SAAB Logging

[Geoff]

I've had two standing dead paper birch trees in my yard for the past few years. Their location has made them difficult to remove (fall backwards they hit the house, to the left they get stuck in some red maples, to the right they hit the power line, forward they get stuck in some maple limbs). I finally decided to take them out, mostly because their branches had all fallen off (so I wouldn't have to worry about them falling on me while cutting or inserting wedges) and the leaves of surrounding trees weren't out yet (making viability nice).

I predicted I could get one down with just an open cut and back cut and I was right, it came down right where I wanted it. The second one really only had one option: with the top of the tree leaning into some maple limbs. I tied an old climbing rope and some cable to the tree as high up as I could get it, made my open cut, then the back cut, and then jammed two felling wedges in to push the tree into the limbs and prevent it from falling backwards. Then I clipped the cable onto the tow eye on my wife's 9-3 and started tugging.

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I had to do this once before using my '86 900S when a 100' tall white pine broke off about 10' from it's base during a wind storm and was hanging over the driveway. My brother did the same thing with his '85 900T when he used to use it for his landscaping business.

As always, much thought, planning, and safety preparation went into the process before any cutting started.

[SwedeSport]

Someone should call the Discovery Channel, I think we have an idea for a new show.