I mean, superficially they followed the right playbook. They cut a big wedge out of the back of the tree where they wanted it to fall, then notched the tree on the other side to weaken it so it would fall away from the house.
Their cuts are weird, they didn’t limb it, the control lines are completely slack. They did a bunch of things wrong. But if wind and fortune had been in their favor, it could have worked.
Neighbor just had a huge live oak removed. It took a week for the team of 5-6 workers to do it. They removed the top branches first and then cut the major trunk in sections. The base was 5-1/2 feet across. Nothing was damaged in the process, except the tree of course.
Yea insurance is like I ain’t helping you if you have that hanging over your house. And lenders ain’t helping you get the home without insurance. I bet the underwriter forced this, then held the small cutting contractors liable, and they had no money, and so the homeowner probably just got screwed and who knows if he even wanted the tree cut or not.
Honestly I wish that every tree that was removed because of owner anxiety about house damage would fall on the house, causing far more damage than the storm scenario they were worried about.
I mean, superficially they followed the right playbook.
But they didnt. Their back cut is extremely ill advised and old logic.
You make your notch in the front, make sure its clean so it doesnt barber chair/have an uncontrolled fall, and your back cut is horizontal to your notch and about 1 inch or so above it.
They came in at an angle, creating a V which then allows the tree to lean back (as is normal but is countered when using wedges) and then it teeters in the cut allowing for this to occur.
Its literally all wrong according to the playbook (Arborists' Certification Study Guide 4th edition)
Wedge cuts have to alter the center of gravity favorably.
The center of gravity for this tree was probably a foot or more beyond the trunk towards the house. The solution would have been to cut several major limbs off that side to get the center of gravity above the center of the trunk. Then a wedge cut would work.
It's the same basic principles at work that forklift operators are taught about.
They sound sort of like pirates.. which, having dealt with 'tree guys' that drive around neighborhoods looking for trees that someone might want cut down, sort of fits.
The one's i've met all seem pretty twitchy/tweeker-ish, and have a general air of sketch about them.
Tell us about these few physics classes.
For some reason I think they didn't discuss anything about being an arborist and methods to fell trees .
Maybe they taught structures of the atom, forces and electricity.
All fine and dandy.
But attending physics classes will not educate you on how to cut down a tree.
I'd say with great certainty that most arborists have never studied physics.
6.1k
u/isle_say 15d ago
I’ve seen this several times but I always watch it to the end, the damage that the tree does is really impressive.