Thinning out the woodland is difficult as some of the large trees (such as the pollard willows) do not have enough space to fall and so get ‘hung up’ in neighbouring trees. These are called ‘widow makers’ by lumberjacks as they are inherently unstable and liable to fall uncontrolled if you try and cut them up while still hung up. I cut a reverse notch with the chain saw (sloping side pointing down) so that the cut trunk falls down off the stump even if the top branches get hung up.
The solution is to pull the base of the trunk away from the lean so that the top then falls to the ground, where it can be safely cut up, the firewood taken out and the brash stacked. However the trunks are way too heavy to move by hand.
The solution is to us a hand winch, which is secured to a tree.
A block (pulley) is strapped to another tree which is chosen to give the steel cable a clear run between the coppice stools and to pull the trunk in the correct direction.
A strap is wrapped around the bottom of the cut trunk of the leaning tree.
Using the winch then enables the trunk to be easily pulled away from the direction of lean, which then eases the whole tree to the ground very slowly and controlled (note the drag mark from the bottom of the trunk). The winch operator is a whole cable length away from the tree and absolutely safe.
Once the tree is on the ground it can easily and safely be cut up.
The winch is a great piece of kit for about £200.
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