A Wonderful Resource for Tree Felling (PDF Guide)
As a homesteader, I often have to cut down trees. And I am aware that cutting down trees is one of the most dangerous things that you can do on the homestead. It is not something that you want to undertake lightly. Every time I cut down a tree, I treat it with the same respect as the first tree that I cut down. I never treat it in a laissez-faire manner. Your well-being, and even your life, is on the line.
I know that there are a ton of videos on YouTube showing a thousand and one different people cutting down trees. Sadly, half of these people end up on "Fail" videos. However, even after watching many good videos on how to properly cut down a tree, I still wanted a bit more info. And that is when I found this useful tree felling guide.
Find it Here
This is a free pdf guide written by Alan Hale. It has all sorts of diagrams from different positions that really help you visualize the tree. The guide covers all sorts of trees with all sorts of leans. It even goes into the issues you will face if you cut it a certain way and make a mistake. Super useful for all my fellow homesteaders out there and anyone else who needs to cut down the occasional tree.
That's it for now. Hope you all find it as useful as I did!
Anyone else have any useful resources on felling trees? Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks a million! I just had a bit of a fail trying to fell a tree in the opposite direction of its lean. In the end it worked out, but was a bit of a pain as it got caught on another tree. I ended up taking out 3 more trees to get it down, but those trees had to come down anyways. They were about 14-16” pines, so nothing too scary like 30” oaks. Thos PDF is amazing!
I have done the same thing. I had to use a winch to get the hung up tree out of the other tree. Not a safe situation, for sure! Glad you can get some use out of this guide, too.
Thanks for sharing this information!!!! I will be saving it for a future time where I need to cut down a tree. I have only had to do it a couple of times with plenty of clearing for it to fall.