This week our team removed two large pine trees at a school in Oxford. The trees were sectionally felled to ground level to create space for new parking. Team leader, James Jeffery used a heavy rigging system to bring the trees down in a safe and controlled manner without any damage to the driveway and play area beneath.
In the photo above you can see how James has secured a pulley block to the tree just below where the cuts are made to take the load of the cut section as it is felled. Once the felling cuts are correctly made, a gentle push is all that is needed to send the section off in the desired direction. This technique is very suitable for felling trees in confined spaces where the cut pieces cannot simply be allowed to free fall to the ground.
This next photo shows the same technique being used again as James works down piece by piece. The weight of the largest sections is around 400 kgs which is a safe load to deal with in this way. The shock loading that this puts on the rope and other components in the system can exert a force of up to 10 X the weight of the cut section and this needs to be factored when selecting a rigging system.
As always we aim to bring the very best techniques and equipment to complete tree work safely and efficiently.
