This job was a real mixture of emotions. It was incredibly sad that this huge 300+ year old Oak had to be felled due to an unfixable mechanical failure in the upper trunk. The tree was literally tearing itself apart, compounded by the shear weight of the crown on the western and eastern side there was no alternative but to fell the tree.

Rigging techniques had to be employed as the crown spread over 4 gardens. The majority of the back side of the tree had to have each branch and limb lowered down on a rope through a capstan to reduce the weight that the operator felt through the rope, by a ratio of 1:12. Some of the individual limbs being lowered weighed in excess of 400kg.

At the time of felling, we had to purchase the largest chainsaw Stihl had to offer, running a 42inch bar and chain. This was no mean feat for Adam who had to haul this very heavy saw into the tree to make multiple cuts as he neared the main trunk. Hard enough to do on the ground let alone when tied into a tree 12 meters in the air!

Once the tree was on the ground the trunk couldn’t simply be wasted by turning it into firewood, fortunately a local miller came down on the last day and milled slabs of this beautiful wood from the trunk and large limbs. A table sized piece was left for our client as a way of remembering the tree and I believe it has since been turned into their dining table.

By far the hardest and most challenging week at work we have ever had. It was also the most rewarding knowing we had accomplished it safely and without any major damage to property. Over 40 tonnes of logs and woodchip were removed from site, with access no larger than 2 meters wide!