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cutting down trees

Started by Good Feller, July 02, 2008, 07:06:36 PM

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RSteiner

Quote from: John Mc on December 19, 2008, 10:46:22 AM
Quote from: RSteiner on December 19, 2008, 06:23:17 AM
Cutting out the center wood from the front  allows you to cut down a tree with a diameter that is 1 1/2 times you bar length and prevents any of the center hinge wood from "pulling" which results in a deduction at the mill yard.

Did you mean 2.5 times your bar length? I can do 1.5 by just coming at it from both sides.

John Mc

2.5 times the bar length is the correct number.   ::)  I guess there was a reason why I got those grades in math class after all.  :)

Randy
Randy

zackman1801

Quote from: HOOF-ER on December 20, 2008, 02:11:29 AM
Looks like a good place to ask. Has anyone heard of  notching the tree and then just above the notch, cut about a third of the way in on both sides leaving I guess you would say a reverse necktie. Then when you saw in from the back you would leave a small post in the middle to tear out. This was an old method I learned from my uncles on heavy leaners. They had a log buyer years ago show them when they were splitting the heck out of ash logs.

yep done that before, usually you bore into the center too, then cut into the tree on both sides and then drive a wedge into the center bore and there she goes.
"Improvise, Adapt, OVERCOME!"
Husky 365sp 20" bar

york

So Good Feller,where have you been??

Hope,ya did not "stump jump" the wrong tree...
Albert

tcrofton

I have been learning tons from you guys and I appreciate it.
I just used the bore method on a couple of 16" oaks and I'm sold.
I'm stockpiling some logs as winter runs out and will enter the small sawmill world this spring.
You guys are the best for sharing information.
I need more practice to make it perfect but already I'm thrilled at hoe safe it is. My two oaks were leaners, towards a hay field, so steering wasn't an issue. I'm going to bring some paint out after lunch and draw the cuts out until i get better at freelancing.
Thanks again for the help.

RSteiner

Pratice makes perfect as the saying goes, in your case it can also make a nice pile of wood.

Some thing that hepls is to study the stump and review how the tree fell.  Every tree is a little different.  Looking at how your cuts lined up, the thickness of your hinge, and how that affected the direction of fall can help you next time.

One thing to remember about the hinge is that it is the back of the hinge that determines the direction of fall to the greatest degree.  Most people think that the front of the hinge steers the tree, not so, the back of the hinge is what you want to get right.  However, it is the front of the hinge that you make first and if your hinge wood is going to be consistant in thickness the front has to be close.

Randy
Randy

Kevin

Quotethe back of the hinge that determines the direction of fall to the greatest degree

Randy;
I would say where the corners of the notch line up on the front of the tree determines the direction of fall to the greatest degree, that's why gunning sticks are used to line up the face.
The amount of holding wood in the hinge can have a great affect and even the quality of the hinge wood can cause it to go astray but generally speaking when the corners line up with the lay the tree will usually fall in that direction if the hinge holds and the tree is balanced.

Big Stick

Am suprised that noone has mentioned both a hot saw and a hot chain,for finite control on the stump,in conjunction with some savvy.

I'd say that if you can handmuck a run,you are lightyears away from Logging...................


Big Stick


Dodgy Loner

Looks like that sapling had a little heart rot ;D
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Gary_C

Yep, and no sign of a hinge either.  :D

On that tree there is little that can be done to directional fell. Its going to go which ever way it's leaning. In fact there is more of a danger in notching because you may cut out what little wood that is actually holding the tree up.

I would not want to be the one that has to cut that monster. I have been scared witless on trees much smaller than that one. I cut a huge silver maple once that had heart rot like that one and thought I would never get it to fall over. I had every wedge I had stuck in that tree and they kept disappearing. Finally cut some wedges back out and stacked three  before it finally moved.   :)
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Big Stick

Most have zero clue how to handle wood of that size,let alone what can be done with it on the stump...less and undercut.

If there's a hint of a lean,the options are without limit...................

ErikC

  Light it on fire and you can experience western fire-fighting. I have been a faller on a couple of fires, it is pretty scary at times. At least we're not trying to save any of the wood so if it falls it falls....
Peterson 8" with 33' tracks, JCB 1550 4x4 loader backhoe, several stihl chainsaws

John Woodworth

Here on the West Coast the Humbolt cut became a requirement in 1978 in my area, depending on the scalers anywhere up to 6' could be deducted with a open face cut.
A lot of times I'll on leaners I'll set them up and knock them down with a driver, this method works good with smaller wood also rather than wedge each one, can knock down a lot of wood in a short time.
As for side notching, on big Alders leaning I'll undercut in till the bar just starts to drag, side notch and then go for it, always have a sharp chain and enough horsepower to stay ahead of the split if it starts, my falling saws are 044,046,064,075, enough for most of what we have. Another thing I carry I call a Chicken chain, I willl wrap around above the cut on bad ones. Had one one time on a side hill leaning so bad I backed the skidder in behind it and got the grapples on it, did the back cut reaching in frombehind the skidder tire, was no other way to do it.
Two Garret 21 skidders, Garret 10 skidder, 580 Case Backhoe, Mobile Dimension sawmill, 066, 046 mag, 044, 036mag, 034, 056 mag, 075, 026, lewis winch

ErikC

  All I've used is the Humbolt cut, probably because it's been a requirement since I was 2 years old! Didn't know that little fact. I was taught to call setting 'em up and knocking 'em down a Russian Drive, not sure why. It's probably offensive somehow, but that's what we call it here.
Peterson 8" with 33' tracks, JCB 1550 4x4 loader backhoe, several stihl chainsaws

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