I see no problem with your plan, David. Why not eek the most out of it you can, especially since it is only you you've got to please, and perhaps, a mate. In any case, I'd say go for it. Incidentally, there is a large old house on the UW-Madison campus which entire yard serves as a horticultural wonderland and is part of the campus, called The Centennial House. At any rate, I was there a few years ago and at that time, there was still an enormous old European larch which, its entire top having died (Lightening maybe?), they simply cut everything off except the lower few tiers of living branches. Now again, I haven't seen it in a few years, but at that time, it actually still looked alright. Interesting in fact. I say do it.

Even a dead stump has immense virtue from a wildlife point of view - maybe use it as a living support for a climber.

It's usually better, IMO, to leave something instead of complete removal. Hemlocks have a good amount of regenerative abilities, at least if left alone by the adelgids.

Your plan sounds well thought out.

The only negative I can think of is you might have to pay the tree removal guy a little more for two visits to the same tree.

Here is an overview of the branch I plan to keep.

Sorry I don't have a wide angle lens so it's not as good as it could be, but it gives you an idea. I took this crouched as low to the ground as I could go, so it looks higher than it really is. The branch leaves the trunk at about 5' high. The top of the waterspout is probably about 12'-14' off the ground. (the trunk is just to the left of this picture) You can see there's another lateral branch from the trunk, crisscrossing the area, but it sweeps down to the ground, so I'll probably just remove it. It's the horizontal, in fact slightly upsweeping branch coming off the top of the waterspout that provides high shade. I'd forgotten that years ago the top of this waterspout cracked and fell off in a storm. The cut is clean, I fixed it standing in my Kubota FEL bucket.

Tornado, I can probably take care of this myself when time comes to completely get rid of the tree. The trunk at almost 3' in diameter is difficult to remove with a smaller chainsaw, but it can be done. I've done something similar before. If the trunk is only about 12' high at that point, I just have to make sure it falls the right way...i.e., not on me!

Yup, use proper felling technique. While I seldom wield a chainsaw anymore here on the job, I still cringe at the amazing and amazingly bad methods folks use to drop stubs when removing trees in their yards. I mean come on...there's an internet if you're really that clueless! Beaver-chopped, all manner of goofy things you see out there, my favorite is how some folks seem to think your back cut is some slanting thing so that when the drop is done, there remains a wedge of wood on the back side! Hilarious, so long as nobody gets an ambulance ride out of the deal. I'd imagine you'll know better, David.

Professional cutters never have a raised wedge on the backside. Never. It's the first sign of an inexperienced chainsaw user. They think it helps the tree fall the 'right way' and if it goes the 'wrong way', that wedge will prevent it. LOL

Using a ladder than is not tied to the tree is another sign. I haven't used a ladder in years, but when I did, it was tied to the tree.

When the wedge is removed on the lower side of the face cut it's called a Humbolt cut. That leaves the butt of the log square and adds to the length of the log when being measured for price. I cut wood for my firewood and don't bother. My wedge comes out of the trunk, not the stump.

Mike

Indeed. For that matter, if we really want to get into this....the bore cut has taken over as the ultimate in controlled felling. With this technique, which BTW would only be used on large-diameter trunks, the notch is made in the usual, proper fashion. Then, the feller bores into the trunk on the backside, but leaves a "control strap" of intact wood on the very back side of the cut. This way, the entire cut is made in 100% safety that nothing unexpected will happen, say should there be a pocket of rot on the interior, etc. Finally, when all is ready, no buses full of nuns and crippled children is coming...the back strap is cut, releasing the stub. Anyway, I don't really use the bore cut, but our guys that actually do the big tree work these days shifted over to that more than ten years ago. Me, I'm a firewood maker these days if I've got a saw in my hands. We do have several 90-ft. green ash to drop in my son's woods, benefits of EAB. Shouldn't be too bad.