Bowed Tree

[Steve Bullman]

If i'm imagining the tree right in my head, knocking half of it out in one will release a massive amount of tension and potentially catapault you quite violently as the top comes off. As others have said, get someone in if you are uncomfortable with it

[aquatoo]

Thanks for the answers. I'm not going to do it, I'll get a local guy in. This is in SW France by the way.

 

Thanks Steve for your reply regarding releasing the tension. That's what I had expected to be the case and why I asked the question.

 

I reckon that no-one is going to want to climb it as there is such a bow in the top half. Getting to the canopy direct would be possible but dangerous. We might just have to fell it across the local lane and clear it as quickly as possible.

 

The trouble with these pines is that they don't have any branches until the umbrella shaped canopy at the very top. The reason I need it and others down is that when we get gales they blow over and pull up a huge root mat.

 

Either that or they snap off about 4 or 5 metres from the ground although they are about 400mm in diameter.

[Spoonz]

M.e.w.p

[Steve Bullman]

M.e.w.p

 

Wheres the fun in that!!!

 

Best tree I ever did was some sort of leaning redwood, much like the OP describes. I got pretty near to the end and when the top came off it sprung back(relatively smoothly) a good 5 meters if not more....to this day, the most fun I have had climbing by far

[Rob D]

Where abouts are you in SW France by the way?

 

 

 

I've done a couple of pruning jobs down that way so I can picture the trees and what they're like (NB - that isn't an offer to come and look at this one by the way ).

 

 

 

[Gray]

hi bud, what i would do is take some loops up and girth hitch them to make leg loops on the lean part(spaced every 5-6ft or so)to make work position more comfortable on the way down,then make my way to the top, tie in and drop the branches in safe size's.

then whats left of the top(usually a funny shaped knuckel of a log)knock out in say a 4ft lenth and continue logging.

the leg loops are mainly because you can get a good sidewards position for cutting any "gobs,cheese's,wedge's" co's it's usually quite hard from the back of the trunk .

i would also anchor my strop to the harness bridge with a loose backup on the side d's and as always a climbing line setup attached to my harness.

take a vid-cam to either show people what you did or to remember how the subbie did it.

[aquatoo]

Where abouts are you in SW France by the way?

 

 

 

I've done a couple of pruning jobs down that way so I can picture the trees and what they're like (NB - that isn't an offer to come and look at this one by the way ).

 

 

 

 

We are in Parentis en Born in the Landes. About 40 mins sw of Bordeaux.

[aquatoo]

M.e.w.p

 

We wouldn't be able to get one near it without a disproportionate amount of effort. It's in the middle of a wood with deep ditches all around. We would need to bridge them and construct a road.

[aquatoo]

It also occurs to me that given these trees have very shallow root mats and that the soil where we are is essentially soft sand with a bit of dirt and leaf mould on the top, that there might be sufficient spring back in the timber when the top came off to take it back with enough energy to tip it over backwards.

 

You might like that by the sound of it Steve.

[WorcsWuss]

If it's 20m tall and could fall across a lane, surely you could get a mewp to it without having to go into the wood...?