It happens and it’s something that can be done safely. Two tree lengths is considered safe, if that can’t happen for some reason then it’s more or less shoulder to shoulder. One guy cuts while the other watches and you take turns until there is room. It all depends on how a unit is laid out and what the ground is like.
How do you know where the tree is going to fall? My brother in law and i tried cutting one in his back yard and we put a birds mouth in it away from the house and slanted the cut in the back side and it wouldnt fall and so we hoooked his lawn mower to it up as high as we could reach with a ratchet strap and than i tried cutting more and than it slipped off backwards and flipped the lawn mower over and hit the house amd i was just like what the heck
Most of the time it’s just luck really, honestly sounds to me like you guys did everything right, Sometimes you just gotta see if it work. Just hearing the situation I think I probably would have done it the same way, maybe 2 ratchet straps???
@Douglas-Fir thanks for the reply and advice. He's got another one we were gonna try after we finish fixing his roof. This time we were going to try pulling it with two lawn mowers hooked together with some big zip ties, kind of like a lawn mower train. Also I bought a 170 stihl is that what you guys use? His black and decker corded saw just ain't cutting it.