Brittle conifers?

[davidwyby]

Seems a while back I read larch or tamarack was brittle in regards to hinging…can someone remind me or fill me in on the brittle ones?

Thanks

 

[Burnham]

Western larch always seemed to hinge well in my experience. Off the top of my head I can't think of a conifer that is particularly brittle. Not to say there are not any. Maybe redwood? I will await other input with interest.

 

[davidwyby]

Western larch always seemed to hinge well in my experience. Off the top of my head I can't think of a conifer that is particularly brittle. Not to say there are not any. Maybe redwood? I will await other input with interest.

I knew redwood and cedar were, hence the gap face. Seems like there was another, spruce or something? Not a pine or fir.

 

[SeanKroll]

I'd trust all the conifers that I can think of, at the moment, more than bigleaf maple.

Drought-grown trees MAY be less flexible. I Think I Read that, somewhere, online.

 

[Burnham]

We don't have redwood here, except for some off-site plantings in towns or farmsteads. I've never cut one. Western redcedar hinges okay, any that I've cut.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Sequoia. ...

 

[Kaveman]

I'd trust all the conifers that I can think of, at the moment, more than bigleaf maple.

Drought-grown trees MAY be less flexible. I Think I Read that, somewhere, online.

I find that the grain is tighter, the wood denser. Cut in wet season, it's marginally stiffer, in the dry seasons, it does get noticeably tighter. Not brittle, but not what Ive cut in norcal.

No tree in Arizona is going to hinge like you see in videos from the PNW. They may be the same species, but the environment of growth is drastically different. Fiber pull is different too, we don't pull near the spikes out of the butt log.

Technically, the shagbark in my area is a conifer, and it is really brittle. The smaller branches have some flex in the sapwood, sometimes, but the trunks snap, never hinge. Also crazy hard to gaff or drive a nail into.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

From what I've seen, Sequoia, Cedrus atlantica, Pinus sylvestris are brittle. But it may be different if we talk about the limbs or the trunk. For example, from the few I've cut, Douglas fir is brittle in the limbs, just pop right off, but less so in the base trunk.

 

[Kaveman]

From what I've seen, Sequoia, Cedrus atlantica, Pinus sylvestris are brittle. But it may be different if we talk about the limbs or the trunk. For example, from the few I've cut, Douglas fir is brittle in the limbs, just pop right off, but less so in the base trunk.

That's a valid point about Fir branches, one I didn't even consider.

 

[SeanKroll]

If you cut doug- fir limbs down and outward on 45⁰ angle, they will hang on better/ longer, hanging somewhat downward before popping.

Cutting straight through from the top, they pop.

 

[Burnham]

That's a valid point about Fir branches, one I didn't even consider.

Well, the op question was regarding hinging qualities. If asked for a wider view, I would have offered that while the trunk of larch hinges well, the branches are very brittle.

 

[lxskllr]

White pine branches are super brittle. I've never felled a live one. The couple I did were crispy crunchy dead, so not a good representation.

 

[Burnham]

Yup. The western white pine is exactly the same. Hinge fine for felling, but never trust a branch.

 

[stig]

Scots Pine, too.

 

[Altissimus]

In my locale using experiences thick hinge (at least to start) pull trees , the native Softwoods will hinge pretty well ... the exception being Balsam Fir which don't.