Safely Felling Standing Dead Trees.

sounds like what I have been cutting on for years , Big deep notch , then cut the sides about the bar deep at a 45 degree angle to get the outer bark and younger growth wood this helps with rollers , then cut about 4-5 inches higher than the notch on back side

this creates a shelved hinge that makes it harder to go back on you , but they still don't always fall where you want and far to often there was just no good place for mine to go so they lay into other trees then I start cutting 6 foot sections notching and letting them fall on tree must have been 60 feet tall I walked it in 6 foot sections all the way to the tree it was leaning on then back a section before it finally all came down , it is exhausting to keep cutting up high and worrying about things falling , now I have a friends place that I cut at who has a tractor fall it then drag it off the stump when it lays into another

if you have no equipment ,a rope is best , the shelved hinge helps

did a bunch this last year with a skidsteer , he would hold the forks on the tree and apply pressure while I cut the back side as soon as I had it cut and it started to look like it would go I moved out he pushed them over and they went very close to where we wanted them

make sure you are wearing a forestry helmet any time your cutting , mine saved my head big time this year , had a limb break loose and come down on me these standing dead wood limbs that fall when your cutting are called a widow maker for a reason

My husband is reading your response, greencountypete and wants me to ask you to explain exactly what a shelf hinge is.

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I cut the notch the direction of fall I want.

Leaving enough meat for stability, then I cut from the back side, about 10" higher and angled towards the notch.

It leaves a back stop of sorts.

always falls where I want.

if its windy I leave alone unless its blowing proper way.

If the tree has a load opposite , ropes and some pull proper way.

just remember they as well as chains and steel cable can and do snap!

best to stay with rope, can still severely injury bet better chance to survive.

Unless you are trying to fall against the lean/weight load of the tree using a tensioning device (ie ropes/cables) just complicates things particularly on dead standing trees as you are seeing the extra tension is causing the hinge to fail and you are loosing control of the trunk. It is best to just cut your face cut, get your back cut going, set 2 wedges for a safety and go from there. It is better yet to bore the tree with your saw bar and get your holding wood set just like you want it before you "release" the tree to fall. If you are trying to fall against the lean/weight load it is very difficult to do and it is far safer to bring those trees down from the top or at least "balance the load" before you cut it. Tensioning a green tree is relatively safe and effective if you pay attention, doing so on a 18" dead tree is dangerous. No matter live or dead though always be sure to cut an open enough face cut that the tree is almost on the ground and committed to the fall before the hinge wood collapses, also always cut high enough above the bottom cut of the face cut on your back cut to leave a good lip to reduce the chances from the butt of the tree kicking back on you.

Sometimes the least expensive way also.

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A short story. Years ago I bought a new saw and my neighbor was out of wood and ask me to help him get some.I cut a load for him and was cutting a load for myself while he took his load home. I cut an ash about 18".Nice wedge and a back cut even with the face cut. It would not fall. I found a grape vine I thought was holding it and cut that but it still stood there.I knew I was all the way through this tree and couldn't figure out why it was still standing.Too nervous to continue with the saw I grabbed the sledgehammer and wedges. When I finally got it to go down it was being held by the heartwood the size of my thumb.It was so perfectly balanced it stood on that alone.


Wade

I used to fell trees with nothing but an Axe and get them within 5 degrees of where I wanted given a couple of rules. One the direction it wants to fall has to be within 45 degrees of where I want it to fall so I could offset the cut and it would twist to where I wanted it to go. 2nd rule I had to have clear path to get away while it fell. Actually 3 rules. The 3rd being remove just enough would that it starts it's fall very slowly. I don't recommend it unless you have an instinctive feel for the physics and only with lots of practice one smaller trees first.

We were out yesterday clearing small dead standing pines and thinning out overgrowth near our pond. I think we felled maybe 10 trees without problem including two cedars. No problems with the dead pines. DH chained a deep wedge in the direction he wanted them to fall, did a felling cut as Downhome described and they went down peacefully.

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I bet the dead trees are weighted differently than they look- the rotten parts making it unbalanced from the way it grew and looks to be leaning. So unless you can guess that change from the appearance of the trunk you can't expect to know their balance and lean like with live trees. Good luck and stay safe- we just wait for the next storm.

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