Witterings

You're dead right this is actually the answer .... the more I learn about felling the more you realise how litte you actually know and in reality this is probably the only really safe way it should be done and not by a home owner like myself but a pro instead. Think I got lucky on it although I do think caution helped that and it wasn't a big tree or I never would have tried it.

Yes seriously thinking about doing the "now" equivalent and have made previous posts asking about qualifications and work etc. I really fancy doing something as it really interests me and enjoy everything about it, even if it's as an ad hoc subbie doing a day or so a week and would probably do a chipper course as well. The guys today gave me a number of someone local who's currently doing training as a lot had stopped due to Covid ..... think it should be officially renamed by all as F**@-g Covid and in the history books of the future we'll have life BC and AC but possibly also BFC and hopefully one AFC 😄

He wasn't happy felling it in one ... took all the branches out and sectioned it down so I'm thinking I probably did make the right choice ... you probably know him being local Stephen Bacon and it was £200

Now I've just got to clear it up

Trees gone 🙂 ..... Wasn't happy about doing it myself, and smeone this morning and they finished a job early and have taken it down.

That's the most I've laughed this week ... brilliant 😂 .... but now you've mention it 😂

I have seen a tapered hinge but again only from watching videos of Dutchman / Swinging Dutchman etc. but had gone out of my mind so a very useful reminder thank you 👍 Absolutely sure it won't barber chair ..... if not that gives me more confidence in doing it with a straight back cut. Stupid thing is if it was in the middle of an open field it would have been down a week ago, I'm only hesitant because of the proximity of the houses. Cheers everyone much appreciated!!

Think they all would if they could :-)

Sounds like you're talking about yourself rather than a dog 😂

I guess all the responses have pretty much confirmed what I actually thought ... it's just the idea of doing it that I find quite disturbing. Big J ... that's the level of behaviour we're aiming to get him to, overall he's actually extremely good for a 9 month old Lab so certainly heading in the right direction ... we learnt an awful lot about training by volunteering to help Canine Partners for nearly 4 years which helped us massively. He's actually my daughters 21st B'day pressie, we're looking after him whilst she finishes her OT degree, she then wants to train him as a therapy dog to help her with her work. Cheers for everybody's input has put my mind at rest and he's booked in for the 21st of this month.

I've got a tree with a heavy lean I want taken down, I'm awful tempted to do it myself with a bore cut to stop a barber chair BUT whilst I've watched numerous utube videos I've only ever felled a few trees and have never done one like this before. As long as it goes in the exact direction of the lean which to me means also making sure your notch / hinge are really carefully lined up then it'd be fine and plenty of room for it to come down but if it does go wrong and goes sideways it could hit either ours or a neighbours house depending which way it went and there is only 1 exit route to the side. I've put a load of pics below, the ones without the tree in and facing back towards the rear of the house is me standing right next to the tree taking the shot in the exact direction of the lean. Would I be mad to do this myself with my level of experience? Also any idea of cost for someone to fell it, the bigger wood could stay and I'd cut all of that up myself, I'd also help limbing and dragging all the branches out to a chipper. If I was going to do that I'd also put the other brush that's on the ground from another tree through the chipper as well and would all be dragged out next to where the chipper would park before someone arrived. Interested to hear what peoples thoughts are on doing it myself and any approximate indication of cost would be appreciated .... if anyone happens to be local ish to the PO20 area and wanted to quote then please do.

