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Old 15-03-2017, 12:52 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Martin Brown[_2_] Martin Brown[_2_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2017
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Default What is the best tool to cut this down

On 15/03/2017 10:51, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Martin Brown wrote:

I saw some cowboys cut down or rather try to since they gave up after a
while a largish messy sycamore tree in my parents neighbours garden. It
made fascinating watching with one guy high in the tree randomly cutting
off bits that fell on the other and at one point cartoon style sat on
the branch he was sawing through.


As they worked down from the top, the chain saw was deployed at
about head height but, having no goggles, the operator was
showered with sawdust and had to look away from the cut.
Meanwhile the second man had to leave his position footing the
ladder to heave on the rope hoping (but not succeeding) to
persuade the section to fall the right way.


Chainsaws are scary at the best of times but up at height and without
PPE is a Darwin award just waiting to happen...

To my surprise they survived, but that is simply not the way to
do it. At almost every stage they progressed in such a tentative
way, that it seemed to me that they were way out of their depth.


The best team I ever saw did a line of overgrown cherry trees in another
neighbour's garden. They were 50' tall after decades unchecked growth.
Tree surgeon advised taking 50% off but owner insisted on 30%.

Team of three, one a nimble climber with a chainsaw and tied into the
strongest high branch another with a rope to control descent and a boss
man who looked at the tree from a distance and told the guy with the
chainsaw what and where to cut. They were truly professional about it
and did a really nice job leaving perfectly balanced trees afterwards.
Predictably the trees responded with immediate rapid regrowth so the
surgeons were right about taking them down to half size.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown