Sometime last year, I had a 50-foot-tall dead pine tree break about 10 feet from ground level. It was hung up in other pine trees surrounding it, but I was afraid it could fall down any time. It was just leaning on the branches of the other trees. I failed to take a picture of the hung tree before I got it down, but here is the broken trunk and the surrounding pines...
Front and center is the broken trunk, which is about 10 feet tall. The Widow Maker had cracked at that point and was leaning into the other trees. It was far enough away from the house that it was posing no real property damage concerns, but I do have a small metal garden shed in the potential path of where that dead tree could eventually fall.
In any case, I had to take it down before it decided to fall on my head one day when I was outside working in that area.
To be honest, taking down that tall Widow Maker hung up in the other trees gave me a lot of concern. I went to our local outdoor stores and asked the guys selling chainsaws if they knew how to take down a dead tree that was broken 10 feet up from the ground. No body I talked knew how to do it. I have been cutting down trees for 50+ years, but I have never faced this particular situation.
I could not cut it down with my chainsaw because, as you can see, the trunk was already broken 10 feet high off the ground. So, I decided to pull the tree down using ropes or chains. I watched a number of YouTube videos and never found one that fit my situation. I had to come up with my own method.
I checked into buying a heavy rope to pull the tree down, but I discovered that the heaviest rope was only rated for about 550 lbs. working limit, and that rope was over $1.00 per foot. I did a lot of research on the internet, and maybe a 550 lb. rope would have been good enough for this job. But I eventually found what I believe is a better option. I used tow straps...
Notice that those tow straps have a safe working limit of 3,333 lbs. That is a lot stronger than the rope I was looking at using. Also, the tow straps were less than 50 cents per foot, half the cost of a heavy rope. I needed more than 20 feet to pull this tree down, but the end loops made it very easy to attach a couple of these straps together. I used 2 straps, for 40 feet, to keep me and the pickup at a safe distance away from the tree.
With one end of the straps wrapped around the tree trunk about 15 feet up in the air, I put the other end of the strap loop around the trailer hitch on my old Ford Explorer and pulled down that Widow Maker in a controlled manner. I was really happy that the tree ended up coming down on my stash of pallets, causing no damage to the metal shed. Here is a picture of the tree on top of my pallets...
That's about 30 feet of tree in that picture. I had to go around to the front side to get the rest of the picture...
That was the top ~15 feet of the dead tree. Anyways, it was a job that I was very concerned about doing myself because of the potential danger. Using the towing straps to pull down the tree kept me at a safe distance from danger. You just never know where a hung-up tree might finally fall, because branches of the other trees might change the direction of the falling tree.
I prefer to do things myself. However, if you don't feel safe in taking down any tree, call in the professionals and pay them for the service. It might cost you a wad of money to pay someone else do the work, but losing life or limb from a tree felling incident is not worth the risk in some situations. I used these tow straps to keep myself far away and outside of the danger area of the falling tree. It worked out well for me, and now I have some extra tow straps for the pickup. Saved myself hundreds of dollars from what our local arborists would charge. I think I did it safely, and that was even more important to me than the money saved.
Front and center is the broken trunk, which is about 10 feet tall. The Widow Maker had cracked at that point and was leaning into the other trees. It was far enough away from the house that it was posing no real property damage concerns, but I do have a small metal garden shed in the potential path of where that dead tree could eventually fall.
In any case, I had to take it down before it decided to fall on my head one day when I was outside working in that area.
To be honest, taking down that tall Widow Maker hung up in the other trees gave me a lot of concern. I went to our local outdoor stores and asked the guys selling chainsaws if they knew how to take down a dead tree that was broken 10 feet up from the ground. No body I talked knew how to do it. I have been cutting down trees for 50+ years, but I have never faced this particular situation.I could not cut it down with my chainsaw because, as you can see, the trunk was already broken 10 feet high off the ground. So, I decided to pull the tree down using ropes or chains. I watched a number of YouTube videos and never found one that fit my situation. I had to come up with my own method.
I checked into buying a heavy rope to pull the tree down, but I discovered that the heaviest rope was only rated for about 550 lbs. working limit, and that rope was over $1.00 per foot. I did a lot of research on the internet, and maybe a 550 lb. rope would have been good enough for this job. But I eventually found what I believe is a better option. I used tow straps...
Notice that those tow straps have a safe working limit of 3,333 lbs. That is a lot stronger than the rope I was looking at using. Also, the tow straps were less than 50 cents per foot, half the cost of a heavy rope. I needed more than 20 feet to pull this tree down, but the end loops made it very easy to attach a couple of these straps together. I used 2 straps, for 40 feet, to keep me and the pickup at a safe distance away from the tree.
With one end of the straps wrapped around the tree trunk about 15 feet up in the air, I put the other end of the strap loop around the trailer hitch on my old Ford Explorer and pulled down that Widow Maker in a controlled manner. I was really happy that the tree ended up coming down on my stash of pallets, causing no damage to the metal shed. Here is a picture of the tree on top of my pallets...
That's about 30 feet of tree in that picture. I had to go around to the front side to get the rest of the picture...
That was the top ~15 feet of the dead tree. Anyways, it was a job that I was very concerned about doing myself because of the potential danger. Using the towing straps to pull down the tree kept me at a safe distance from danger. You just never know where a hung-up tree might finally fall, because branches of the other trees might change the direction of the falling tree.
I prefer to do things myself. However, if you don't feel safe in taking down any tree, call in the professionals and pay them for the service. It might cost you a wad of money to pay someone else do the work, but losing life or limb from a tree felling incident is not worth the risk in some situations. I used these tow straps to keep myself far away and outside of the danger area of the falling tree. It worked out well for me, and now I have some extra tow straps for the pickup. Saved myself hundreds of dollars from what our local arborists would charge. I think I did it safely, and that was even more important to me than the money saved.
Well, I have been cutting down trees for 50+ years but never had to deal with a tree broken 10 feet up and hung up in the branches of other trees. None of the guys at the chainsaw stores knew how to safely take it down, either. So, I had to make it up. But it worked out OK. If not, I guess I would not be posting much of anything anymore...
But the tow straps are cheaper and stronger, so I just wanted to pass that info along to others who may read that post.
Dear Wife and I had supper together this evening. She's not a widow yet!
