Uprooted tree as a shelter.

[pierre girard]

It depends on how long they have been on the ground. It is very unlikely that a tree that has been laying dead for years will snap back.

I don't do it on trees that are still green.

Not always the case either. My brother sawed a groove in his knee cap with a chainsaw when a downed tree sprung after he'd sawn half way through it. Tree had been blown over (but was still three feet off the ground) for five years.

 

[torjusg]

Not always the case either. My brother sawed a groove in his knee cap with a chainsaw when a downed tree sprung after he'd sawn half way through it. Tree had been blown over (but was still three feet off the ground) for five years.

What I meant was when it wasn't sawed over.

Did you find anything on that sword by the way?

 

[w00dsmoke]

When I was younger and did a lot of felling and other forestry work in the Highlands, we would use fallen trees in the winter as wind breaks to get out the freezing wind for a while. It was common practice if there was a a root plate on the vertical and the trunk was still attahced to use either side depending on the wind as a place to dump your bag, fuel and toolkit and generally as a place to shelter when fueling up as long as it was out the wind and dry. If it was too wet and not frozen you would use the other side the trunk side.

As a bushcraft shelter I would reckon most folk would use the tree trunk side of the root plate because it's drier (no hole to fill with water), trunk ridge pole for a lean too etc etc and safer if the trunk was cut or not.

 

[baggins]

Sorry, just a word of warning to those not acustomed to tree work. A wind blown tree is far far far more dangerous to log up than a standing tree. The branches and main trunk are subjected to tremendous amounts of strain (in the form of compression and tension). This means that bits of wood, somtimes very large bits, can spring or move very erraticly and fast, trapping and breaking anything in their path, such as arms, legs and heads. A very large amount of caution is needed when working on or even near them.
Back to the origional thread, have just logged up a 75ft eucalyptus that came down the other week, the rootball though, was only 2.5 ft deep, and 6ft diameter. Even this dropped back into the ground when i still had 3 meters of trunk left attatched. So imagine is it was a softwood tree (lighter wood) and a much bigger rootball.
Baggins

 

[Matt Weir]

At the local park next to the roadside I noticed a felled tree from the recent storms. For some strange reason (probably it is quite different to the view (( like when an old building gets knocked down and reveals a new skyline)) I looked at this every day as I passed.

The roots were approx 80 degrees to horizontal but the other day I passed by and noticed that the trunk had been cut back and the roots were now about 20 percent horizontal.

Whether this was due to human intervention i.e. the workers trying to re-seat the stump I don't know but there was a definate change.

Matt.

 

[Don Redondo]

Sorry, just a word of warning to those not acustomed to tree work. A wind blown tree is far far far more dangerous to log up than a standing tree. The branches and main trunk are subjected to tremendous amounts of strain (in the form of compression and tension). This means that bits of wood, somtimes very large bits, can spring or move very erraticly and fast, trapping and breaking anything in their path, such as arms, legs and heads. A very large amount of caution is needed when working on or even near them.
Baggins

Definitely concur with this. Looking back at my post I made it look as if it was easy peasy. It was'nt really. It was a small tree but it probably took at least twice as long as sectioning something down on the ground.

The main thing that needs to be assessed IMO is the rootplate, as it's this element that's the heaviest and will dictate what happens when you start cutting. How big is it? What's the angle of repose? will it tip back into it's hole or has it gone past the vertical which would mean it will tip forward, and maybe roll. are you on a slope?

There are lots of variables and one should know your limitations. I would'nt have tackled anything much larger than that, at least not on my own, and it's best to have a groundsman looking out for you and and extra pair of hands makes the job so much easier too.

 

[Tor helge]

I occationally use uprooted trees as shelter. There are lot of them and they provide good shelter from wind (I have never spent a night under one though).

I have a pic in the gallery of such a shelter. The tree has been lying there for years, a big aspen.
Maybe this was the reason for this discussion, Swede .

I`ve also heard about uprooted trees falling back into place.
The reason I use them is that up here (along the coast) the top soil is so thin that the weigt of the earth and root is not enough too tip the tree over again. Of course this don`t apply to all downed trees. No rules without exceptions.

Tor

 

[torjusg]

When a tree has fallen properly to horizontal position and hasn't been cut off, I see no reason whatsoever to not use them as shelters. The chance of them snapping back I think is nonexistant.

Think about it, what an extreme amount of force that is needed to pull the whole tree back up again. If it has fallen down to a horizontal level, I think it isn't going to happen. Never.

 

[Carcajou Garou]

The tree that re-stood itself when my son was young was horizontal, it is the wind load on the branches system (leaves only enhance that possibility) that presses the tree back up not only the root plate. It only takes a good gust to do this, the wind was not so strong but gusting when it brought the tree back up as it was when it (wind) blew it down in the first place. Never say never, that when nature comes back at you when you least expect it.

 

[torjusg]

The tree that re-stood itself when my son was young was horizontal, it is the wind load on the branches system (leaves only enhance that possibility) that presses the tree back up not only the root plate. It only takes a good gust to do this, the wind was not so strong but gusting when it brought the tree back up as it was when it (wind) blew it down in the first place. Never say never, that when nature comes back at you when you least expect it.

Who knows, it sounds weird though.

 

[Swede]

*snip*
I have a pic in the gallery of such a shelter. The tree has been lying there for years, a big aspen.
Maybe this was the reason for this discussion, Swede .
*snip*

Tor

Nope, here´s the reason (#3). /Swede

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=17181&highlight=uprooted+tree