Classic 🤣

This thread brings back memories of 12 odd years ago ... learning to fly an RC plane, not that experienced and took my eyes off it for a couple of seconds to adjust the controller and ended way up in a tree. I drove to the local fire station where they were drilling on a practice tower and when I asked if there was any chance they could help ... the manager / team lead laughed me out of the place (in the most demeaning way) even though I protested that in Trumpton they rescued cats from trees 😂 - I was so embarrassed I'd even asked from his response. I then thought maybe tree surgeon so googled to see what I could find ... the 1st person that answered the phone was a lovely lady .... probably about my age or a few years younger ... who was probably the wife of "the main man". It was a Friday afternoon and as I explained my dilema she obviously envisaged this old git with a new toy getting it stuck up a tree and literally I could hear she was actually crying with laughter as this vision obviously went through her mind ... alas though they couldn't help until the following week. Next call I made, the dad answered the phone, again a lovely old boy who said he couldn't do the tree work himself any more but had run the business for many years but now just took and booked the work / did quotes and his son ran the team now but they were on a job that would probably finish early and could run by in about an hour. His lad put on his climbing gear was up the tree in a flash whilst the couple of guys working with him (I guess for them) wandered over to watch and he had it down in no time at all. I asked him how much he wanted and he point blank refused to take a payment .... in the end I insisted he take £20 and said even if you don't want it yourself buy the guys a couple of beers on a Friday afternnon or stick it in the bacon sarnie pot for the following week so he did. I also gave him my address and he came round the following day and quoted me to reduce an Ash tree which he did a couple of weeks later. I so wish I hadn't lost his number, lovely guy (so was his dad), incredibly professional and did a superb job with our tree. To the OP .... fishing weight with fishing line attached as a leader (may be all you need depending how strong the line is) and a thicker rope behind it if the lines not that strong and a catapult .... shoot the leader over the branch, pull it until the stronger line comes through and then yank / shake it out?

As per title .... how do others feel about this, The Mrs is very keen to get it sorted although it seems a bit man hate ish the way she presents it and I think if she could get a 2 for 1 deal I'd be in there with the hound ... that said she'd probably pay treble if it was just to have me done. He's about 9 months and has a big sister (both labs) which I'm sure is in the balance of him challenging her a lot more recently to see who comes out as top dog and he's just started trying to mount her. He was also quite aggressive / dominant to a young puppy walking on the beach the other day ... his behaviour actually quite shocked us as overall he's really a softy and placid with all other dogs but this was quite bullying. Personally I could never take him and drop him off at the vets knowing what was going to happen to him although I'm not being asked to ... I think she'll relish in the journey there feeling she has "in control" over what's about to happen to him. They say it calms them down which I get but I just imagine it was me being taken in and the fact the Mrs almost seems to relish in it just seems to make it a whole lot worse .... although she walks him 90% of the time and has to deal with his behaviour that may or may not be dependent on whether he's got his dangly bits still intact or not. Your thoughts please?

The more I go through the answers I'm actually quite amazed I got it down safely although I think extreme caution and not rushing when I realised it may be a problem may have been why ... especially as I don't have any pulleys or other equipment like it to help. Behind the intended direction of fall is the fence about 4' away and the neighbours house is just behind that so definitely would have been an issue if it went that way ... although he's always complaining about leaves from the trees fillng his gutters I don't get on with him that well so wouldn't have worried me that much 🤣 To fall away from me would have gone into the trunk of the much bigger Ash and taken out a tree house on it's way that's knackered but has sentimental value to the kids and would have left it hung again in the Ash. The last alternative apart from the one direction I wanted it to go was my only escape route, I must admit I'm genuinely surprised there's no recognised way of dealing with a situation like this and I'm sure others may have come across this from time to time with the best intention of avoiding it whenever possible.

And there was me thinking the man in you was naturally drawn to the aroma of something that smelt like fish 😁

Must admit after I drew it I thought it was much too close and not a good representation but as it was my 3rd attempt with a completely carp ability to draw thought at least it'd get the idea across 😃

I wonder if it was something like the attached pic .... the face cuts are more than 50% depth, the rope pulls out the middle section (or whack it the other side with the rear of an axe), the 2 angled faces slide on each other pushing the trunk out to the right and as the tree drops below the holding branch it falls to the left.

