Tricky pull tree story

woodworkingboy

woodworkingboy

TreeHouser
Joined
Aug 16, 2008
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Out of the blue I received a call from an architect friend to go cut a tree that was leaning over a recent house that he designed, growing on a slope above. He came over and drew a picture, the approximate angle of lean. The next day we loaded my gear into his van and drove there, an hour and a half away.

When I got there and saw the tree, I wasn't exactly sure that I could correct the lean sufficiently, but decided to go for it, Chestnt is a pretty hard and resilient species.The tree wan't that big, about twenty plus inches at the base, a few feet from the edge of the embankment cut away above the house. I've pulled up a fair number of leaning trees, but never one with quite the degree of lean where failure to get it over would be real costly. The architect went off on some business and I set up, climbed as high as I could to set a cable, and would be pulling from above on the slope, so a real advantageous pulling angle in that regard. One ton puller, so enough pull I figured, but using the cut some pull some method, I was unsure if I could get the tree over sufficiently before the hinge broke.

I have one of those Klein Tool cable attachments that the cable slides through, but sometimes it will slip and fall off in certain circumstances. :O I didn't want to risk it, so finally getting everything set up pulling through a block and being able to get hooked directly to the cable eye, climbing, must have taken about two hours on the fairly steep slope.

Anyway, when I got to cutting, I could see that the tree was really dicey when it came to pulling it up enough, and started to get a lil' worried. I could have been a bit more fine with the cutting and pulling, but was doing it by myself. I had a lot of pull going and a crack started up from the back cut, a barberchair was developing. The thought occurred to loosen up on the pull and go back and cut some more, but I didn't really want to be there at the base any longer, it was a dilemma over the edge of my experience. The tree was still maybe ten degrees or so from being straight. What the heck, I just started cranking on the puller, and the crack was extending farther up the trunk, the load on the puller staying the same as the crack lengthened. Maybe it was close to being straight, i couldn't tell from my angle of view, and it finally barberchaired and broke away about three feet above the back cut. I think that luckily for me, it stayed attached by a couple inches on one side, and by that happening the tree pulled over to that side and fell ninety degrees off from the direction I was pulling, parallel to the structure. Any less would have been a problem and it could conceivably have broke off and tumbled down the embankment into the residence. The upper limbs clipped the electric line coming into the house, a pretty thick cable for some reason, and it didn't break.

I guess all is well that ends well, but for a while i was really sweating it, a definite close one.

Do you guys ever run into that, a tree without bucket access that has to be pulled, but you are unsure if there is enough wood to get it over sufficiently? I would say the tree had about 20-25 degrees of back lean. A more experienced climber would probably have been able to get up there more to reduce it, climbing and cutting heavily leaning trees is not my specialty by far, no limbs except near the very top. In this respect, perhaps barber chair ended up being my friend, instead of the hinge breaking altogether when the tree was still leaning back. You don't much hear of using barberchair to your advantage, however. Staying attached was just good luck. I thought that I may have detected it going back towards the house before getting pulled to the side. An interesting experience, and no doubt would have been a lot more comfortable with a Treehouser there helping me, two people cutting and pulling in agreement.

The owner gave a nice cup of coffee and tour of his house, held the hose while I cleaned myself up a bit, then I was out of there with my 200 bucks.
 
At least the cable acted as a limit line in your favor Jay. Sometimes I will place a limit line in a tree I am trying to pull over for just in case if I have a doubt of the ability of the gear pulling it over. Often times a tree like you describe I will just climb and piece it down. Mitigate the risk.
 
Thats some serious lean to overcome. Sounds like a job that sould have been wrecked, glad it worked out
 
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  • #4
Another holding line probably wouldn't hurt, and I envisioned a few different scenarios developing if the tree went over backwards still held by the cable and the butt dropped somehow off the embankment, it going through the big windows was something that occurred.

Normally, I would have sought a better solution, Willie, but having come all that way and needing the funds, that is what i would plead in court.
 
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  • #6
Kind of like that Leonard Skynyrd song where "the water (sweat) is falling on the floor".
 
I've successfully pulled any number of trees against a lean of that degree, Jay...but never have, nor would try to do so solo. It really requires a sawyer at the felling cut and a rigging man on the pulling device. And that begs a second piece of advice...don't try these long pulls back to vertical with sloooow hand powered come-alongs. You need enough power at appropriate speed matched with a smart sawyer, attentive puller, and crystal clear communication between the two to make it come together right. Appropriate speed means you have to have some excess in the bag to call on.
 
