Bob F wrote:
I have a columnar white pine tree, about 40 feet tall and maybe
8" in daimeter at the base, I need to remove. I am considering
trying to use an old climbing rope and a come-along to winch
it out of the ground. I figure that if I attach the rope to the tree
about 30 feet from the ground, it shouldn't be too hard to winch
it over. I would used prussiks to allow me to pull it multiple winch-
fulls to move it far enough to break roots (with a little axe help maybe).
Does anyone have any idea how much force this should take?
Will it work?

Bob

Wow, lively topic, eh? I like the idea, it's creative, and anything
that avoids having to dig out the damn stump by hand is worth
considering. I would advise against it though. Winching it over will
create a situation with a lot of potential energy in your system. It
is inherently dangerous. The tree could snap, rope snap, whatever you
have the rope tied to move, etc. As someone said, if it was practical
and safe the pros would do it that way. Many trees blow over in storms
taking the roots up, but the wind force is distributed over the whole
tree, whereas you would be applying the force in only one spot, making
breakage more likely, I think.

I have cut down several trees in the yard (mostly dead elms) of this
size or bigger and never had any trouble dropping them in the direction
I wanted. A combination of how you do the cut (notch on the side you
want it to fall toward, and felling cut from other side) and having a
helper pull on a rope attached way up in the tree seems to do it. Yes
once the rope is slack your guidance is over but once you get it
started in the right direction, my experience has been it keeps going
that way. When felling leave a hinge of uncut wood and try to pull it
over with the rope. If the tree is leaning or lopsided though you
might have more trouble getting it to go where you want.

The stump can be removed by digging around it, chopping exposed roots
with an axe, more digging, more chopping, etc. Not fun but it will
work eventually.

OK, you want a more fun way. Here is my suggestion - don't use any
tools. Push on the trunk, the tree will sway a little and come back.
Push rythmically in time with the sway to make it sway more and more
until it falls over.