Felling rotten trees

[westphalian]

 

Felling a friends dead cherry against the lean. Didn’t sound hollow and as it turned out it wasn’t, but the hinge gave out (soft pulp) and it didn’t fall exactly as planned (the fence was old anyway)

I only had one rope on with a winch and with hindsight should have had two more, one on each side but this is the question

Should I have had the hinge a lot thicker and pulled it down rather than the standard hinge thickness, which was enough to bring it to an upright position before it just failed falling to the side?

 

Edited August 6, 2018 by westphalian

[stihlmadasever]

What size of cherry was it?

Height and canopy please

[Rough Hewn]

Bigger hinge.
[emoji106]

[Steve Bullman]

pic of the stump please

[Chipperclown]

Alway go for a big hinge regardless, at least thats my method anyway, Under confident from Hitchin!!

[Mark Bolam]

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Bigger hinge.

Aye.

You can always slim down a hinge if required, you can’t beef it up.

 

Learned the hard way....

?

[westphalian]

sorry, no pics, well dead and no canopy, just a few thin brittle branches, 12" DBH and about 12' high. thicker hinge next time?

[stihlmadasever]

Pole pruner to remove branches and take stem down in 2 sections.

Hinge should always be thick on dead trees to allow for some nibbling to get it over or if its part mush.

Its a learning curve mate.

Dont sweat it weve all done it

[woody paul]

Thicker hinge and a fast pull usually works a treat. 

[carlos]

4 hours ago, westphalian said:

sorry, no pics, well dead and no canopy, just a few thin brittle branches, 12" DBH and about 12' high. thicker hinge next time?

you might of been better off with pull rope on a section of that size as most winches are a slow pull , where as a person can give it a fast pull. that and a bigger hinge or trying to find some better holding wood.