Chainsaw Fail Video: This Poor Guy...

...needs to take a class.  Here are the basics for looking at lean/weight on a tree and figuring out if you can handle it, or need to call a guy with a bucket truck. (If a tree has a chance for hitting an improvement, you don't take chances! You call the guy with the truck!)

Lean Limit Basics

There is an easy set of guidelines for limits of lean you can handle on a tree you need to fall. Measure the distance from the back of the hinge to the back of the stump. Say it's 1 foot. That will be your segment length. Measure the height of the tree. If it is 50 feet tall you have a 50 segment tree. On 50 segment trees the limit on back lean you can handle with wedges is about 10 feet. (Not Fun!) That is true if the wood is solid and has good fiber strength. Eastern hemlock will be much less than that. Old black oak may be much less. Every tree has its own secrets. If it's taller by 10 feet, that's a  60 segment tree. Now the limit is about 8 feet.  If it's shorter by 10 feet to 40 segments,  the limit is about 12 feet. Tipping trees near the limit is hard, and the hinge may fail, making the tree go over backwards. A 1" wedge will move the top of a 50 segment tree 50 inches; two stacked 1" wedges can move the top 100 inches. Figure your height and number of segments on all trees that need wedging over and you will know if you can get it with the thickness of one wedge. Use parallel wedges to increase your lift.  Three side-by-side wedges will push three times as much weight as one wedge.

Your most important application of this skill is to know your limits on side lean, so you don't have the hinge fail. If 10 feet is the limit for back lean on a tree, the limit for side lean is less than 1/2 of that! That is because back lean is pulling equally across the hinge, but side lean is pulling hard on 1/2, and compressing the other half. Going too far on side lean will cause the hinge to fail, so don't push that at all. Watch some videos where people have side lean and do not pull against it. The tree will go where it wants! Look at all your trees from two vantage points to make a quadrant for weight and lean. You will then know within 90° where that tree will go if it is severed. You need to know that in case the hinge should fail you; then you will know where to step to avoid being crushed.

How do you determine the amount of lean? Step way back from the tree, at 90° from the fall line. Put your hands up in front of you and surround the crown. Bring your eye to the middle, and bring a line straight down. Note that spot, go to it and pace in to the stump (or measure).

PS: It looks like about 8 feet of back lean on this tree, and he probably could have wedged it over, but he used only one wedge.  You cannot pound one wedge against that much weight.  Instead, he cut the hinge thinner from the front, with predictable results.  If only he had watched a few of my videos he could proudly say, "I'm a logger!"

With No Help From Me

After my little surprise yesterday it is a good time to remind myself that some trees are more ready to come down than others.  I saw this one last February, and it collapsed all by itself.  Stick a saw into one this rotten, and it may come down around your ears.  A sounding axe is a valuable accessory when cutting snags and high risk trees. I promise to thump a little more than I have been doing lately.

Recipe For Recurring Failures

Knock the top out of a tree, let the resulting sprouts grow as they wish, wait twenty to forty years for your disaster. I have been seeing that a lot lately. A thunderstorm in July tore down this white pine that had multiple competing tops. It only got a high tension line on its way down.

This tree was weakened by an injury long ago that broke the top out. It then grew competing tops that were not anchored to the center, and there was rot introduced with the injury, which you can plainly see in the second photo.

This red maple appears to be rot-free, but it had the same poor structure due to an injury many years ago. It also had a house for a target.

This pin oak has a similar history to the first two trees. The top was knocked out, and multiple branches all tried to be the top. Rot got into this one, too. The branch went clear to the frame of this home, and crushed a man in his bed. If you have a tree with this type of structure within striking distance of your home, barn, parking place, or picnic table, you might want to take it down. 100% of the trees you see in the forest will at some time end up on the ground. One of your priorities in life should be not to be in the way when it happens.

Maples; I Gotta Keep Saying It...

...Don't let one grow within 100 feet of your house. This one was solid, but had bad branch angles.

And while we are on the subject of trees and targets...

Take down the decadent old tree before you build a new house. The damaged gutter is a cheap lesson compared to what it could have been.

Just Waitin' To Happen...

When will it fall?  That's something we cannot predict, but gravity always wins, and this tree will come down, and it will fall on the house.  That's where the weight is wanting to go.  If you have something like this dead tree in your life, take it down ASAP.  Don't wait for it to make a move, because it will smash your house, and it may kill you.

Just Waitn' To Happen; Why Do They Call?

Homeowners call me out to evaluate their problem; in this case, dead limbs over their house, and

hollow stems supporting them.  I advise them to have the tree taken down ASAP before it damages their home, and their response usually is "But I don't want to lose it!"  It's already lost, and they must know that, since they called me to evaluate the problem, but they try to talk me into performing a miracle, which I'm no good at.  It is a regular occurrence, and before I leave I will go over multiple choices for a replacement tree, find the optimum spot for planting, and coach the owners on pushing the new tree along to have shade as quickly as possible. 

I am glad to handle these calls before property is damaged and residents are hurt, but why, oh why, do they argue over the obvious truth?  The best ones are when they ask what they can spray on a dead tree to bring it back, which always brings to mind the advice in a Nineteenth Century volume on our shelf.  It advises that if someone is struck by lightning, to pour water on them.  If they haven't revived in a quarter-hour, you should pour salt water on them.  Well folks, if I'm ever struck by lightning, please pour the salt water on me first, just in case there is anything to that remedy. 

...Just Waitin' To Happen

Danno of Sand Castle Scrolls sent the link to THIS NEWS REPORT of a tree dropping on a car, the occupants, and a police officer who was performing a routine traffic stop.  Be sure to stop the video between 44 and 49 seconds to examine the stump, and note the discolored wood.  This accident was very predictable if only someone had examined the tree.  A safety exam for a tree goes all the way from the root system to the terminal twigs, and checks for any problems that could be compromising the health and safety of the tree.  This week I had a call from a homeowner who had a black oak that fell, blocking a state highway.  He wanted it, and all of his yard trees checked.  The black oak had several dead roots, probably from the drought of 2012, and he had seen mushrooms this spring, but hadn't connected them to any risk.  We found two more trees in his yard with serious problems, one that will eventually smash his garage, and another that will land on his bedroom, if they are allowed to stand.  He IS going to have them taken down on his terms in the near future.

Here's a little of what I see on a regular basis:

 Root rot fungus showing down low on a tree...

...and more of the same...

....Wood rot fungus and loose bark...

...shouting at you from the lower stem of the tree...

...and the tree is going to fall on the neighbor's house, which is a bed-and-breakfast!  The homeowner does not want to remove this tree.  She is going to wait until the tree is in worse condition!  Some take my advice and some don't.

Pay attention to your trees!  Most damage from trees is very predictable, other than damage caused by  tornadic winds and ice.