cutting down trees

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
5,718
Location
Derbyshire
Hi, have some pine / fir type trees on my drive, want to reduce them / cut them down,

quite tall - around 20 foot, thick branches in places,
not planning on even thinking about a chainsaw, do these Bow Saws work okay so i can do it myself,
will of course check for any nesting birds within.


Just had a quote from a tree cutting person, and they wanted £650 to cut down 2, re shape and reduce the other. That was with taking everything away, just seems a hell of a lot of money to cut some trees down, i know this will not be a 5 minute job of course, but me cutting them with something suitable and maybe even hiring a van to take to the tip, would be a lot cheaper

anyone have any tips on the best equipment to use, ie saw's, for thick branches / trunk - i would say thickest part will be 18inch
 
It depends how much you value your time and your safety. I've used electric saws on large boughs before and it's a pain and time consuming. I've pollarded a partially fallen apple tree with a chainsaw and that's hard enough for a relative amateur. Wouldn't wanted to have done either with a bow saw. Dropping a tree is harder and more dangerous 20ft isn't that big but it's big enough. £650 doesn't sound like a hideous price particularly if they're taking the waste away.

Loppers for the smaller branches and bow saw are the right tools for by hand. An axe is just asking for trouble I've used them a little and I'm well aware that I'm not competent enough to use them for a significant job.
 
I remember my dad chopping down some huge conifers by hand. Took a while, but it can be done and you can control the fall if you cut it correctly. He used a bow saw. I wouldn’t fancy doing it myself.

A lot of waste to clear away though.
 
i took about 20 down last year ,they were at least 40ft ,right down to stumps ...i bought a screwfix special electric self sharpening chainsaw and a couple of bottles of the chain oil, for just over 100 quid it did the job admirably and as long as you have the space to bring them down safely ,was fairly straightforward.
Oregon CS1500 2400W 230V Electric 45cm Self-Sharpening Chainsaw | Chainsaws | Screwfix.ie

gone up a little to 146 but well worth it. maybe invest in some heavy duty gloves and goggles as regards a hard hat i just wore my flat cap lol


ohh and yes the waste ........council very tight here as regards burning , so had two roll on roll off skips and filled them way high ....hardest part...

still way cheaper than the two and a half grand i was quoted :)
 
I cut down one pine tree probably 12inch diameter at base and 20ft high and it took a lot of effort and time. Trimming them was fairly easy with some good loppers but the tree itself was a nightmare.
 
I've probably taken around 20 trees down since we moved in this house and 4 or 5 were over 20 foot. Used a combination of chainsaw, bowsaw and axe. Getting them down is simple enough.

Cutting them up / disposing of them is hard work and time consuming.

Getting the stumps out, forget it, unless you're lucky. I took 3 or 4 out and got a tree surgeon with a stump grinder for the rest
 
I used a cheap polesaw off Screwfix.

Much safer than a chainsaw you can do branches from a distance and I've actually cut through several trunks too. Took out 7 trees and got another 4 to do this year.

It's essentially a chainsaw on a pole but a smaller version.

I'm sure it was only £35 as well.
 
We paid £750 to remove too small trees around 10 foot, and then for a monster sized ash higher than house, they came cut it all down, took the waste away, ground out the stumps, took them a couple of hours, was very impressive.
 
I cut down a 40ft poplar in Mum's garden with an electric chainsaw and handsaw. It was dangerous, took me ages and disposal of the tree worked out much more expensive than I anticipated.
 
I'm going to say £650 sounds pretty reasonable.

It's so much more work than you can imagine - just getting rid of the waste alone is an enormous task unless you have the time and space to burn it.
 
From memory we paid £890 to have around 20 sumps removed and a tall 15 ish foot conifer taken down

2 men best part of 2 days work
 
Price doesn't sound bad at all if they're taking away the waste. If you do go the DIY route check if your local council will let you in with a hired van, ours is very finnicky. Hiring a skip might be easier.
 
Price sounds about right. Friend of mine had a quote for £700 odd for I think a similar sized tree, that's in London.

At that height I'd be worried about doing myself an injury, damaging property etc and if you've got to hire a van to get rid of the waste. Meh.. it'll be sickening how quickly the pros can do it, but hey. Life's too short.

Plus you need to get rid of the stumps which by all accounts is difficult either by grinding or poisoning.
 
tbh the price seems ok to put into perspective i have 2 conifers a shade under 60foot right at the bottom of my garden so well away from the house been there since we moved in i think they were about 10/15 feet high 30 odd years ago. used to be on our boundary with the field (now replaced by a housing estate...) we just had a quote of just under 3grand to cut them down to i consider stump lvl. but not to cart away. as i was thinking of doing it to appease the house owners who now back onto the property and have started moaning about no light.....
to be honest at that price the next owner can do it :)

or ill buy them torches:)
 
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