One that slipped through the crack

[pantheraba]

I thought about posting this in the Work Thread but decided it is weird enough I'd give it a life of it's own.

My cousin has a lakehouse in TN. I got to visit with him some at a recent family get together in S. GA where we spend several days in a swamp netting fish and then have a big cookout for family and friends. He asked if I could help him with a problem tree at his lakehouse. When they first built the place there was an oak they wanted to keep so they built their deck around it (I know, I know...now he knows, too...he has learned it's a PITA overall). Over the years as the tree grew he kept cutting the deck out around it. Now it is time to replace all the decking and he wanted to get the tree gone...trouble is it had gotten pretty big. Long story short, we rigged out everything in the tree and then felled a 50' spar thru a slot he cut in the deck.

I've never felled anything quite like that...I remember Deva had to remove a tree from inside a house that the people had built around it...that was very weird. The limbs were pretty straightforward...tedious, lots of roping. Some of the limbs looked healthy from the ground but had holes big enough to put a finger into...and about 1/2" deep. I don't know what caused that but it gave me the willies when I had to use that kind of limb for a TIP or to rig off of. They all were sound and did what they needed to but there was always in the back of my mind "how much have those holes compromised the limb?". After a few preliminary smaller limbs were rigged off the suspect limbs we just went for it.

I had a pull rope at about 45 feet up and we used his Klein rope hoist for the mechanical advantage we needed to pull the tree past the center point. It had a compound lean to the right (viewed from the front) and back over the house. We had to move the top about 5-6 feet to get it over center. I had wanted a thicker hinge holding as it went over but the hoist bottomed out, apparently, just as we reached the tipping point. At least that is what the thin hinge means to me. I told him I thought we needed more rope pull distance in our pulling system but he insisted it was enough. I think it was JUST enough. In the picture of the stump my cousin is making the ALAP cut..I had to fell it at about 4 feet up from the lower deck landing.

I couldn't figure out a way to not bust something with the spar so the stairs took a bounce hit...better that than the corner post support, I reckon. We could have negative blocked all that trunk wood but I REALLY did not want to do that...thankfully, he did not either. He was good with sacrificing the stairs...hoorah!

He had never used a portawrap before but grew up on a farm and has good common sense and understands how things work...he did a great job of running ropes and keeping the work site tidy.

It was a full two day job...I got to make a maximum mess and then packed up my gear and drove the 5 hours home...he'll be busy awhile with all that wood.

 

[pantheraba]

Oh...forgot to mention that I did use 3 wedges..at first at the stair side of the back cut and then on the back side to get 'er moving, too. Apparently the spar slipped thru the slot without an lateral scraping...I hope I don't run into any more like that...don't want to push my luck.

 

[top_notch]

Nice work! That looked like a tricky bugger.

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks...tricky, tedious, tough at times. Like lots of trees, I guess. The House is yours...bedtime for me!!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Nice job on that funky oak. Nuttin like having targets right up under a tree like that. All kinds of different crooked wood. Stairs looked to be the least of your problems. Looks like one I would have loved to assist you on Gary. Surprising how well oak holds up even with some pecker holes in em. Those sound like where branches rotted off.

 

[bonner1040]

awesome!

 

[stig]

Nicely done, Gary.
That was an unusual job for sure.

No chance of speedlining off of one of the other trees, to avoid lowering wood onto the deck?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Meh, I'd have just roped it. Speedlining with a rookie ain't fun at all.

It's crazy when homeowners let something like that grow next to their house.

Great job, Gary! TCOB!!!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Nice sequence of photos, Gary. You have a right to be pleased with what you did there, fine job.

 

[pantheraba]

Yep, my cousin was good about keeping the camera handy..that tree will be one for the memory banks.

Stig, regards speedlining. It crossed my mind but I think it would have taken longer in this case. We were able to float several largish limbs out past the deck and that helped speed things up. There was one set of limbs without any pictures where we used a gin pole about 15 feet away from the limb tip tie point...it was at the base of that set of stairs. I used a second rope on the butt to snub it off so that when I made the final cut it could be controlled as it drifted towards the gin pole. That butt tie then served as a drift line.

Stephen, I would have loved the company and experience of sharing ideas. I have worked with Carl before and it was a great experience.

 

[SoonerFan]

Wow, what a challenge. Great job!

 

[SouthSoundTree]

nice work gary!!

 

[stig]

Meh, I'd have just roped it. Speedlining with a rookie ain't fun at all.

Totally right, Butch.

I forgot about the rookie ropeman !

