Felling Lever/Wrecking Bar

lxskllr

lxskllr

Treehouser
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Jul 21, 2019
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Location
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Mick's new avatar reminded me of felling levers. I've thought about getting one off and on for awhile, but have been undecided as to how useful they are. I'm especially interested in using one aloft. Y'all think a flat stock wrecking bar would work nearly as well? Something like this...

Code: 
https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-3320-18-Inch-Utility-Pry/dp/B000NPPB1A/ref=sr_1_101?dchild=1&keywords=wrecking+bar&qid=1635023471&sr=8-101

I like that cause it's more compact, and a lot cheaper. I was also looking as wrecking multitools, but most of those have a 2x4 tweaker that just takes up room, and doesn't do much for tree wrecking. The hammer on the back is nifty though, and could be used for beating wedges.
 
fwiw, once every 2 years when I need to deal with cutting and pushing 20" by 200 lb rounds off the top of a spar, I use this with one plastic wedge, works a charm.

www.homedepot.com

Estwing 24 in. Gooseneck Wrecking Bar EWB-24 - The Home Depot

Estwing's 24 in. gooseneck bars pull, pry and straighten, with an angled chisel on one end for prying and lifting, and the other end is slotted for pulling nails. Protect your eyes from flying particles
www.homedepot.com
 
cory said:
fwiw, once every 2 years when I need to deal with cutting and pushing 20" by 200 lb rounds off the top of a spar, I use this with one plastic wedge, works a charm.

www.homedepot.com

Estwing 24 in. Gooseneck Wrecking Bar EWB-24 - The Home Depot

Estwing's 24 in. gooseneck bars pull, pry and straighten, with an angled chisel on one end for prying and lifting, and the other end is slotted for pulling nails. Protect your eyes from flying particles
www.homedepot.com
Click to expand...
3/8ths wooden dowels
 
I've never used a felling bar, but i know ironworkers carry what they call a sleever bar, which is about 2 foot and has a pointy end and a flat end. They put a lock collar or simply weld a washer on it, then use a sleever bar holder on their tool belt to hold it. I bet that could work pretty well, i carry one on my truck for doing bolt ups if i need more than a spud wrench. I worked today and used a 6 foot pinch bar for exactly that to line up a flange bolt hole.
 
A couple decades ago Husqvarna came out with Nord-Feller on their 254XP chainsaws, running the very European 325 pitch chain.

Kinduva small midsize medium saw for felling small to moderate trees.

What a piece of junk, it was essentially a thin inflatable airbag, inflated by the compression of the saw.

I forgave them after air injection air filtration, made them superior to Stihlr saw's, in terms of air filter maintenance.

Jomo
 
I had a Bahco 16" felling bar that I really liked. Good size for beating wedges and busting stumps loose.
 
The problem with the wrecking bars is their tapper on both ends. It doesn't enter deep enough in the usual kerf and it escapes when you want to pry on it (either up or down). I welded a flat stock at one end to fit in the kerf without recuting. But actually, I rarely use it, as it's so ennoying to carry it on the saddle (messing with the ropes and banging on the saw).
It took me years to finally buy a real felling lever, the big one. I thought that it would be handy, not to fell the trees, wedges seems better made for that, but to turn the logs encased in the ground by the fall.
Well, I used it maybe two times in two years. An other heavy stuff carried in the van for nothing...
 
I bought one many many years ago and never did use it. Not sure where it went but I haven't seen it in ages.
 
Ditto. It was handy for tipping small pines when we were doing more thinning jobs and during the beetle kill stuff. Trees that were hard to just wedge over due to small diameter. Dunno if I eventually left it on a job or what. Haven't seen it in forever.
 
hammersource.com

Dalluge 4420 24" Pry Bar

100's of Hammers for Industry, Trades and Hobbyists! Blacksmith Hammers and Tongs. Framing Hammers. Brass Hammers, Copper Hammers and Aluminum Hammers.
hammersource.com hammersource.com

This for big rounds in the tree, felling lever as per Stig for on the ground and when didn't bring a longer PV/Can't Hook.

This is light for saddle, strong by virtue of quality, 90° head allows for walking 6 foot rounds and smaller closer to edge and tipping point.
 
I remember, I had only been climbing a couple of years, we had a mature Oak to take out in a small residential, landscaped garden in Wimbledon. Not far from the Tennis courts.

We had 4 days on the Job. From the street we could just see the tips of the tree above the house, 4 days we thought?, we’re gonna smash this.

It took half a day to get the crown rigged out and out of the narrow passageway, side exit.

I was on spikes for 2.5 days with the 084 and a 36” bar. Man, my back was knackered. There was a flower bed right under the tree we couldn’t damage so every piece had to be tossed clear over the flowers. Being old it was heavy as shit. I could only cut 6”rings and then have to quarter them to be able to throw them clear. The tree was a beast, it was about 4’ diameter at 20 odd feet high and only got fatter. The growth rings were tight and the timber so dense, the tipper we were using would only tip with about a fifth of a load on. One of the days the boss gave us a bollocking as we returned with less than a quarter of a load of logs. I didn’t say a thing otherwise I would have probably lost it, the job and my temper.

I got an apology first thing in the morning as he had tried to tip it, blown something on the tipper and had to handball it off LOL.

The job looked to be running over and we discussed it with the HO. She said, oh don’t worry about the flower bed…. gRR. So we managed to pull about 8’ or the stem over with ropes and a bottle jack.

We then spent another day ringing it up and nearly a full Saturday clearing the sawdust from the garden.

It isnt unusual for a tree that age and size in south London to be full of metal, shrapnel from WWIIa and pockets of dirt.

This tree was no exception: a total nightmare.

I sometimes think back wondering if I could have done it any different with years more experience.

The answer is pretty much, nope.

One of the worst trees I have done. That amount of time in a stem with the 084, no other tie in and me being the only guy on-site who could sharpen a saw.

Even if I had a felling bar with me, it would have been useless LOL.
 
That sounds horrendous just reading about it.

The site constraints and tree size are bad enough, but dealing with all that metal in a huge trunk??!!?? :wall: :O :whine:
 
I was thinking again about that tree. I think the only thing I would do different (apart from walk away first thing on the first day) would be to sharpen the chain earlier. It was such a ball ache when it became dull. Sometimes I would just carry on cutting.

As we know, that doesn’t really help the situation.
 
Semi-trailer truck tire changing 'spoon' nose fits full size kerf; is very tempered and tough/un-yielding.
30" so easier to lug around/more discreet, but lots of leverage, can easily sleeve pipe extension.
Slides into ring on belt stop at lighter top so very bottom heavy in holder like ironworker's tool set.
Paint or tape brightly, w/o chrome etc. ; very easy to lose dark grey.
Humboldt type nose snipe/slide downward in front, and tip CoG past pivot. Only used dowels few times.
Like keeping some rear weight ballast to drop side if trying to catch.
KEN33239__99577.1400890836.jpg

Risky-ier, but been known to lean on bar and push high on load at same time.
Double using effort at leveraged points on load and bar, then adding 1xBodyweight on bar type formulae as try to show with pulleys.
>>For this is just another class_1 lever/center pivot to play catch both sides of the equal and opposite of effort force and funnel against target.
KInda have to have enough control and feel to get it 'tipsy' and change position to more normal and defendable behind spar .
 
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