How to Cut a Tree Down??

[Carroll Courtney]

Or should I say how to get it to fall where you want it?
Guys I have a Sweet Gum tree that's about 40' tall and maybe 12"dia at the bottom,which is next to my fence and about 20'away from the house.I been watching Ax-Men and they make it look easy but how???How can I cut this and get it to fall parallel to the fence?I have cut trees before but had plenty of room.
1)Cut a V notch on the side where I want it to fall
2)On the back side make a cut parallel to the notch just above center of the V?
Thanks -----Carroll
Yes I'm tight w/money but I keep my insurance paid up:D

[Ted Calver]

Yup..that's it. Parallel cut at least three inches above the center of the notch. Don't cut all the way through. Leave enough wood (2") in the center as a hinge. I would tie a long guide rope on at the 20' level and have a helper pull on it (out of danger) to make sure it heads in the right direction. Good luck.

[ray hampton]

I belief that you cut a V notch facing the way that you want the tree to fall then saw cut the other side of the tree about a foot below the notch, I use a rope tie close to the tree top and use a come-a-long attach to a truck to keep tension on the tree

[Larry Frank]

I think that if you have no experience cutting down trees and its 40 foot tall and 20 ft from the house that you should have someone else do it. As a first try, this does not sound good.

Do you have experience with a chain saw or ax? Both of these can be dangerous tools and need to be well respected.

[Myk Rian]

When you make the initial cut for the V, sight along the chain saw handle from the back of the tree. The handle will point in the direction you want to fell it.
Finish the V, and make your back cut.

[ray hampton]

Or should I say how to get it to fall where you want it?
Guys I have a Sweet Gum tree that's about 40' tall and maybe 12"dia at the bottom,which is next to my fence and about 20'away from the house.I been watching Ax-Men and they make it look easy but how???How can I cut this and get it to fall parallel to the fence?I have cut trees before but had plenty of room.
1)Cut a V notch on the side where I want it to fall
2)On the back side make a cut parallel to the notch just above center of the V?
Thanks -----Carroll
Yes I'm tight w/money but I keep my insurance paid up:D

do you need a permit from city hall before you cut the tree

[Keith Westfall]

How hard can it be....:eek: Here, hold my beer and watch this!

Really, if you have to ask - maybe you shouldn't be doing this. It's one thing to cut a tree down and hit the ground, it's another to get it where you want it!

Is it leaning any particular way? Does it have a bow in it? Does it...

It's much more than cutting parallel cuts across from each other. Good luck.

[Peter Kelly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f_dQ7850jc

[Richard McComas]

Google will help you.


https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+fell+a+tree+where+you+want+it&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[Ryan Mooney]

Whoo if its that tight and you haven't practiced safe landings a lot, can't say I recommend it unless you're comfortable with dealing with the possible consequences. I'm generally pretty decent at getting them to drop where I want but there are some times when using someone with better insurance is the answer (if you hire someone better make sure they're bonded and insured or whats the point :D).

The problem is that sometimes its not nearly as straight forward as it looks (and sometimes it is.. which can lead to unwonted confidence when it isn't.. don't ask :rolleyes:). If its a tree with a natural lean in the right direction and no wind shake and... it can go very well. If on the other hand you have to pull it a little to one side or the tree has issues (which are sometimes externally obvious and sometimes are not), it can be very tricky indeed.

I would recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Timber-Falling-Procedural-Approach/dp/1299184081, its a little dated in some aspects but covers a lot of what can go wrong and how to prevent it.
Then find a nice area with 50-100 similar trees to practice on, and you should be mostly good to go :D

Some immediate things I'd reckon on going wrong and risk mitigation:
- lands on house.. worst case probably. Error towards the fence, fences are cheaper to rebuild.
- Check limbs on top, if you get it to land close to fence is it going to take out parts of the fence anyway? Maybe pull down possibly affected fence parts first (usually easier to pull down and replace than try to fix post squishing).

If you can get up it a little ways first, put TWO ropes on it and put a little tension on them so its directed to where you want. One rope can still let it swing, but two in a V is somewhat safer. Don't cheap on the ropes, go overboard!!! I know money is tight but if a rope breaks the backlash can be (literally!) fatal or at least permanently maiming. If you don't have a good place to anchor the ropes dig in some deadmen (logs laid in a trench sideways to the direction of pull, top of the log at least 1' below ground with the trench sheer sided and re-topped with the dirt tamped in place.

[Tom Fischer]

If the tree is pretty straight and balanced, the trick is to cut it only about 90% and use a rope and a come-along to pull it down. The tree will fall exactly in that direction.
Much better than pulling it with a truck, which just makes the tree swing violently, side to side.
All you need to do is to get the weight leaning in the correct direction.

Tie a small a small weight at the end of a thin rope (a machine bushing works great), and throw it over the highest limb you can reach. Then use this thin rope to pull a thicker rope (3/4") into the tree. Tie that off to the come-along.
Cut the notch, as others have noted. Then cut the other side 90%. Now just pull the tree down. Crank that come-along. The tree will fall where you want.
I usually shackle the come-along to an old Ag tractor, but you can tie it to a parked truck, or another tree. Anything that doesn't move.

