Rant: that dead maple in St. Paul took me 7 hours to drop safely

I had a large silver maple with rot inside the trunk, and I kept stopping to check every branch for widowmakers before cutting. Between the lean and the decay, I had to set up three different rigging lines just to control the fall. Has anyone else had a tree that looked simple on the surface but turned into a full day job?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera3081mo ago

That 7 hours sounds about right for a maple with hidden rot. I've had a few that looked fine from the ground but turned into a nightmare once I got up there with all the punky wood inside.

julia_miller2429d ago

Yeah but how do you even know when to call it on a maple? I had one last season where the bark looked perfect, no conks, no cracks at the base. Got up there and my chainsaw sunk into the crotch like butter. Ended up having to piece it out in 2 foot sections just to keep it from exploding on me. Took a solid 9 hours with cleanup because I kept finding more punky wood deeper in the main trunk. Sometimes you just gotta trust the saw and hope you don't lose a limb.