Sure glad this works, it's the same method I use when I put the wife on the tractor to pull on a tree so I can make sure the tree doesn't damage the tractor by landing on it.
To ensure your "stick" [Yardstick] is perfectly straight up and down drill a small hole in the tip of the yardstick and tie a piece of Paracord through the hole using a knot to prevent it from slipping out. Then cut the length of the paracord to the desired length and tie a stainless steel nut to that end. When you hold the stick at arm's length you can adjust the angle using Gravity to bring the nut alongside the stick. Viola! 90 degrees!
I’ve been using a similar method for estimating how far the top of the tree will land from the stump. No stick required. Hold your arm straight out like you were doing, but bend your forearm up 90 degrees at the elbow. Now distance yourself from the tree to the point where your elbow is at the bottom of the tree and your fingertips are at the top. Now turn your forearm level to the ground. Your fingertips are where the top of the tree will land. It’s pretty accurate and quick.
mind you, that' just the distance from the stump that the top of the tree will land. getting it to land there still requires being able to cut accurately.
@@rickeykeeton4770 first, because there is no firearm involved. second, because your elbow stays at the base of the tree. and you have to have a really fast cutting saw to cu a tree down and have the top of the tree land at the base fo the tree. or cut the tree from the top. and another way he could have said it is to rotate your arm so your elbow remains at the base of the tree and your forearm is parallel to the ground. that shows you were the tree will fall if it goes in the direction you expect it to.
Another way is to walk out a random distance away, hold a stick vertical at arms length, shorten it to the hight of the tree (I've not been able to stretch them longer, so you might need bigger stick). Then rotate it horizontal. With one end at the base of the tree the other end will fall on a spot the height away from the tree. I like the 45 degree method you showed us, but I use this method to quickly see if I fall a tree to the side how far it will reach. You can measure how far that spot is if curious, but knowing what it's going to hit is usually more important.
You could also put a bowl of water down on the ground and when you can see the very top of the trees reflection in that bowl of water you are exactly 💯 on brother!
Ha! You've reminded me of my Forestry Instructor demonstrating this method many years ago: after getting the stick to the correct length, he'd say "you then put one end of the stick up to your remaining good eye..." :-)
Good information to know. I'm going to go over to the neighbor's from lawn and try it. To check the accuracy I'll cut down the tree and actually measure it. Of course I'll wait til they're not home to do this.
Presents! / Charity work! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ such a caring neighbor let’s em know “you’re watching” …out for his place …making sure it doesn’t run away while he’s gone wink Everybody loves a surprise! Like that Navy Seal and his wife jumping on his back “I yelled SURPRISE DAMNIT!?” Specially when they get back home. I’m lol ing the hell out of this post
Loved the funny antics and humor. I have used this method for 50 + yrs and it is very effective. I wear nothing but Merino wool socks-wonderful for your feet. Great illustration for me a diagram would be great too
Simpler way. Mark the tree from the ground up to a known height. Say 5 feet. Mark that place on the tree. Back up a distance and use the tape. Hold your tape vertical at arms length and measure the height of the 5 foot measurement on your tape. Then measure the height of the tree on your vertical tape. If say the 5' mark measured 1 inch on your tape and the tree measured 20 inches, multiply 5 x 20 and the tree is 100 feet tall.
Great humor! It made the video. Based on the comments I don’t think most folks appreciated it (or understood it) but it was awesome! And the method is cool too
You forgot to mention, if you are standing below the stump [in elevation], then you subtract from overall distance. If you are standing above, then add to the distance. Good video.
Glad I seen this video.. my method I came up with on the spot was: use the stick exactly as you did, then tilt the stick over to see where the top would likely go.. trying to measure a Oak to make sure it's not going to crush a shed when I drop it. Will be double-checking with this method. I don't need to know the actual height in feet, just whether that height will reach a particular point so I assume a string will suffice in place of the measuring tape as the longest one I've got is 25'
I was thinking I might do that at some point. I just need to find a good candidate that I want to cut down that is not in some steep nasty place that would make it hard to do that kind of a video. I already cut most of those ones down before I even thought about doing this video.
