Pricing standing Ash some with Ash die back.

[MattyF]

I’ve alway though that when this really gets to a head and needs to dealt with there will be fatalities, you can’t go putting arbs who have zero experience of hand felling in the woods or roadside as even healthy it’s one of the most unpredictable timbers to hand fall, out of all the species it will be the one that will catch you out. 
Die back or not if you know how it can potentially behave it can be dealt with a lot safer with less surprises and even then it can still throw a few.  

[Pete Mctree]

It is definitely not for beginners. I have spent today felling ash on quite a steep site and it’s not fun. A few big limbs came flying back at me and the first of these two trees split up to 20ft - real barbers chair.

About 18 inches at the stump and cut with a dogs tooth, I could have done nothing different. In contrast, the next tree behaved perfectly

 

[doobin]

1 hour ago, Pete Mctree said:

It is definitely not for beginners. I have spent today felling ash on quite a steep site and it’s not fun. A few big limbs came flying back at me and the first of these two trees split up to 20ft - real barbers chair.

About 18 inches at the stump and cut with a dogs tooth, I could have done nothing different. In contrast, the next tree behaved perfectly

 

Yup. Ash is a bitch. I cut my teeth on slow grown ash on the slopes of the South Downs. Teaches you a lot about timber and also depth gauges. 

[tree-fancier123]

2 hours ago, Pete Mctree said:

About 18 inches at the stump and cut with a dogs tooth, I could have done nothing different

is it too time consuming to use an endless ratchet strap as insurance to stop it slabbing up and twatting you?