Cutting bottom to top - Removing lodged trees

Taking down this dead lodged hickory that was pushing over an equal sized healthy one.

The winds added a whole new element to this type of takedown, but it is a method that I have used over the years that has served me well.

I do not recommend anyone not already an experienced tree cutter try this, and the way I carve them up is not always the way someone else might. Others take larger slices, I carve because I "feel" the weight of stress\pressure which allows me to adjust my cut as I go, so as not to have it go prematurely and slip out on me before I am ready. Trying to take nice clean geometric slices can get you to over cut and lose the tree before you're ready, resulting in potential injury or death. So I find carving it up to feel works best, for me.

If one of these kicks out, it can kill you in a split second. You have to be aware of where its going to slip. The only thing that's in question is the fall direction if it is upright at one point, and even then you should have it pinned down to two directions it will likely go in. But when its slipping, you need to KNOW where its going to slip, not guess. You're not just chipping away hoping it will fall right, you're sliding it down like a slide rule, gently as possible so it doesn't kick out, get lodged elsewhere, .. kill you, ...etc (that's what they call them widowmakers) . So this is not instruction for anyone wanting to take down a lodged tree. This is just how I have worked these down over the years in a way that works safe for me. Always know what you're doing before you try this.

The trick is to slide it down without damaging limbs on the buddy tree then when it gets short enough it will either fall to the direction of any lean or be upright balanced on its axis, where it will Gimbal into one side or the other and then fall.

Routinely there will be 2 directions it should fall in if upright as in this instance, so the real trick is to keep an eye on the crown to discern direction of the fall unlike directional felling where you'd normally be watching the kerf.

Here you keep an eye on the crown for both falling limbs and debris as well as fall direction and then stepping in the opposite direction. By the time you've removed two or three lower trunk sections the tree will be a much smaller stem since the tree is much smaller in diameter the higher up you go.

Since you're bringing it down from the bottom up, you are actually dealing with a much smaller and lighter tree, with each bottom section you remove, which makes this a truly safe method as long as you remember to pay attention, do not "freeze" when the action starts and remember once you've identified the direction of fall to step in the opposite direction.

Helps to remember to step lively.

Music Credit - Behind the Moon by Hampus Naeselius Licensed through Epidemic Sound