Swinging Trees

The intention was to drop it about 6" further left...and I hadn't pondered the implications of not cutting down the stump first. Plus I caught a 4" tree in a bad position that I couldn't quite figure out (without being in a bad place) whether it was an oversized spring pole, or it was the root ball being pulled up was the major factor.



Notch was OK, I could've done better. Hindsight I would've aimed a bit further to the left, but it was aimed where I intended when cutting.

The back cut isn't my best work I was thinking too much about how to cut it to swing the tree and didn't cover the basics, so it was slightly angled and a bit lower then it should've been.

BUT...it pretty much did what it was supposed -- the tree had a slight forward and moderate side lean and I watched as the tree started to fall, then spun around to the left to come down (almost) where I needed it. First time I've made...deliberately...a directional(?) cut which spins the tree around.

My cutting the hinge not even but so the side away from where you want the tree to pivot is cut first, the tree starts to fall but then the thicker hinge holds it and it swings towards the thicker hinge (the pulled wood in the pic).

A bit surprised Henry didn't come over to make sure I was OK because I let out a heck of a war whoop in celebration afterwards.

Normally I would've just started working on the top of the big tree and when I got to where it was up on the second stump I would've taken the peavy and yanked it off.

But I had the matter of that spring pole and not being quite sure what it was going to do or causing on the main tree.

My solution was to use a couple 2" ratchet straps. One wrapped twice around the stump:


The other went over it. I only had one sling, so I had to directly hook the other strap. Another sling is now on my shopping list :)


Once I got to the 4", it wasn't too bad after all. The small root ball sat back in it's hole a bit, that was all. But better safe then sorry.

Now, I still have the top to deal with:



Which was tangled up with grape vines...so I spent a lot of time in chaps and a pair of pruners in my pocket. Saw some top, clip some vines, throw on brush pile, repeat. What a pain.

This was when I finally ran out of gas. It was getting dark enough I decided to leave the rest to finish up this week.

The big birch's natural lean was towards that cedar tree, so I am very happy to have swung it around as much as I did :)


Brush pile keeps growing...