How to cut off a branch I can't reach

Very good points, that unfortunately I never thought of before ordering this piece of kit in haste.

 

if you use that, you will have arms like this guy:



it may be good for tree stumps or things closer to ground level ... so not all is lost

 

shame you don't live close, Clueless. my hubby would be up the tree and chainsawing the branches off in minutes. He, his brother, his father and our son have been clearing our overgrown churchyard for the last few months. It's only next door to us, so they bring the wood home for us to burn on our fires in the winter.

 

My new saw arrived today.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002D18CU4/ref=ox_ya_os_product

After a bit of a carry on getting it into position (which involved two bamboo canes taped together, a length of rope, and lots of delicate maneuvering), I cut down the most risky of the two branches.

I'm pleased to say that the saw worked extremely well. It made a nice clean cut and there was no chance for the branch to rip because the saw, being flexible, cut from all sides at once sort of.

I used two long lengths of rope so that I wouldn't have to stand underneath the branch, and I can tell you with certainty that it would have hurt if it had got me. I know this because of what it did to the metal archway that it landed on. Granted, said archway wasn't very strong to start with. It was literally destroyed, and that from being hit by thin end.

 

Mrs is going to be so tree'd off with you when she gets out of hospital & finds you've cut her tree down

 

Yep. The arch was rubbish. It was only £6.50 and it didn't take me long to figure out it wouldn't be strong enough to support the weight of a mature climber, so in a way the mishap was a blessing

To be honest, many of the features in my garden are 'prototype' features just to see how it could look. The arch was no exception. It demonstrated that an arch would look good there, but not that particular one. At some point I will replace it with something more robust. Maybe a nice wooden one.

I haven't cut her whole tree down. Just one branch that was threatening to come down anyway. Two branches had crossed and were rubbing together every time the wind got up. They were nearly through. I just intervened to decide exactly when it would fall, rather than letting nature decide, which could have meant it falling on someone's head.

 

My guardian angels must be getting tired of me by now. She's just had to intervene again

I decided to try for a repeat of the success I had with the first dodgy branch, ie to cut off the second dodgy branch.

The procedure started off the same, only the second branch was a bit thicker than the first, so took a bit more energy.

I found it easier to stand directly under the branch, and sawed away until I thought it was starting to get far enough through to think about moving to a different position to finish off. While I was still in what I thought was a good safe margin, I decided I needed a brief rest, so I let go of the ropes and walked away for a second.

I am not exaggerating. The moment I stepped clear, there was an almighty crack sound, and the great massive branch boomed down to where I'd just been stood, and would have still been stood had I not decided to pause for a short rest.

Anyway, its down now. All safe and sound. And a quick stock take shows that I'm still made of the same number of bits as I was before.