Spot the mistakes and cast your judgement.

CoreyYLTG

Treehouser
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Ohio
The astute observer will notice that I am wearing the same hard hat I broke a week ago on a Crane pick, but I had my reasons, and I am facing the notch with the top of the bar because i had a bad back day, and while it isn't the best way to do that it hurts my back the least. However I think there are other mistakes and wanted to see if anyone else thinks so and points out the same things I'm thinking.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OHV2MpdxL64?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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  • #3
So I had earplugs, no chaps because I'm a barbarian with poor education, and I'll give you eye pro, I should have had that on and not sure why I didn't. But not exactly what I'm looking for.
 
I didn't really think that is what you were after but that's what jumped out at me and now that ppe is off the table we can move on. :)
 
Nothing is jumping out at me...will be curious to see what I missed. Looks like you had reasonable escape paths...towards camera for sure...other way, too?
 
Could it be that darker orange colored saw? Makes my hands burn just thinking of touching one:lol:

PPE was mentioned. Watching from my phone I can't see enough detail to notice much else
 
Chaps, or even better yet some fancy saw pants. Looked pretty good otherwise. Props for clearing out your work area and looking down your escape route.
 
Having to look around the tree in order to determine where your bar tip is, is not a mistake as such. Merely a sign of being an inexperienced faller.
So is IMO the alternate cutting and wedging.
Set a wedge to hold the tree, cut to where you want your hinge to be, then wedge it over.
Way faster.
 
Not a criticism but why after you cut the notch out did you then make a very deliberate point of farting on it??? i sometimes piss on tree Im about to slay but have never thought of farting on it!

Stig, we get to fell a tree what maybe 10 times a year, not 100 times a day. We take more time as we are not as practiced but get it done safely, most the time.....
 
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  • #12
The steam heat helps the dead and brittle wood hinge...

Stig, I absolutely get what your saying, and will do that with trees that are in better shape. In the case of the dead Ash trees we have around here the slow and steady wins out with how rotten they are. The idea being to try and get the tree at least on center while leaving as much hold wood as you can. In the video you can see me look up with just about every good hit on the wedge as the vibration has been known to break out very sizable limbs. The trade off to that is setting your wedge and then running in your back cut as one would normally do, and having the hinge fail and let the tree fall off the stump in whichever direction it pleases. As far as checking the progress on the back cut, I've never thought to not do that if I was able to get around and see it.

Anyway, what I didn't do, and what I wanted to see if anyone else pointed out, was that after I pulled the bark off I didn't take the axe or anything and smack around the wood to see if the tree was still solid enough to even lift with wedges as apposed to just being mush. Its something I typically do and not sure why I didn't with this one as it was pretty rotten.
 
Overall a good job.



Beating a tree that is not cut all the way up is a sure way to rattle it more. How thick of a hinge did you have when it was 'over-center'/ leaning toward the lay? I couldn't tell that it moved, from the video.


Were you backchaining your humboldt cut?

I spray 'hinge-whiskers' away from me. One-eye-Guy got a whisker in his eye (squinting wasn't enough eye pro), which got infected. He lost it.
 
The stump seems 6 to 8" too hight to make the fell comfortable for you, overall with your angry back. Maybe it's the bad shape of the tree and you had to cut there, but you put more strain on your back by lifting the chainsaw above your waist level. Same with the backchaining, you have to push the saw away, drag it upward for the humbolt and take hits on your belly. A painful back doesn't appreciate that. Let the tree hold the saw and take the cut's forces.
Beside that, I agree that the humbold is better in this situation though.
 
You can always bore the tree to check for rot instead of hammering on it. I noticed your observation while wedging, that is a good practice, a small wedge can generate a lot of whip in the tree top and you never know how brittle or rotten a dead one can be. I agree with what was said about back baring your hinge wood, at least cutting it in a manner that doesn't send it flying nack at you. Those big slivers are nasty when they start smacking you in the face.:whine:
 
Ouch. Never thought about losing one to infection after injury before

You never know what can/is going to happen. I met a fireman who lost both legs from a staph infection he got from wading in the polluted waters from Katrina, down in NO. Just a couple scratches was all it took...
 
Wow that's terrible. I've never had any cuts or anything get infected, so i always forget that it happens. Good to know tho, and probably time to go get my booster shots again before i forget lol
 
my dad has one eye, lost in vietnam to a peice of shrappnel.. interesting thing about the eye as my dad explains it is the body doesnt really know the eyes are there and can treat them as a foreign body when it discovers they are there due to an injury to one. so when one gets injured, the body can attack the other one as well causing loss of sight in both eyes. It was a battle to keep sight in the non injured eye of my father. thanfully they succeeded and he has lived the last 50 odd years with no real problems
 
Having to look around the tree in order to determine where your bar tip is, is not a mistake as such. Merely a sign of being an inexperienced faller.
So is IMO the alternate cutting and wedging.
Set a wedge to hold the tree, cut to where you want your hinge to be, then wedge it over.
Way faster.


Checking the far side is not even remotely a rookie thing to do imo. Anytime it is a critical fall, checking the far side is SOP. In countless PNW falling vids, highly competent and experienced fallers are seen checking the far side or their partner is checking it for them. Paul is right, in the woods falling trees all day, all week, checking the far side will be done a lot less because of the feel that repetition provides and because when falling in the woods, the vast majority of the time minor imperfections in the back cut won't prove to be bad.

I disagree also about wedging- wedging big trees early in the back cut usually makes the process easier IME because you can get more lift when the huge hinge is still supporting a lot of the tree's weight. When the hinge is fully cut up the wedges are already in fairly deep and you don't have to try to lift all that back weight at once, you've already lifted little bits of it in the process of back cutting and driving wedges early.

One man's opinion anyway. :drink:
 
I agree, Cory.

Stig, why did you make a point of the 'looking round the tree thing', if, like you say, it wasn't a mistake ?
 
Because it was the only think that hit me as not being right in the video and it is something I always teach the apprentices not to do.
With all the bore cutting we do, you have to know exactly where your bar tip is.
Not really rocket science.

Being mainly a production faller with arb work as a sideline, I probably think a bit different than most here.
 
I haven't actually watched it I must confess, just read the comments. No mention or suggestion of rocket science here. I often do the opposite....tell guys to check their cuts will match, but not waste time bore cutting.
 
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