hinge as the tree falls.
All the one's we have felled I've done this way and mostly the rope was just a bit of insurance to be sure the tree didn't go the wrong way, it wasn't used to actually pull the tree over.
When sawing the cut on the other side above the notch it's very obvious when the tree is about to fall and you have ample time to get out of the way. This is the way it's described in all the information I've read about it. The one big thing they all emphasise is that you
*must* make sure you can move quickly away from the tree once it starts falling.
Relying on pulling the tree over after you've moved away from it is risky as it *might* decide to fall while you're cutting and, if you haven't a well planned and easy escape route, you're in trouble.
This is very difficult to do. There's a significant risk of them "kicking". Instead of your rope pulling them to the left, the base goes out to the right instead. This is especially the case for skinny trees like Leylandii being cut halfway up.
It's just not possible for mere mortals. Doing it safely needs a top-handle saw, and you're not even allowed to buy / hire a top-handle unless you have a current ticket.
Which is why (as I said in another post) I do the 'proper' cut a notch one side and then above the notch from the other side. The rope was just to assist a little in falling the right way, the 'hinge' does most of the work.
As I said there was no way I was going to try and cut it half way up, all of ours cut at (or near) the bottom have fallen pretty well as expected with the bottom staying attached by the 'hinge' until it hit the ground. The worst miss we had just wobbled an unused television aerial slightly as it went a few degrees away from exactly where it was intended to drop.
Oh yes, I'd fogotten that bit of it.
Actually I remember now that we did do some trimming of the first few Leylandii that we felled from a scaffold tower but that was only trimming. I always actually felled the tree by cutting at ground level. It's not exactly easy to 'escape' from a scaffold tower if something goes wrong.
Maybe, still no laws against it if no gain is involved, yet.
Sort of, top handled saws do enjoy an (tenuous) exemption for use when suspended from a harness but that is only when the other hand is needed to stabilise your stance. Section felling using an ordinary saw two handed is normal. As you imply for professional use certification for the particular chainsaw use is required under HSW or an offence is committed.
yes, it does if you dont pull it over. If you pull it, it works differently, and the trunk can flip back a fair way, and with huge force. Pulling them down is good for situations when you cant get quickly away from the cut: with cut and fall you've got to get away at speed. I used the rope trick for trees growing out of the top of a structure, so I couldnt get out the way easily.
information
yes, works fine if youre able to get out quick.
thats not hard to avoid.
if you dont stop cutting to test its remaining strength occasionally, I agree!
These are Leylandii. Unless you're doing it the easy way, from a cherry picker, then just climbing there is itself hard going. The only way I've ever got up one is by using a BT linesman's belt and ankle spurs. It's just not somewhere I'd feel happy about using one of the heavy felling chainsaws.
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