 

[Jack]

Great job, Gary! Particularly like the pic of your cousin in the doorway, holding his coffee cup with that WTF look at all your gear.

 

[pete mctree]

Nice job Gary

 

[pantheraba]

I'm glad to share with folks who can appreciate...and, yep, Jack, the amount of gear used got his attention. It got mine because we had to hump it down and back up those stairs on the hillside.

About speedlines...my cousin set one up himself when he built the house. He set up a zip line to carry his shingles from the road up high directly onto the roof of the house. No carrying the shingles down the hill and then up a ladder. He's a smart and capable dude.

 

[Burnham]

That was a heck of a job you did there, Gary...and well! Kudos.

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks, Burnham...I am sure you noticed that I had to restart my face cut to get the apexes right. What with Humboldt's, wedges, leaning spar, good PPE and all, you and a lot of the Housers were with me throughout the job. My thanks to folks for input that helps educate all of us.

Is my assessment of the thin hinge correct to you? Maybe the thin hinge let the spar get a good head of steam up in the right direction so that the spar didn't scrape the sides. My original idea of breaking the spar over more gradually may not have been the best approach.

What would be the preferred/most likely to succeed method on a spar like that? I have a feeling that getting the tree moving in the right direction and chasing it with the saw as the face closes has the most chance of success.

Maybe I just got lucky? Here to learn, so if you feel like commenting go ahead.

 

[treesandsurf]

Nice Gary looked like a fun job!

jp

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks, Jon...we did have a good time...no pressure besides "don't break anything...me or the house". When I was squirming around on my buttocks towards the end when I didn't have any good TIP's left and I was on that swooping angled limb I thought of Bermy and how she said

Thanks Gerry! You all would laugh at my sometimes 'creep climb' style though...if I'm not particularly comfortable then the back of my trousers get scuffed from where I sit down and shuffle.

It was a creep time for me....using lots of small muscles to keep the balance when standing on the limb takes a toll...butt squirming also gave the feet some rest.

It occurred to me later that I should have used stirrups (like I have done before) or EVEN BETTER, the ancient Japanese treeclimber stick trick of lashing a cross stick to the limb.

That I WILL do next time I hit that situation.

 

[sotc]

That was thread worthy Gary, very awkward. Until you took your shirt off, then it was incredibly awkward

 

[pantheraba]

Hahahaha...I love you, too.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

 

[Burnham]

Thanks, Burnham...I am sure you noticed that I had to restart my face cut to get the apexes right. What with Humboldt's, wedges, leaning spar, good PPE and all, you and a lot of the Housers were with me throughout the job. My thanks to folks for input that helps educate all of us.

Is my assessment of the thin hinge correct to you? Maybe the thin hinge let the spar get a good head of steam up in the right direction so that the spar didn't scrape the sides. My original idea of breaking the spar over more gradually may not have been the best approach.

What would be the preferred/most likely to succeed method on a spar like that? I have a feeling that getting the tree moving in the right direction and chasing it with the saw as the face closes has the most chance of success.

Maybe I just got lucky? Here to learn, so if you feel like commenting go ahead.

I'm not sure I quite follow your thoughts about the thin hinge, Gary, from reading your original post quoted below.

I had a pull rope at about 45 feet up and we used his Klein rope hoist for the mechanical advantage we needed to pull the tree past the center point. It had a compound lean to the right (viewed from the front) and back over the house. We had to move the top about 5-6 feet to get it over center. I had wanted a thicker hinge holding as it went over but the hoist bottomed out, apparently, just as we reached the tipping point. At least that is what the thin hinge means to me. I told him I thought we needed more rope pull distance in our pulling system but he insisted it was enough. I think it was JUST enough. In the picture of the stump my cousin is making the ALAP cut..I had to fell it at about 4 feet up from the lower deck landing.

Anyway, that was a pretty unique situation, and I'm not at all sure I know what the best way to proceed might be...but here's some thoughts I have on it, for consideration.

I'd want to be sure I got a really accurate gun down the center of the slot in the deck, probably gun from both sides of the face, or use Willard's builder's square technique. I would want a really even hinge, so I would likely bore the back cut and set that up perfectly before completion of the back cut. I like the idea of a moderately thick hinge, but would think about gutting the center of the hinge to ease pulling it over center while keeping that strong hinge effect at the same time. I might well have formed up a deeper face than normal, say 50% of diameter, to shift COG a bit and ease the pull distance needed, especially if I thought it possible I might come up a smidge short on that front with the rigging I had in place.

 

[woodworkingboy]

the amount of gear used got his attention.

So much so that he looks a little intimidated to walk outside.