Tree Removal

About the Photo Sequence
The drought killed a number of my trees. One huge oak tree has a crack. If it breaks, it'll take out my RV and the shipping container I want to place next to it. I have no choice but to remove it. With a 24 hour rental of the boom lift, I took out 5 trees and trimmed 3 others. This documents the removal of the trees.

 
Photo Details
This photo sequence contains 20 frames. Each frame is a finite 1280 pixels wide but height was left to its own based on the crop. I based the picture size on an email program's display window asuming that the picture would not be automatically resized to fit. This technique kept the file size down, the largest being just less than 650k making it easy to send and receive through email. All photos were taken with a Nikon D810.

Download Photo Project


2016-09-TreeRemoval.zip - 11119958 bytes.


Tree Removal

Tree #1
You can see it's leaning too far and then there's that huge crack at the base. It goes down
by the chain saw or it'll go down by nature onto my RV and future shipping container.


I left the tall stump for now. I can cut that on my own time, not within the boom lift rental time.


Tree #2
This smaller oak is dead. It threatens the propane tank and it's "cage" if branches were to fall off.


After tying a branch to the boom lift safety fence, I'd cut and carry it to the ground.


Again, I left a tall stump to cut later.


Tree #3
Another drought casuality. Had some difficulty with the boom lift, it has to be level.
Once level, you can't knock it over unless you exceed it's weight limits.


Going, going, going...


Gone!
Another one bites the dust.


Tree #4
This one got labeled "The Widow Maker" and it's been dead for quite a while.


I unhooked the fence from the poles knowing the huge branch would fall on it. The neighbors heard the crash
as this one came down!


Here's what it looks like from the boom cage:


Here I am on top of the remaining stalk. I'm standing outside the boom lift cage.


Tree #5
Ugly and 99% dead. It's gotta go.


This one can fall without hurting anything. As long as it misses the boom lift.


Even though it was hollow, it was a bitch to cut through the huge base. In fact, my chainsaw didn't cut all the way.
I positioned the basket and pushed it hard with my foot. It rocked back and forth, then broke.


Again, I can cut the stalk later.


Clean-up was a bitch!


It didn't get cleaned up completely until March, 2017!


I borrowed a splitter, and gave him a lot of the wood for the favor.


The wood pile is on top of metal roofing panels so it won't pick up the moisture from the ground.
It roughly measures 5' wide by 5' tall by 65' long. I'm set with firewood for a while.
Project Start: September, 2016
Finish: March, 2017