How to Protect the Ground from Impact Damage; Ideas?

[MasterBlaster]

If I'm not of a mind to just flush cut any gougers, I'll at least undercut them to help collapse/cushion the blow. There was no target here, but I did that so the tree would be flat on the ground. Check it out, this old ass quicktime video.. Give it time to load, it's slow.

 

[squisher]

Oh asphalt will puncture, I'm sure most of us here already know that.

 

[Burnham]

I've worked with a lot of cold patch in the latter part of my FS career, and Sean is right...if you do it well, it's really a good product. Don't try to put more than 4 inches at a time down...pack layers if the depth is more than that, and some 2.5 minus rock is good as filler to save on cold patch in large divots. A front tire of a heavy truck is the easiest and most efficatious method of compacting the product.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Oh asphalt will puncture, I'm sure most of us here already know that.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Speaking of asphalt damage, my Parks coworker argued not to put a bunk log (crosswise log to spread the force) off the edge of the road before he dropped a really big hazard tree. DOT project, so DOT got their way. DOT also got 10 yards of fill and cold patch when the tree hit the bunk log, bounced up and to the side, the came down Next to the bunk log, caving in the road shoulder.

I'm not sure what would have happened w/o the bunk log, but I trust he had a good plan for how/where the tree was to hit.


I think it was Xman on TB that put a kerfs/ backcuts in the bottoms of the branch collars and upward facing notches on the tops as he climbed up a big tree, then descended down the backside.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I put undercuts on the limbs when I want the tree to collapse or to minimize turf gouging.

 

[ClimbingFool]

I have seen the bunk logs actually do more damage than if you just fell the tree. Depending on the type of tree, the limb structure will just cushion the blow. But other times when the limbs break and stobs are created, it will puncture the asphalt.... :roll:

 

[Al Smith]

Say this might sound silly but I wonder what a pile of old tires would do .

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Tires will do a lot for smaller trees that this one Duane dropped.

It can help to tie the tires together when stacked and tie a log on top.

Sometimes people think that tires will just ricochet the dropped chunks off of the pile/ stack, but they do an amazing job of energy absorption. A horse stall mat in between and on top of two layers will do a lot. I dropped firewood rounds from 80' on down on a fir onto such a stack on top of pavers with no problem.

There could/ maybe should be an How to Protect the Ground from Falling Tree Parts Thread to share ideas. I think I"ll start one.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

How to Protect the Ground from Falling Tree Parts Thread

Bunk logs, tires, hay bales, air bags (JK), etc.

What innovative ways have you protected sensitive ground from the impact of wood chunks/ spars/ trees? Discuss.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

It can help to tie tires together when stacked and tie a log on top.

Sometimes people think that tires will just ricochet the dropped chunks off of the pile/ stack, but they do an amazing job of energy absorption. A horse stall mat in between and on top of two layers will do a lot. I dropped firewood rounds from 80' on down on a fir onto such a stack on top of pavers with no problem.

Norm Hall layered two pieces of car decking plywood on flat ground, then put hay bales on top of that to drop a good sized cottonwood spar with no consequential problems.

 

[sotc]

Foam

 

[bonner1040]

I bet the tires would work great especially with a stall mat on top.

 

[Al Smith]

Mostly what little I've seen is they built up a layer of brush then bomb chunks into it .Tom has already built up a plywood deck then brushed over it and bombed away .

 

[bonner1040]

I dont like bombing on brush. It makes a huge mess, I would rather lower some smaller chunks and bomb onto logs.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I agree with you Nick. I hate having to clean up that mess. Hell, I hate coming out of a tree into a mess.

 

[sotc]

Agreed, about the only time I do that is on no clean up jobs. My guys flopped that big sequoia log and only put 2 alturna mats down. They do a nice job if you use enough of them. I have put tires under them to protect a sidewalk

 

[treesmith]

I typically bomb onto brush. I sub to one guy who uses tires a good bit, and they do seem to be a help, I just don't have room to haul tires around with me.

Had a goof with a big pine once. I'd lined up several chunks along a sidewalk just in case there wasn't room without the trunk hitting it. (I'd topped the trunk out right above a big fork, and didn't want to make another cut.) When the trunk came over, it jumped off the stump a bit, hitting right at the joint between two chunks and driving them into the ground. The tip of it smacked the sidewalk, busting it, then when all came to rest, the trunk was a good 6" above the sidewalk. Had the trunk been 6" shorter...had it hit in the middle of a chunk...had it not jumped off the stump...If I could just hit REWIND! Took two hours and 10 bags of Quikrete to replace that section. Every time since then, I have double lined the berm, making sure the joints don't match.

 

[treesmith]

I dont like bombing on brush. It makes a huge mess, I would rather lower some smaller chunks and bomb onto logs.

I have more trouble with deflection off logs when bombing from up high. Brush absorbs more of the impact, but you're right...it do make a mess!

 

[Al Smith]

Ha,you've just got to see old Tom in action .He's like a field general .He does the saw work and somebody else cleans up the mess .He says that's what he pays them for .

 

[CurSedVoyce]

If I had Carls kit, probably would not bother me as much. Load with Gehl into dump trailer and be off.

 

[bonner1040]

I will make a 'landing zone' A thin layer of logs as a target and then higher piles to the left and right with limbwood set to make a V.

the red is the tree and a bombed chunk. the thinner blue pieces are limbwood slanted against bigger blue logs.

I will use a similar concept to protect hazards, houses, pools etc. If something does hit it it will deflect it in a predictable direction.



Obviously not to scale.

 

[SkwerI]

If you put some spin on a chunk as it begins to fall then it will deflect a lot of energy when it hits and tend not to ricochet as much or as often.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

spin in which direction?

 

[murphy4trees]

Reading the bounce of a log can be very important in residential work... I had a big oak spar coming down on padding log years ago.. the padding log was not perpendicular to the fall.. close to a 45 degrees... When the big spar came down, the but flew 15' in the air and landed 10-12' to the side.. denting the corner of the drive.. The customer was cool with a cold patch, so no major harm done... It was quite a site.. the butt would have jumped a full sized suv.. Hoping to recreate it for video some day..