[Fred Perreault]

Or should I say how to get it to fall where you want it?
Guys I have a Sweet Gum tree that's about 40' tall and maybe 12"dia at the bottom,which is next to my fence and about 20'away from the house.I been watching Ax-Men and they make it look easy but how???How can I cut this and get it to fall parallel to the fence?I have cut trees before but had plenty of room.
:D

Take a look at the way the tree leans naturally (lean, position of limb weight),.... check the wind,.... look around to see how much you really like the things within 40' of the base of the trunk,.... and then ponder the plusses and minuses. Then get a job cutting trees for a living for 20-30 years. Felling trees usually requires overcoming, or managing, the natural inclination of the tree and then mating that with the desired landing location sometimes using notches, tag lines, winches, a nearby Caterpillar bucket loader, etc. Dropping trees at sites that have a limitless number of safe landing zones (major land clearing) for decades enables a feller the opportunity to practice this artful/scientific activity.

.....are you experienced? (Jimmy Hendrix, 1967)

[Jim Matthews]

As much as I hate agreeing with someone from the nice part of Massachusetts, Fred is right.

The first thing I would check (given the looming spectre of the math involved) is what your insurance covers.
If it doesn't cover accidental damage from horticultural experiments - THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE CHEAP.

The local Craigslist is full of offers for "free wood" that you need only take down.
"Easy access" generally means next to the house.

[David G Baker]

I have dropped over 100 trees and most of them were pine or oak. The only time I had one hit my house was when I had help from someone that had a lot more experience than I did. No serious damage, just lost a gutter. I recommend calling Davy Tree, a nation wide company that has years of experience. They will be much cheaper than repairing any mistakes you may make. They use man lift buckets and drop the tree one piece at a time removing any chance of property damage other than making tire prints in your lawn. They also clean up the mess before leaving. Call them and get a quote.

[Dave Lehnert]

Yup..that's it. Parallel cut at least three inches above the center of the notch. Don't cut all the way through. Leave enough wood (2") in the center as a hinge. I would tie a long guide rope on at the 20' level and have a helper pull on it (out of danger) to make sure it heads in the right direction. Good luck.

A tree is going to fall where it is going to fall. A man holding onto a rope tied to a 40 ft tree. My money is on the tree winning.

[Kevin Bourque]

Is it possible to climb the tree?
Sometimes I climb up as high as I can in a tree and chop the top off of it.
Then I cut all the branches off on my way down.
Then I chop whats remaining down.

[Kevin W Johnson]

I have to echo many of the comments here about enlisting professional help with this one. That's a hard thing for me to say, as I am the type to do everything myself. I cut down 3 trees in my yard myself, but none were in danger of damaging anything.

If money is a concern, you may be able to have someone just cut it down, and you clean it up yourself.

[ray hampton]

if money are a concern , then pay a tree man to cut the tree then work with man to earn the money back

[james glenn]

I think it is at least worth getting a few quotes before attempting this yourself. You may find a something cheap to just cut it down and you can clean it up.
Ask around for climbers. Maybe someone will do it on the side for cheap. If not, then at least you know.

Around here, we climb up 35-40ft and tie the 3/4" rope around it, then tie the other end to a come-along that is chained to another tree. Or we hook it to the front of a truck. We also cut any big branches that may act as coutner weight and cause the tree to spin or fall the wrong way.

Then as others said, site and cut your notch, back cut 90%, then a little tug with the truck or come-along and down it comes. But you have to look for wind direction, large branches, which way the tree leans, other trees in the way, etc..

We've done this numerous times with 60ft pines that were 5ft from a garage, camp, barn, or house. But it takes some practice too.

[Ole Anderson]

Is it possible to climb the tree?
Sometimes I climb up as high as I can in a tree and chop the top off of it.
Then I cut all the branches off on my way down.
Then I chop whats remaining down.

Things can go horribly wrong. Unless you are well experienced, don't go up in a tree with a chain saw. Gore warning at the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIGBS7B7WY&feature=player_embedded

[Ted Calver]

A tree is going to fall where it is going to fall. A man holding onto a rope tied to a 40 ft tree. My money is on the tree winning.
Dave, This system worked for me on several hundred trees of this size during my arborist days. It's a twig...if it's straight and healthy (no heart rot), no wind or other unusual circumstances, I'll take your money every time. On the other hand, every tree is situation dependent. This is what gum looks like in our neck of the woods. This one is about 18" dbh and maybe 60-70' tall. Hard to tell, but it had a serious lean toward the neighbors yard and my climbing days are over, so I had the pro's drop it in three sections ($100). They all came down using the method I suggested. Since the tree was leaning the opposite way from the desired felling direction, for the bottom 30' we tied off the rope to a solid anchor and two of us leaned on it to persuade the tree to come our way. It went right where we wanted it. IMHO It's a good system for simple take downs.
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[Ryan Mooney]

Things can go horribly wrong. Unless you are well experienced, don't go up in a tree with a chain saw. Gore warning at the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIGBS7B7WY&feature=player_embedded


Ouch involuntary flinch! Yeah even if you are experienced it can still go horribly wrong. I know of (not personally, some of my cousins were loggers for years and have all sorts of stories to curdle your blood) of something similar that happened to a tree topper and instead of his leg is was his face... That was a pro who had been doing it for years and that one tree jumped back off of the cut and that was it... Going up the tree is inherently dangerous in a whole lot of ways.