4:18 Has yard stick in hand while he goes to get "a thing" 🤣 I love the juxtaposition of education and humor on this channel....never fails to get at least one chuckle out of me
Wow, 125 feet is 38 meters. Here in the norwegian woods that's pretty high! (Everything in the US is so BIG!) The tallest tree i've felled here were 110 feet, and that had grown so tall in a deep valley. Your hightmeasure was exellent performed, but works only on a flat terrain. More difficult to measure a tree in a steep slope, then you really have to use your brains.... or pure experience!
Years ago, my brother went to the woods with a coworker to cut some trees for firewood. My brother told his coworker that he should move his pickup so the tree wouldn't fall on it. The coworker said not to worry, the tree wasn't that tall. When the tree came down, it hit the pickup. Sometimes trees are longer than they are tall. Best to keep that in mind when estimating the height.
Very useful. Thank you , for uploading. I had a flashback to my geometry teacher talking about the French army using their hat and steps to measure the distance( rivers).
Wilson man you’re awesome ! You cracked me up and it was a pleasure watching your video and learning how to do something I never thought of ! Thanks so much for the video and the entertainment. I’m subscribing to your site because I believe what ever you teach me will be enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alternatively, you can use a protractor and plumb bob to measure the angle of elevation between the base and top of the tree then multiply the tangent of that angle by your distance from the tree. Add the height of your eyes above the ground to be exact.
Useful info and clear presentation. No tall trees in my area, but always wondered how #%dawlfully tall the bank sign on a pole near my place is. ¡Gracias!
I learned this back in FFA in middle school. BUT that was a lot of years ago so I had forgotten all the steps to do. Thank you for reminding me of how it was done an how many yearssssssss ago that was . LOL THANKS
I use a clinometer and an app I created in Excel. I mean yes I know that if you walk to a point where the top of the tree is at 45 degrees, the tree is the distance to the tree plus the distance from the ground to your eye level, but it isn't always possible to walk to a convenient point where you can still see the tree.
A 45 degree right triangle, what we call a SPEED SQUARE, is likewise going to indicate the same distance in height as you would measure across the ground .
In the OSU Extension "Master Woodland Manager" course, we had a field training day devoted to finding height/volume using a Forester's "Woodland stick" with all sorts of nifty calculations imprinted thereon. They can be had by searching for forestry equipment, if one is so inclined... (Sorry. Ok, not sorry.) I use the old, trusty, thumb in-line-of-sight: "Oh, 'bout 60 feet, or so..." Another installment of Wilson's Useful Tips; akin to Red Green's oft quoted: "If they can't find you handsome, at least they'll find you handy." Cheers from your less inclined neighbour to the North.
If you were to look close at that fancy yardstick I had. It says Master Woodland Manager on it and it has those nifty imprinted calculations. I went through the Master Woodland Manager program with my dad when I was a kid in the 80s. That’s where it came from.
I had to remove rotting short tree, no measuring, placed stick on ground where I planned top to land. It passed stick about 1-2 feet not bad for eyeballing
I did that with my middle school students. Ratio of the shadow of a yard stick. Then measure the tree's shadow. Doesn't work very well on a cloudy day. lol
Place a mark 6 ft. high on the tree with a ribbon or cut mark. Walk back and hold up a ruler at arms length, eyeball measure the base of the tree to your 6 ft. mark on the tree and the eyeball height of the tree. Use a simple math ratio to estimate the height of the tree = measured height of tree /measured base to ribbon X 6 ft.
Very helpful! Any tips on estimating the height of a tree that has been cut (unlawfully by a neighbor), based on only the diameter of the stump and tree type? Not that that has ever happened. 😗
Our local water company passes them out at the county fair, about the only place one can find such a utensil. I guess it's not as effective of advertising as it used to be since most kids don't know how to use one.
How about doing it in the forest (deep forest).... Good luck. I have trees over 150 ft tall in 6 acres of thick forest, but the only way I can measure them is with a drone (even thought that's not too accurate).
MY dad and I dropped 3 - 90 ft trees in a 10foot wide alley a month ago... one of his friends said they are about 45 ft tall... I said not quite... walked off until I got about a 45deg angle from my eye to the tree top... paced it off and said DOUBLE IT, it's more like 90 ft.
Wait, at 5:12 eye level how do you measure? All sounds good but without a demo at eye level we’re all blind. Got the trunk up gig, but the other way of measuring is how? Measure eye level then add the eye level to trunk math?
