Can someone explain to me what the danger is here in this photo? If you just cut near the base it seems fairly predictable how the tree is going to fall. Once it’s lying on the ground then you can make further cuts at low risk. Or so it would seem to me.
Best guess is the trunk is going to snap before the saw is most of the way through and spray shrapnel. Another option is the sudden snapping will propel the cut portion in an unexpected direction which might be into the saw.
Thanks. I had no idea that was a thing. That’s why I outsource all of my tree surgery needs.
I bought a Worx jaw saw years ago that has been great for small to medium limbs. Hard to use on limbs that are still connected to the tree, but great for things that have fallen.
Way too small for the tree in that tweet.
I don’t know either it’s a guess. Another option is just that the commenters think he can’t figure out how to use a chain saw.
It’s very unpredictable. There’s pent up tension. And thousands of pounds. When you break free that much pent up force lots of things can happen. Things can go flying, big heavy things. Things can roll, fall. More weight can shift to the smaller branches at the other end that can’t hold it and they break and then it rolls or shifts.
Even if it went perfectly, that is a big tree to cut up. And a ton of work, especially if he plans on moving what he cuts.
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Thanks. That’s the main reason I don’t DIY this stuff. It seems hard.
What I really need is some vids of tree cutting going bad. Maybe I’ll check out youtube for that at some point.
I don’t have a ton of experience. But I’ve messed with trees half that size and seen funny enough things from trees in scenarios that seemed less sketchy than this. I’ve seen enough that I wouldn’t even think about trying anything with that tree.
All that weight is still off the ground. And it almost never just neatly falls to the ground like you expect.
I never used a chainsaw until the May long weekend when a derecho hit and a tornado came through when I was at a cabin. I would estimate 150-200 trees blocked the 1km road out and the couple that owned the cabin gave me 10 minutes of instruction and I cut down about twenty of the trees or more.
Took the 5 of us from dawn until dusk for two straight days with 3 chainsaws and a tractor.
Point is, it’s not hard to cut down a few trees with a chainsaw. The ones we had were pretty old too, 2 20 inch bars and 1 18’ bar.
If gravity starts to collapse into the tree you can see it immediately if you’re paying attention and stop and cut the other direction most of the time. Every once in a while the tree snaps suddenly under its own weight while you’re doing it and you need another chainsaw to cut the other one out and hope the tree doesn’t break and roll into the engine part as opposed to just locking the bar in.
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People here talking like it’s hard to operate a chainsaw and cut down a big tree.
It’s not hard, a 65 yr old guy probably cut 70 trees down over two days, and a 60 yr old woman cut down about 50, I’m 36 and cut about 20 with 0 prior chainsaw experience. Another guy showed up to help and cut probably another 60.
These aren’t total cuts, but trees, a lot of the trees we had to cut 4-6 times, some probably 15-20 times as they were vertically across the road.
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Next thing you know, Calacanis will be running a saw mill and making authentic Shaker furniture with hand tools. A man’s man as they say.
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Feels like I should @ this dude, call him a giant pussy, and claim there’s no way he could do his own electrical work. If I have to pay $8 to get a bite I’d snapcall.
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My experience in EMS has taught me to have a healthy respect for ladders and trees
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Have you ever cut down a tree?
Cutting down trees and working with a saw can be dangerous but it isn’t like clearing mines or anything. Big trees twist because so much force is involved and it’s not always directed as you think. But that tree is like 90 percent down and should not be a problem if you cut at the base.
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Cabin guests capable of doing this are probably the top 1-2% (somewhat depending on the area).
My fiancé and I are Airbnb’ing our basement right now, and you can’t count on people to follow very basic access instructions or even load a dishwasher correctly. 90%+ randoms in your situation would end up howling after ten minutes of work and demand you get a contractor out immediately, costs be damned.
Just having a tractor and three chain saws I guess gives away the type of place it is. In north Georgia, “cabin” just means suburb on a mountain.
I made the mistake of holding the chainsaw away from my body at first making me exhausted quickly. Learned you have to keep it tight, but at that point my arms were already shaking a bit. Getting a contractor to clear a private road while many were stranded in the same situation would have been extremely costly, a douche move, and not viable as they probably wouldn’t have shown up for a week.
Also: protect your ears. Chainsaws can run to over 110 dB, which can cause permanent hearing loss pretty quickly.
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Weird because reading Allen Kessler’s tweets makes me want to remove my eyes rather than ears
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My only tree experience - friend asked me to help remove a few small trees from his property that were bent (less than this one, so mostly upright till the top). He clearly had no clue what he was doing - was wearing flip flops but at least did have goggles and ear protection. My job was to use a rope to help the tree fall the right way while he chainsawed the base. No issues till he got all the way through and the tree base sort of hopped the wrong way (I guess there was tension in the bent part pushing away from the direction it was bent). He somehow just barely managed to get out of the way as the tree landed on the edge of his flip-flop but missed his foot.
Learned my lesson pretty fast that I’m not going to try to do anything with trees on my property.
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