I don't actually mind it in itself at the time ... it's the fact it's hard to get rid of for days that I don't like and yes it is all a compromise, if you really don't want any smoke the recent ones I listed as well as Stere's suggestions may be best. Absolutely no idea where you're based but if you happen to be anywhere near the Chichester area and wanted to come and see it working you'd be most welcome .... might even be able to find a cold beer to go with it 😃

There are a couple of others here I'd looked at as well New Outbacker® Vista -Large Window 'Firebox' Tent Stove OUTBACKERSTOVES.CO.UK Outbacker Firebox with new design large window for 2020 Lightweight, portable log burner (12kg) Pair of side grills included. Travel Bag available. Built in spark arrestor. Total... Outbacker® Hygge Oval Stove OUTBACKERSTOVES.CO.UK Oval bell tent wood burning stove. 4.5 KW Viewing glass in the front door. Fire box size 10" Diameter 12" Oversize Hotplate For Cooking. Stove body only. Flue pipes & spark arrestor... Esse Garden Stove WWW.STOVESUPERMARKET.CO.UK The Esse Garden Stove is a brand new idea from the renowned UK stove manufacturer ESSE. They have put all of their extensive knowledge regarding indoor wood burning stoves... In the end actually happy with what I got, yes it'd be nice if it radiated a bit more heat BUT I wouldn't let that stop me buying it again and personally I think it's nicer to have the open flame ... more like a camp fire.

Must admit overall I'm impressed ... it's 1st proper use was Saturday when we had some friends over and sat outside for a very pleasant evening. It's not completely smokeless but it does massively reduce it and I didn't smell the next morning and didn't notice any smell when I went to bed the following night on the pillows / linen. The following night my boy took the old fire pit down to the beach to meet a few friends, when he came home he walked into the lounge and he stunk from the opposite side of the room ... his 1st comment having used both within 2 days was they're chalk and cheese and what a difference the Solo made ... he opened his bedroom door the following morning and the smell of smoke came flooding out into other areas of the house. Other negative ... a lot of the heat does go straight up in the air, you run your hand up an inch away from the wall and it's warm, the second you get over the top and it's absoutely stinking hot and the same if you go and stand over it so a lot of heat gets "lost" .... I'm wondering if digging a hole in the garden or using the heat deflector off the old / broken patio heater (would look pretty horrible) might help. Would I buy it again and the answer is yes, a patio heaters going to cost £300 anyway and they also give off an unplesant ish smell with no ambiance, the Solo's are quite expensive but hopefully it'll last 10+ years and be used many, many times.

Probably very true 😄

Every person I know that has a bird feeder has a problem with rats ... my parents, mother in law and sister in law have all had issues with them. I quite fancied volunteering to go up to some local ish pig farms at night with air guns as appaently they're pretty prolific there ... what a great night's entertainment that'd be 😁 Be even more fun with a flame thrower 🤣

Have always fancied doing a bit of ratting with a PCP ... read in a forum about using an elastic band to put a coloured quality street wrapper over a torch as they're not so sensitive to red light and the come out more at night but apparently they learn their mates around them are getting taken so become wary of the red light. One guy had been using this method and then bought a night scope and he went from 15 rats a night to 60 ... brilliant 😄 Worth googling shooting rats and ratting with Jack Russells .... always a pleasure to watch 😄

No it's not a follow up ... it was a bit last minute as whilst I'd been planning it for a while my son was here, told him what I was intending and he said he'd give me a hand so thought I'd get it done whilst I had the help. Initially I thought it was going to be easy so didn't think to take pics before we did it .... it was when we were looking for any problems just before we started that I noticed there was a branch that'd stop it falling so concentration went on how to best go about it. It wasn't easy but we just took it carefully cutting bit by bit until there was virtually no hinge left, one bit the hinge failed but it just rested on the trunk below so we used ropes to pull it off in the direction we wanted BUT I'm sure there are easier ways than how we did it (took ages as well especially as we were being careful) so it's more asking for the future and out of interest.