Does this assume your feet and the base of the tree are on the same plane, level ground, not hilly? Seems like it would be really hard to do on hillsides.
I don't give a donkey's weight in manure about your subject, but YOU ARE A FUNNY MAN. Thank you for your video, I firmly believe you can make a video about ANY subject on earth and you would garner 4000 views simply because it was you.
Huh, try doing this is the temperate or tropical rain forest :-). Here in BC, there is no way you can see the top of the tree, as there ar so many trees around. Anyhow in clear conditions, I guess this works well.
I don't want to be that guy but... I'm going to: yes, they are isosceles triangles because two of their sides have the same measure, and this makes things easier to measure as the ratio is 1:1 between both, but you are actually taking advantage of similar right angle triangles. Sorry for being that guy.
Similar triangles. There's a fable in the history of mathematics that relates how Thales many centuries ago measured the height of the pyramids at Giza using this technique.
I can not believe the girls who say, "I couldn't wait to get back to school after summer vacation." I hated going back to school after summer!!! Like turning yourself into jail to start serving your sentence!!!
Sure glad this works, it's the same method I use when I put the wife on the tractor to pull on a tree so I can make sure the tree doesn't damage the tractor by landing on it.
And if the wife comes away unscathed all the better!!
Or the wife.
😂😂😂
@@mikekelley8291the wife is replaceable, tractors are forever
👏👏👏👏👏
To ensure your "stick" [Yardstick] is perfectly straight up and down drill a small hole in the tip of the yardstick and tie a piece of Paracord through the hole using a knot to prevent it from slipping out. Then cut the length of the paracord to the desired length and tie a stainless steel nut to that end. When you hold the stick at arm's length you can adjust the angle using Gravity to bring the nut alongside the stick. Viola! 90 degrees!
I’ve been using a similar method for estimating how far the top of the tree will land from the stump.
No stick required.
Hold your arm straight out like you were doing, but bend your forearm up 90 degrees at the elbow.
Now distance yourself from the tree to the point where your elbow is at the bottom of the tree and your fingertips are at the top.
Now turn your forearm level to the ground.
Your fingertips are where the top of the tree will land.
It’s pretty accurate and quick.
Exactly how I do it. 25+ years in residential tree service. I've won many bets
mind you, that' just the distance from the stump that the top of the tree will land. getting it to land there still requires being able to cut accurately.
Do you mean turn firearm horizontally?
If so, why not just go by where your elbow is?
@@rickeykeeton4770 first, because there is no firearm involved. second, because your elbow stays at the base of the tree. and you have to have a really fast cutting saw to cu a tree down and have the top of the tree land at the base fo the tree. or cut the tree from the top.
and another way he could have said it is to rotate your arm so your elbow remains at the base of the tree and your forearm is parallel to the ground. that shows you were the tree will fall if it goes in the direction you expect it to.
Another way is to walk out a random distance away, hold a stick vertical at arms length, shorten it to the hight of the tree (I've not been able to stretch them longer, so you might need bigger stick). Then rotate it horizontal. With one end at the base of the tree the other end will fall on a spot the height away from the tree. I like the 45 degree method you showed us, but I use this method to quickly see if I fall a tree to the side how far it will reach. You can measure how far that spot is if curious, but knowing what it's going to hit is usually more important.
Not a woodsman but I do appreciate good humor. You reminded me of the old Red Green show out of Canada.
Oh, how I miss him!
@@virginiamoss7045That’s a funny show.
You could also put a bowl of water down on the ground and when you can see the very top of the trees reflection in that bowl of water you are exactly 💯 on brother!
Ha! You've reminded me of my Forestry Instructor demonstrating this method many years ago: after getting the stick to the correct length, he'd say "you then put one end of the stick up to your remaining good eye..." :-)
Good information to know. I'm going to go over to the neighbor's from lawn and try it. To check the accuracy I'll cut down the tree and actually measure it. Of course I'll wait til they're not home to do this.
😂😂😂
Presents! / Charity work! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ such a caring neighbor let’s em know “you’re watching” …out for his place …making sure it doesn’t run away while he’s gone wink
Everybody loves a surprise! Like that Navy Seal and his wife jumping on his back “I yelled SURPRISE DAMNIT!?” Specially when they get back home. I’m lol ing the hell out of this post
I think I'll start slowly by telling them "I'm watching you and everything you do". They'll sleep better that way.
