Safest way to take down tall thin pines.

[John Mc]

The offset back cut does make sense though. Gives you some place to set your wedge or felling lever in a small tree that might be a problem wedging in a regular back cut.

Some offset certainly makes sense in a case like this. The cuts certainly don;t need to meet, you just need to make sure you have severed all the fibers (other than the hinge, of course).

[RHP Logging]

No trucking involved.  Will be milled and sold right on the property.   Already have plenty of hardwood.  Nice to keep the veriety.

Unless you have a river to float the logs to a mill there will be trucking.  Paid on the front or back end its an expense.  Also most pulp mills i know do not haul to themselves.  You send them the wood and finding a trucker can be a real problem.  You need to cut at mill specs too.  I understand that you want to mill the bigger logs which is great, but you need to market that too. Not trying to be a jerk here, just giving you a heads up with whats going to go on.  The bottom line of what i'm saying is there is very little money at the end of the day when handcutting pine.  The last stand i cut was a second thinning.  Trees averaged 6-8" dbh.  It took me 12 hours to cut and land 16 cords. I cut them and picked up the logs over the course of two days.  The first day was windy and i got all of them to hit the ground.  The next day was calm and i was knocking one out with the others the entire time.  Out of 100 trees i had to pull down 8-10.  That all costs time which comes off the bottom line.  I like pine trees to tell you the truth.  I spend 99 percent of my time cutting hardwood.  There just isn't money there for a handcutter.

[Puffergas]

I have a small poor pine stand that was planted but never thinned. Felling is rather easy and about 20% of the time I use a rope winch to pull them down. Limbing is the real pain.

[MattR]

A SLIGHT steady breeze in the SAME direction will make it a world easier. Not big winds. Slight. After you get a couple down, you'll move along comfortably fast, and safe. Then they will all be laying the same direction as well, making pulling them out a much more tidy process.

Of course wear safety gear and have wedges with you. Always have a saw wrench also. That way if you do get pinched, you can remove the saw from the bar to protect it and come back later for the bar.  99% of the time nature blew the tree down and your bar is fine.

If winds change, your done for the day. It sounds like this will be a job you'll just poke at anyway. Then go to limbing and pulling up what you cut. You'll drop more than you think, and where you want them. I have cut a lot of small pine this way. Big ones too.

[Tarm]

I hand cut the first thinning for a small white pine plantation last winter. Unless you want to pull EVERY SINGLE TREE DOWN you need to fell entire rows. There is simply no other way. Every third row would work out fine. Fell, limb,top and drag out with your winch. Have fun, keep safe.

[Rick Alger]

With my horses I've done work like this also, and I agree taking whole rows is the most efficient.

If you really want to, you can take some off each side by leaning them against leave trees  across the opened row and then pulling the severed butt into the opened row with a snatch block. You can also change rows occasionally, especially if your rows pass through open spots.

But as has been said, the main goal in a thinning is usually improving basal area, not single tree harvest.

[RHP Logging]

I hand cut the first thinning for a small white pine plantation last winter. Unless you want to pull EVERY SINGLE TREE DOWN you need to fell entire rows. There is simply no other way. Every third row would work out fine. Fell, limb,top and drag out with your winch. Have fun, keep safe.

*DanG right!  Thats the best way.