somebody up there doesnt like me....

[AlexB]

Ever thought of an excavator and a shear head. My little 3 tonne gets into tight spots with my Kesla head but take a double bite. ie first cut maximum height of excavator boom 2nd cut at ground level.

 

Sorry the hijack, have you got a vid? I'd love to see that in action!

 

Cheers, Alex

[Spruce Pirate]

Are you extracting, or is it to waste?

[daltontrees]

Oh FFS I don't think I'll bother trying that widowmaker cut. By the time you had been up there and taken all the branches off you could have had that tree on the deck a few times over without the showboating.

 

I remember doing some windblow clearance a couple of years ago, the forest floor was strewn with biggish stuff and brash at every angle to about waist height and winching was just not an option. In amongst it all was dead standing timber, we tried to knock it over but it hung up at about 85 degrees, still attached at the butt. Did dart cuts to drop it 2 metres, it still was hung up. Did an elaborate double sink cut to throw the butt sideways. It was still hung up. Darted another 2 metres off it. Still hung up. And so on, 10 times. Eventually got the thing down to 7 or 8 metres, basically the crown on a vertical stick and it still wouldn't come down. Then set about it like a beserker till it was matchsticks. And then had to take a 10 minute break to (i) recover and (ii) think about how to avoid that ever ever happening again. Never did though.

[Mark Bolam]

Haha, now that's an honest post!

[agrimog]

been there, done that...lol, most of whats coming down is being used in the construction of a log cabin, so being very selective in the selection of the trees, mostly larch for use as purlins, and sitka for roof gables (slightly larger DBH), very little waste, the locals come in and gather up any bits that arent any use to us, no chipper needed here, the brash is being piled up to dry back and will be used for wildlife shelters and hides, very eco frendly woodland, its going to be a long term project to bring it back to a managed resource

[Liam In The Borders]

I'd like to see him try that in a sitka plantation....the tree drops 4 feet and stays hung up...why do all these guys demonstrate on big open areas, they need a go where the trees are all about 3 feet apart....and covered in short spiky branches whos one aim in life is to jag you......not cost effective to bring in a harvester, so joe blogs and co. get to do it

 

Right there with you. Same situation here. I find welding gauntlets help avoid the worst of the bloodshed. Depending on how much time you have, going as far up as you can with a long handled saw to get the bigger lower branches off can ease things a bit, but not much.

 

I've got a pretty hefty home made petrol winch which fairly whips the logs out once they're clean and on the ground, but when they're hung up (which is just about all of them) even that's no good.

[Stephen Blair]

It's just a scratchy horrible job, the stuffs like Velcro , evil Velcro !!

[NI Tree]

I think you need to get a horse in your team they are brilliant in this type of job you don't have to worry about hung ups ps it is easer for a horse at times too

[Tom D]

If you just need to get them down, without preserving limber value, you might try this cut.

 

 

Yeah. Once...

[agrimog]

just built a stable for a neighbour on condition that the foal gets trained for hauling out logs, going to have a long wait though, he's only 6 months old !!!, lovely haflinger colt, a real working horse. looking forward to the day we can harness him up and pull his first log out, I'm all in favour of low impact loging