Funny. And how tall was the tree? And this my friends is why almost everybody has a Ring camera.
Thanks for the heads up! I'll wear a mask.
Loved the funny antics and humor. I have used this method for 50 + yrs and it is very effective. I wear nothing but Merino wool socks-wonderful for your feet. Great illustration for me a diagram would be great too
Simpler way. Mark the tree from the ground up to a known height. Say 5 feet. Mark that place on the tree. Back up a distance and use the tape. Hold your tape vertical at arms length and measure the height of the 5 foot measurement on your tape. Then measure the height of the tree on your vertical tape. If say the 5' mark measured 1 inch on your tape and the tree measured 20 inches, multiply 5 x 20 and the tree is 100 feet tall.
Even simpler: 1) Cut tree down; 2) measure felled tree.
Just have your wife climb the tree and lower the tape down! How hard is that!
@@richardpark3054 After the tree has been felled it's not as tall.
@@RazorStrap But it's hella wider!
After he put me to sleep I knew there was a better way thanks
Nice explanation of the Biltmore stick ! I used this as a kid to win a Boy Scout summer camp competition. It really does work!
Great humor! It made the video. Based on the comments I don’t think most folks appreciated it (or understood it) but it was awesome! And the method is cool too
You're a hoot, Wilson. Sure glad you found a "thing", it must have been close to a "round about".
Old school, but it works. Been using this method for years. Helps to avoid hitting stuff when I’m working in close quarters.
It helps me know where to put my stunt camera so the tree won’t hit it. 😁
This is an OLD way but good way. I learned this in high school in the 70's. We all measured the flagpole in front of the school.
Trig for trees. Love it! Who knew maths were important in the woods. Great channel. Keep up the great work!
I like this guy's humor and his method for finding how high the tree is.
Am not a woodsman but have subscribed just because of the manner in which you present and cover your topics . Good stuff .
great method ... if you are on flat ground. Never been in a forest that was that flat.
I got some camel city mills merino wool socks. Happy with them. Good cushion
You forgot to mention, if you are standing below the stump [in elevation], then you subtract from overall distance. If you are standing above, then add to the distance. Good video.
Glad I seen this video.. my method I came up with on the spot was: use the stick exactly as you did, then tilt the stick over to see where the top would likely go.. trying to measure a Oak to make sure it's not going to crush a shed when I drop it. Will be double-checking with this method. I don't need to know the actual height in feet, just whether that height will reach a particular point so I assume a string will suffice in place of the measuring tape as the longest one I've got is 25'
Great simple method. Will try it on my giant pines. Thank you.
Great video! I was going to use a laser pointer and a protractor. This seems easier!
45 degrees. distance is same on each side. Like your method. Thumbs up!
Great video, I appreciate the subtle humor.
Yup, it works. Is Part 2 felling the tree to see if it hits the 'X'???
I was thinking I might do that at some point. I just need to find a good candidate that I want to cut down that is not in some steep nasty place that would make it hard to do that kind of a video. I already cut most of those ones down before I even thought about doing this video.
4:18 Has yard stick in hand while he goes to get "a thing" 🤣
I love the juxtaposition of education and humor on this channel....never fails to get at least one chuckle out of me
Sadder but wiser; I did the backwards crab walk and fell into a gopher hole. You were right to advise against it.
Wow, 125 feet is 38 meters. Here in the norwegian woods that's pretty high! (Everything in the US is so BIG!) The tallest tree i've felled here were 110 feet, and that had grown so tall in a deep valley. Your hightmeasure was exellent performed, but works only on a flat terrain. More difficult to measure a tree in a steep slope, then you really have to use your brains.... or pure experience!
Thats short here, tall is 200 ft.
Or a bunch of meters, oly
Years ago, my brother went to the woods with a coworker to cut some trees for firewood. My brother told his coworker that he should move his pickup so the tree wouldn't fall on it. The coworker said not to worry, the tree wasn't that tall. When the tree came down, it hit the pickup. Sometimes trees are longer than they are tall. Best to keep that in mind when estimating the height.
Haha! Or they grow on the way down.
