what is the proper cut?

[land_owner]

I have a question, what kind of cut do you loggers make when felling a veneer or a quality saw log tree ??? I have cut alot of trees on my 40 acres but never for timber sale purposes.If you could show me maybe a picture of this cut it would be appreciated. I was told bye a friend that if you don't make the cut correctly you could end up pulling the fiber in the tree  & ruining the tree as far as getting any veneer or saw logs out of the tree is this true ???

[leweee]

Your friend is right. Every tree is differant as far as felling it safely. The  main think is to keep fibre pull to a minimum in the centre portion of the log. This usually envolves a plunge cut thru the notch on the same plane as the back cut. This removes the centre of the hinge, making two smaller hinges toward the outsides. Not a tecknic mastered buy      " first time fellers". that said, practice on firewood trees till you master the tecknic. Veneer buyers are a fussy bunch, they sometimes want to fell the trees themselves. Check with your  buyer & play SAFE. ;D

[bighoss550]

i try to cut the notch out in 2 45deg angles to the tree. kinda like cutting 2 notches, one on top side and one on botom.  then plunge the center and sweep it a bit, and plunge the backcut so u are sure of the holding wood thickness, then just cut the holdin strap and start countin the bills:D

as long as ur notch is open enuf so the tree doesnt hinge on the face of the notch, and only on the hinge wood, the danger of pullin fibers is much less.

im not a pro, but ive never had a "barber chair" or had fiber pull problems. just use ur noggin:)

[UNCLEBUCK]

land_owner , I dont know if you have read the game of logging , I cant remember the name too well but it covers alot of chainsaw safety and procedures for felling trees and different ways to leave a hinge . If somebody see"s this maybe they can direct you to it here on the forum because I would like to read it again . It was the first thing smart that I did and really makes good sense and was a great read because I thought I knew it all until I read that . I hope somebody can find it for you here . good luck and be safe

[sprucebunny]

"The Good Woodcutters Guide" by Dave Johnson contains a ton of info. Available from Bailey"s 800-322-4539 or at Amazon.

[woodmills1]

On even my small oaks i put a plunge cut into the notch to keep the center from pulling fibers.  I am not an expert but have found the plunge to save the butt from problems.

[RSteiner]

Many years ago I attended two training sessions with Soren Ericson who developed the Game of Logging.  He showed us how to properly cut trees using the plunge cut at the hindge method for particular circumstances stump pull being one of them.

I have used this method many times since then and never had any stump pull.  It also will prevent barber chairing.  Practice makes perfect so try it out.  I just checked the Good Woodcutters Guide by Dave Johnson and there is a good chapter on this method of felling.

Randy

[UNCLEBUCK]

I think Bro.Noble directed me to that game of logging site ,maybe if he see"s this he might paste it here again then I can click it on and get lost reading and looking at it . It had many nights worth of reading and pictures  :P

[woodmills1]

did any of you see the magazine article that implied that sooren erikson (bad spell) not only doesnt cut trees anymore he doesnt even like to go out into the woods?

[Larry]

I've not seen the article but do know he had some advanced classes scheduled this past spring in south Missouri.

When I took GOL in 1999 he would not tell his age for some reason.   From some of his stories I suspected he was at least in his mid 60's.  He was agile as a cat.

In any case I hope the best for him as he made quite a favorable impression on me.

[SwampDonkey]

landowner:

If ya dig a little deeper into the forum you'll find a thread called 'Scary Tree' illustrating bore cutting and barber chairing of hindge-wood


https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=9418.0