The toughest trees to remove

[Page]

Shagbark hickory I'd say are one of my favorite and toughest tree's to remove, armor plates that suck to spike into, and when you do they sheer off. branches are bendy and hook like and catch on everything, wood is heavy and holds on for dear life. on the plus side they are usually single stem and you can get a nice high tie in point on small branches. that being said I did a locust removal today with 6 inch thorns on it. that was pretty shitty. what say you all?

 

[cory]

Hickory has all those qualities plus one more I will mention: the deadwood can sometimes look live if you are just glancing at it, and the deadwood definetly tends to break off clean and easy when grabbed, unlike some deadwood that can be pretty strong. Yup, it's the one tree I fell out of, freeclimbing up, grabbed dead limb, see ya...

In general, I would say you cant rush in hickory, gotta make your cuts right cuz it is tough stuff.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cottonwood.

 

[cory]

6" thorns? Never seen that. That would be pretty difficult

 

[flushcut]

Locust

 

[lonniels]

We deal with cottonwood almost daily and it sucks, heavy and likes to break.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Brittle bastids!

 

[Page]

6" thorns? Never seen that. That would be pretty difficult

sometimes their bigger.

 

[MasterBlaster]

We have a tree like that down here, a Bodock. Yellow wood, hard as concrete and thorns just like that. Luckily, the bigger they get, the more the thorns disappear.

 

[atw]

cottonwood here

 

[cory]

Bodock just sounds nasty!

Locust thorns just don't get that big, here. Those are crazy. Ours are an inch at most.

 

[Porkbrick]

Butch, bodock sounds like osage orange (Maclura pomifera). beautiful wood and hard as nails. the farm i grew up on had fenceposts made of the stuff. in the ground for well over 75 years and still rock solid. i used to dig them up and turn pipes out of it on my lathe. btw the name bodock comes from the french bois d'arc due to its fine bow making attributes.
on topic, i vote locust as lousy, and cottonwood sucks too.

 

[pantheraba]

Cool etymology info...thanks for that tidbit.

According to Webster, bodoc IS osage orange...means "bow wood"

 

[MasterBlaster]

I hate it!

 

[stig]

View attachment 50882 sometimes their bigger.

We have those here, as rare ornamentals.
Did one once that was totally covered in ivy.
While not the toughest tree I've done, certainly the nastiest.

 

[squisher]

Dead trees get my vote.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

yup!

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Monkey Puzzle, sharp everywhere on the branches.

 

[pete mctree]

Any tree that is wider than it is high - like horse chesnuts - can be 80-90ft across & only 50ft high. Hard rigging & hard climbing

 

[ClimbMIT]

Any tree with poison ivy all or halfway up it!

 

[ClimbMIT]

Any tree that is wider than it is high - like horse chesnuts - can be 80-90ft across & only 50ft high. Hard rigging & hard climbing

Live Oak over here with 200' spread and maybe 100' high with fern all over semi vertical limbs when it's damp.

 

[sydneytree]

I did a monkey puzzle once, got stabbed up pretty good. They're not common in aus. There are plenty of awful trees to work, and I say no to some of them. I don't find cottonwoods all that bad. Hardest trees to work are some of our eucs that gum up a saw in no time at all, they grow big, blunt chains on contact and are heavy. Plenty of nasties too; norfolk island hibiscus is one you won't forget if you ever work one. The pods have fibreglass like hairs in them which float in the air and stick into your skin causing unbearable itching for days. Rhus tree is toxic enough to kill you. Phoenix palms are nasty. I'm allergic to silky oak, and a lot of tree guys are over here. I never was, it's got a mild toxin that builds up until you eventually can't have contact with it any more. I'm at the point now where if i make contact with it I have to go to hospital before my throat closes up.

 

[Adam_P]

Locust

x2

Dead locust is like trying to spike concrete.

 

[rangerdanger]

Osage Orange, Black Locust, or Hickory. We don't have much Hickory but I worked with a friend in TN where theres a shit ton and I was surprised how much the fibers hold. Peeled out a few limbs and a top or two shook me pretty good!

 

[ClimbMIT]

I did a monkey puzzle once, got stabbed up pretty good. They're not common in aus. There are plenty of awful trees to work, and I say no to some of them. I don't find cottonwoods all that bad. Hardest trees to work are some of our eucs that gum up a saw in no time at all, they grow big, blunt chains on contact and are heavy. Plenty of nasties too; norfolk island hibiscus is one you won't forget if you ever work one. The pods have fibreglass like hairs in them which float in the air and stick into your skin causing unbearable itching for days. Rhus tree is toxic enough to kill you. Phoenix palms are nasty. I'm allergic to silky oak, and a lot of tree guys are over here. I never was, it's got a mild toxin that builds up until you eventually can't have contact with it any more. I'm at the point now where if i make contact with it I have to go to hospital before my throat closes up.

You should have an epi-pen with at all times. On the ground, in the truck, or ditty bag. That's if you don't already have one? Epinephrine helps to slow the process down by dilating your airway.