How do cut down this tree???
 

Seriously...I don't know where to start. Pretty weird the way it fell on the post.
So all you engineers, where do I make the first cut?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1300393247.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1300393361.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1300393475.jpg

I would move right to left. Gradually taking weight off the base.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1300393962.jpg

Edit: I just realized I was contradicting myself. way to mix up my left and rights! Doh!

How about right to left.

I was trying to preserve the fence.

Right to left. Cut off the overhang first moving towards the post. Once you have a minimum of overhang over the post I'd move the other side of the fence. Chock the trunk up with some of the wood from the other end so you can chop it into managable pieces.

I'm not a tree surgeon, nor do I play one on T.V.

I'm not too worried about the fence, its only hot wire with tee-posts. I'm just concerned that when I start cutting, it will fall off the post thats holding it up. Looking for the safest way. Thanks.:)

Sounds like a reasonable plan. Thats why I love this forum! SmileWavy

If you don't care about the fence, then I would undercut a notch near the base of the tree and then cut downward until the trunk falls, smashing the fence.

I have cut down hundreds, if not thousands, of trees. If it's a big tree, like yours, I like to get as much weight on the ground as possible.

burn it

Build a guitar out of it.

Stand it back up !!

A stick or two of dynamite should do it.

Wait.....this is in Ca?......by the time you get a permit to cut it down it will have turned into worm food.

You may have to do a environmental study to determine the best way to remove the tree.

The post isn't holding up the tree, the lower, large trunk-like branch is...I bet it is embedded six inches deep in the ground. That tree weights many, many tons.

I'd get a good pole saw and and trim right to left, get the weight off as Burnin' Oil mentioned. Before you do anything, however, clean the little stuff first and make sure you get all the crap around the tree cleared. I always want a clear path to scoot, exercising the better part of valor.

You'll know a lot more on how best to attack the big stuff after that. My bet is that trimming off the top large branch first, leaving the lower section to support while you cut, will work best.

I've had to deal with two Oaks that fell on my farm. Get the weight off.

Just a random thought.
Don't know what kind of tree that is, but there is a guy around here that mills and sells "reclaimed lumber" at a hefty price. Mostly hardwoods like cherry and oak. People with wood stoves are always looking for fuel as well(edit oops forgot this is cauli).

The small stuff would make a good brush/multch pile, mabye even get some rabbits in there. The big stuff could be carved for a lawn sculpture.

I'm surprised daryl Hanna and a bunch of smelly berkeley hippies aren't living in it to protest it getting cut down ;)

+1

Be careful it doesn't roll on you.

There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the tree.

That's probably why it fell: Exceeding the registered number of protesters.

Seriously though, as said before: get the weight off the right side (tree top). Work slowly, make sure you have a scoot route.

Les

Rent a gas-powered pole saw to stay away from it. The stuff on the right side may roll as you remove it and work on the trunk right to left, especially at the pole it's resting on.

If that is an oak tree, you had best delete this thread or you are liable to get fined.

I would pull it off the post first, chain and pull it with your tractor or whatever, assuming you don't mind killing that fence. Then it can't fall off its precarious perch at an inopportune time. Then you can cut the whole thing up on the ground. I think Paul is right about a lot of weight on the branch, but that fencepost looks buckled some, and is bearing weight too. Pole saw would be good to keep you out of harms way while working on smaller pieces. It is going to start raining again tomorrow, so you might need to wait for a little bit of dry weather.

Where is that, out by Los Lagos off Auburn Folsom Rd?

exactly -- you can easily prove this to yourself by cutting the fence post in half

That would take some serious equipment imo. Thinking "out loud" here...a few well placed shots from a 44 mag (or equivalent) would remove the post from a safe distance however :). I'm not kidding...

Like this:

http://www.callexperttree.com/tree_in_house.jpg

The b1tch, i'd punish it first.

As said above make sure it doesn't roll on you. And it may right itself once the trunk is cut. Sadly there was a case of a guys little girls playing in the hollow of a large stump and the trunk righted itself when the tree was chopped off :(

xlnt example of why loggers are tree-huggers

that guy didn't

If you go this route - make the right-most cut from the bottom of the branch up, othewise, the chainsaw bar will be wedged.

Right to left in 3 foot sections. Fun job if you have a good saw.

G

Nice call...I'm about a mile from the entrance to Folsom Lake ....Granite Bay.

Whatever you do, please film it. Preferably with the following opening monologue:

[starts chainsaw]
Rod: "Hold my beer.....watch this."

:D

Where I live you would have to call the tree department of the town to get permission, then apply for a permit before they would let you cut the tree.

After that, by law, you have to replace the tree with the same caliper (trunk width).

One exception, cleanup after a hurricane. But then, you still have to replace the caliper..... Last storm I had to replace 1 tree with 6 smaller ones.

Did I just go PARF?

Fortunately that wont apply because we own the property where the tree is planted. That fence is not the property line, its just a hot wire to keep our horses in. :p

It almost certainly will apply if that is a valley oak

Ok, you win.. I'll replant a tree that weighs thousands of pounds on the edge of a creek where there is not enough dirt to keep it standing just to be a good little citizen. Then I watch it fall again and do it all over. SmileWavy

I'm sure you can replant somewhere else - contact the state or county or whomever & see. You might get free saplings out of it. Your livestock want some shade anyway.