Thanks for taking the time to create this video.
Very interesting.
Very useful. Thank you , for uploading.
I had a flashback to my geometry teacher talking about the French army using their hat and steps to measure the distance( rivers).
Thank you for the information... and your dry humor. I don't know why RUclips led me to this video, but I'm sure glad it did!
Wilson man you’re awesome ! You cracked me up and it was a pleasure watching your video and learning how to do something I never thought of ! Thanks so much for the video and the entertainment. I’m subscribing to your site because I believe what ever you teach me will be enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
😂😂 humor + explanatory = great teacher ❤
You could also measure the shadow of the stick (a known length) and compare it with the tree's shadow
This is helpful to estimate where the top of tree will land when you cut it down.
Is that why he did it? I thought he just liked playing with sticks in the forest.
Love the humor.
Alternatively, you can use a protractor and plumb bob to measure the angle of elevation between the base and top of the tree then multiply the tangent of that angle by your distance from the tree. Add the height of your eyes above the ground to be exact.
Seems simpler than the stick method.
I used something called a Biltmore Stick during my forestry summer school at Michigan Technological University in 1976.
Useful info and clear presentation. No tall trees in my area, but always wondered how #%dawlfully tall the bank sign on a pole near my place is. ¡Gracias!
Thanks for the class today. Never know what i may learn today 😉👍
At 2:00 the stick doesn’t need to be at 90 degrees to your arm. But it does need to be plumb or vertical, which is easier to determine.
Tree man here. This works well on fairly level ground but up or down hill can mess you up big time
I learned this back in FFA in middle school. BUT that was a lot of years ago so I had forgotten all the steps to do. Thank you for reminding me of how it was done an how many yearssssssss ago that was . LOL THANKS
Thanks teacher ,reminds me of my third grade teacher with yard stick
My third grade teacher used a yardstick, too; for a paddle on naughty children.
I really needed this information right now! Thanks very much.
Great video. I love it when I learned something new every day.😊
Thanks for explaining!
An x marks the spot? You just pissed off a Bigfoot! Good luck! lol! Thanks for the lesson! God bless! 😀
I use a clinometer and an app I created in Excel. I mean yes I know that if you walk to a point where the top of the tree is at 45 degrees, the tree is the distance to the tree plus the distance from the ground to your eye level, but it isn't always possible to walk to a convenient point where you can still see the tree.
Don’t forget to add in the distance from your horizontal arm to the ground.
A 45 degree right triangle, what we call a SPEED SQUARE, is likewise going to indicate the same distance in height as you would measure across the ground .
Yup, that is the simplest way...thought I was the only guy that uses that method.
In the OSU Extension "Master Woodland Manager" course, we had a field training day devoted to finding height/volume using a Forester's "Woodland stick" with all sorts of nifty calculations imprinted thereon. They can be had by searching for forestry equipment, if one is so inclined... (Sorry. Ok, not sorry.) I use the old, trusty, thumb in-line-of-sight: "Oh, 'bout 60 feet, or so..."
Another installment of Wilson's Useful Tips; akin to Red Green's oft quoted: "If they can't find you handsome, at least they'll find you handy."
Cheers from your less inclined neighbour to the North.
If you were to look close at that fancy yardstick I had. It says Master Woodland Manager on it and it has those nifty imprinted calculations. I went through the Master Woodland Manager program with my dad when I was a kid in the 80s. That’s where it came from.
Brilliant video. Thankyou for your insight and humour 😅
I had to remove rotting short tree, no measuring, placed stick on ground where I planned top to land. It passed stick about 1-2 feet not bad for eyeballing
Great information!! Thanks for sharing!! Stay Hydrated and Have a Safe Day
where do the sticks come from? i need some delivered so i can measure my trees.
I reckon there were bears sat down In the background with a bag of berries saying....this guy knows his trigonometry.
He could have measured the distance to the bears, too. If he had a bearometer.
It's called a Biltmore stick, used them in my forestry classes a lifetime ago.
Very cool. Thanks for this.
Thank you , you didn't touch on the technical name for this technique .
Back in school, we were taught how to use a shadow to calculate the height of the tree.
I did that with my middle school students. Ratio of the shadow of a yard stick. Then measure the tree's shadow. Doesn't work very well on a cloudy day. lol
Those socks look great too!
