patp79•5d ago

Misjudged a branch weight on a huge oak in Portland last Tuesday

I was taking down a big limb over a driveway, figured it was maybe 300 pounds based on the size. Turned out the thing was waterlogged inside and closer to 500. My notch cut was too shallow for that weight, and the hinge started cracking way earlier than I planned. Took a lot of wrestling with the lowering line to get it down safe. Has anyone else been fooled by a rotted core making a branch heavier than it looks?

2 comments

2 Comments

rosed325d ago

500 pounds on a waterlogged oak limb? That's wild, I've never seen one hit double what I guessed before.

alicec864d ago

My buddy had a maple branch drop 680 last fall after a bad storm and I thought that was crazy but that oak you saw must've been soaked through for weeks to hit that kind of weight. Water weight adds up way faster than people realize especially on bigger limbs.