Mills and fiber pull

[davidwyby]

One for @gf beranek maybe @stikine, @Burnham ?

East coast and west coast loggers/fallers are always arguing about the best methods. IMO, the reality is, the best method depends on the situation - the tree, the terrain, the wood fiber/value. One thought though is fiber pull out of the butt log. On the west coast, we humboldt for an even butt log, but we trim the fibers off the stump that came out of the log. Do the mills not care? Or is doug fir not that valuable? Back east, fiber pull costs $ out of veneer logs. What can we do to prevent fiber pull? Or, keep it on the stump side and not the log? Gutting the hinge and back cut height are part of it. Ah, I bet @stig knows.



PS - last night we did an overtime job on some downhole tools for a fella that was a choker setter in the Redwoods when Jerry was Documenting, small world...

 

[friedrich]

is‘nt fibre pull related to openness of the facecut? wider gob=less wiskers on the stump?

 

[stig]

By gutting tge hinge, you put the fiber pull where it matters the least......in the sapwood.

 

[stikine]

To minimize fiber pull in any species you should have a hinge that is not thicker than 10% of the tree's DBH. Many high strength species (like doug fir) I would go a bit less than 10%. If you are getting fiber pull longer that 4 inches it is an indicator that your hinge is too thick.

 

[Altissimus]

We bore cut all the hardwood sawlogs

 

[WoodCutr]

If you are getting fiber pull longer that 4 inches it is an indicator that your hinge is too thick.

Hmmm

 

[davidwyby]

is‘nt fibre pull related to openness of the facecut? wider gob=less wiskers on the stump?

I think so. The font half of the hinge pushes, which pulls the rear half. The face closing early also pulls fiber from the rear. More hinging vids on my channel. However, mostly eucalyptus which is brittle and snaps off vs bending. My intent last winter was to figure out how to get it to flex as much as possible. See also channel afleetcommand for east coast stuff.

 

[davidwyby]

Sorry for the double post. Thought of two places it applied.

 

[SeanKroll]

Talking to my neighbor 'Brother Charlie', (different than 'my other brother Daryl haha), in addition to hearing he always round filed due to various factors including Mt. St. Helens ash contamination, he said they always used a Swainson's (conventional) because they had to trim for fiber-pull and it meant lower stumps for skidder access and skidding..

He cut big trees a lot, so getting a really square ends off the stump was hard. He mentioned a 9' on-the-butt doug-fir as possibly his biggest.

 

[gf beranek]

The mill here, GP, would cull a good butt log for just a few inches wood pull. Then go ahead and mill it up, sell it and not pay the logger or owner for the log. GP was terrible for docking good logs for minor defects. They screwed so many loggers and land owners.

John Ciro once fell a big tree and a big ol' splinter of wood pulled-out of the butt. John then cut that splinter off the stump and used his axe to hammer it back into the log. Just the way it came out. Then John cut the splinter flush with his saw and you couldn't tell it had ever pulled out of the butt.

Oh, I learned a lot of things from John Ciro.

 

[SeanKroll]

Genius!

 

[Kaveman]

Top tier wizard work, that!