Place a mark 6 ft. high on the tree with a ribbon or cut mark. Walk back and hold up a ruler at arms length, eyeball measure the base of the tree to your 6 ft. mark on the tree and the eyeball height of the tree. Use a simple math ratio to estimate the height of the tree = measured height of tree /measured base to ribbon X 6 ft.
I like American made products!
You’re talking about geometry, I heard about it once. Something to do with triangles and such.
That's exactly how they taught us in Forestry school, lo those many years ago.
Tom
Triangles with equal angles are relative sizes.11 am to 1 pm lets you compare height of stick to tree ht
Love the way you roll brother lol
The funniest way to measure a person’s humor
Very helpful! Any tips on estimating the height of a tree that has been cut (unlawfully by a neighbor), based on only the diameter of the stump and tree type? Not that that has ever happened. 😗
Yardstick?? Guard that treasure with your life. Literally they dont make yard sticks any longer.
Our local water company passes them out at the county fair, about the only place one can find such a utensil. I guess it's not as effective of advertising as it used to be since most kids don't know how to use one.
Tractor Supply has them for a buck and a half. Likely Lowe’s, Home Depo, Ace ect as well. 👍🏼
Well, I got your joke, even if it is a groaner.
Oh.... Bad.
Of course they don't make them ANY LONGER. If they did, it wouldn't be a YARDstick...
@lpeterman Yep, if you add a little bit, then it's a meterstick instead of a yardstick.
How about doing it in the forest (deep forest).... Good luck. I have trees over 150 ft tall in 6 acres of thick forest, but the only way I can measure them is with a drone (even thought that's not too accurate).
I learned this while I was in the Boy Scouts
MY dad and I dropped 3 - 90 ft trees in a 10foot wide alley a month ago... one of his friends said they are about 45 ft tall... I said not quite... walked off until I got about a 45deg angle from my eye to the tree top... paced it off and said DOUBLE IT, it's more like 90 ft.
Wait, at 5:12 eye level how do you measure?
All sounds good but without a demo at eye level we’re all blind.
Got the trunk up gig, but the other way of measuring is how?
Measure eye level then add the eye level to trunk math?
Love your humor, you must be a dad😂
Do you have a method for estimating trees on a steep grade?
I use the same method I find it works close enough to fell the tree.
Enjoyed the video, thanks 👍
Great information. Love the side commentary. You should be on youtube.
Good one, thanks for your humor too.😂👍🏻☮✌🏻
Does this assume your feet and the base of the tree are on the same plane, level ground, not hilly? Seems like it would be really hard to do on hillsides.
I don't give a donkey's weight in manure about your subject, but YOU ARE A FUNNY MAN. Thank you for your video, I firmly believe you can make a video about ANY subject on earth and you would garner 4000 views simply because it was you.
Huh, try doing this is the temperate or tropical rain forest :-). Here in BC, there is no way you can see the top of the tree, as there ar so many trees around. Anyhow in clear conditions, I guess this works well.
Very fun... Thanks
Funny. You remind me of Red Green. That is a compliment.
Are you Red Green's boy? Thanks for the handy tip!
Good video!
I don't want to be that guy but... I'm going to: yes, they are isosceles triangles because two of their sides have the same measure, and this makes things easier to measure as the ratio is 1:1 between both, but you are actually taking advantage of similar right angle triangles.
Sorry for being that guy.
No you’re not sorry! I know because on some videos (carpentry or guns) IM THAT GUY haha!!
@@grandpakevin1 shhh... you're ruining my plan...
It also allows you to estimate where the tree is going to land. 😀
Problem on sloping ground ?
Are you near Possum Lodge? I loved this video.
Doesn’t this method assume that the ground where you’re standing away from the tree is flat/level with the base of the tree?
I do the same way,been doing that for years😊
Why not just slide the stick up or down to match the tree?
Similar triangles. There's a fable in the history of mathematics that relates how Thales many centuries ago measured the height of the pyramids at Giza using this technique.
I can not believe the girls who say, "I couldn't wait to get back to school after summer vacation." I hated going back to school after summer!!! Like turning yourself into jail to start serving your sentence!!!
what about the distance for your hand to the ground when you measured with the stick.. should you not add say 5 feet????
That's what he said near the end..