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  • #8
Burnham, this experience in retrospect very much mirrors your thoughts. A sawyer who can do controlled cutting with patience, and having a guy pulling who knows when the pull is maxed out and it is time to cut more, with good communications between them. The cutting could have been much better tailored, no doubt about that, and the splitting avoided. One factor was the size of the tree, I made the face cut wide but relatively shallow, and then having enough wood to give a good bending and holding quality without breaking, that seems best determined as the operation is proceeding, rather than having to guesstimate. Trying to cover both ends is not very smart. Kind of in a bind, I felt committed to tackling it, but also knew it was risky.
I could have asked the architect to pull, but he has no experience. A fine skill in his own trade, but kind of a bumbler when it comes to physical stuff. I have done a number of successful solo pulls in the past, but never when the potential for failure was so great. A faster implement, I get your thinking for sure. I don't have much experience with fast pulling devices, limited to come alongs, endless line pullers and back hoes. I can see where speed can be advantageous. There was a road up above, it could have been arranged with more time and consideration towards the job. Luck was a factor for sure, I don't think you want it to be in such a situation. Anyway, a good experience about working smarter, that I fortunately got away with.

Thanks for the thoughts, everybody.
 
Another technique that is very useful in the right situation for heavy back leaners is to set two pull lines, to anchor points either side of the direction of fell.

An aerial view would show the two lines forming a v shape, with a 30-45 degree angle. Not describing this too well, but I hope you get the picture.

Helps to stop the tree falling over sideways anyhow.

I have cut and pulled some backleaners on my own, not ideal by any means, but I do find setting wedges to stop the tree sitting back while cutting the hinge down to size helps, as does pretensioning the pull line after cutting the face.

Glad it all ended well for you anyway.
 
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  • #10
Yeah Peter, setting those lines would have surely helped, and there were attachment points (other trees) to anchor to. What I had brought with me was inadequate for the job.

Wondering what you guys think about a tree that will require a lot of pull and cutting between to get it over, do you see a higher than usual back cut helping to give more resiliency to the hinge? I know that we have discussed this somewhat before.
 
Absolutely.
Either that or a vertical cut in front of the hinge. I always use that on pull trees.
 
I watched a crazy logger pull three heavy leaning pines from over a house, once. He chained the trunk and used a skidder to pull, and he didn't put in any underbed at all. He just started his back cut and had the skidder pull. All three stood up and came over, no problemo. It surprised the hell outta me!
 
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  • #13
By vertical cut, do you mean a gap, Stig?

Seems like those trees could have been barberchairs from hell, MB, even with the chain.
 
I had a bull pine eat my wedge the other day. As I was driving it in and cutting to try and throw it onto a flat portion of ground 180 out of lean. Weird. I should have just gone home (not far away) and got my rope and come a long. The pine was so sap laden and mushy the wedge just squished into the wood and was not raising the tree. An odd example of how a wedge is not always the answer but part of the solution if I had added a pull rope. Just keep the tree from setting back.
Since I was in a clear area with no target save canopy below the tree, I cut a new face and dropped the tree into a more favorable lay to the lean and weight. Down side is now I will have to move most of the material up hill to burn it come this winter :(
Sorry about the derail. Just wanted to share that sometimes you need all your tools in hand to flop them proper. :)
 
Jay, I think a bit of a gap face would be in order there also. Seems to me that you probably had too much hinge also. I know I have a tendancy to do that also. Then you have to work harder to pull and have a much higher probability of barberchair. Makes me wonder about the charicteristics of the wood, wood that was once compression wood, now under tension, seems like it may have a higher tendancy to split. In the TRACE course I learned that tension wood has more lignin and compression wood has more cellulose, and how those properties function in the tree
 
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  • #21
Lucky and even got payed, Dave, but could easily be sitting here holding my head.

Definitely too much hinge on that Willie, my first concern was leaving enough hinge to get the tree over before breaking, and it messed up the perspective. Once the crack started it became more complicated. As mentioned, having two guys was the way to go on that one. A little bit higher up the learning curve, I hope. I don't see where wedges had any use, unless maybe they were stacked three or four high.
 
On a pull tree I use the wedges to prevent the tree form setting down on the bar. You could have used a tree jack if you had one to get that much lift but it really depends on if the hinge can take that kind of pressure.
 
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  • #23
A tree jack is a good thought, but the tree may not have been a large enough diameter. There was plenty enough pull to get the tree over, I just frigged up on the cutting in coordination.
 
Jay,
your story gave me the creeps deep down. I hate that sickening feeeling where it is too late to back out of whats going on, and yet, its all on the verge of failing and causing catastrophe. I KNOW that feeling and I despise it deep down. Pulling trees away from their lean is one thing. Doing it with a dwelling behind it is another. I distinctly remember a time or so when the face was made, the saw was coming through the back, and the pull line wasnt budging the tree. I know the feeling of hoping down down in your stomach that just a little more cutting will get the tree moving, and it doesnt happen. So you force yourself to overcome all fear and cut just a little more, knowing that every flake of sawdust hitting your thighs is that much less wood holding the tree, and that much more committed you are to enduring the outcome. Thats a sickening feeling.

But, that tree starts moving towards the lay, hinges right over, and you are standing there with an idling saw feeling like a KING. That gives me a natural high and rush that nothing else ever has.
 
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