Tree felling vids

Yah I wasn't trying to be an ass, and maybe others disagree with some of my comments? The offside of the backcut is hugely important. The aiming of the backcut in general, keeping it straight and even. Height and level ness of cuts are big and the basics but the thing I've seen people(and myself) screw up on the most is the offside of the backcut to thick or to thin I like to take a knee and gun the backcut to the same thing I gunned the hinge to and proceed straight through the tree. By using the gunning sight on the saw and getting right down and staring along that line at your target it keeps your back cut perfectly parallel to your face if your gunned at the same thing. When advancing the backcut(if the bar clears the whole tree)I'm always looking down that sight ensuring I'm advancing evenly.
 
No ass-holery detected here...though I do know you are IMMINENTLY and THOROUGHLY capable of it....:D

I appreciate the feedback. Sometimes I post something just so folks know I am still in the game (and sometimes it's because I am either chest thumping proud I did something or relieved that I got away with it) ...but I always appreciate feedback. I don't have mentors here...it is you guys with more experience that give me good stuff to chew on. I always admire the stump forensics y'all do...there are synaptic connections in some of y'all's heads that are awesome.

I don't get to fell many whole trees so it's a big deal when I get in that situation. Your feedback helps me have a chance to not screw up next time.

And re: the height of the back cut...I thought that height would be good for "stump shot" in case the tree top got balled up in other trees...to keep the spar from shooting back towards the feller (ME!).

Comment on that...OK to be an A-hole if you like.:)
 
The height of the backcut was mostly nitpicking on my part, you certainly had plenty of stump shot which is a good thing in your situation with plenty of trees around, just looked a tad high to me I aim for Around 2"s myself. Hard to tell from the pics and being a traditional face to might make it seem odd to me.

See maybe I was just being an asshole?:D
 
Nah, the asshole is me, saying that if you'd used a shorter bar, like any real logger would do, you would have been in the habit of cutting the face and hinge from both sides, and this would have never happened:D
 
Gotta weigh-in with my inbred two cents Gary (also easy to cover via Pay-Pal). Next time, just cut a Humboldt, and never again worry about stupid, stump-shot.
 
Good input, Jed. I have started using them more...never knew about them until the House came along.

I do use them for throwing tops...seems to make the top falling a lot smoother.
 
Plus, it will really save you Gary, should you're top meet with the obstruction of another tree. On a Humboldt, the top will just wedge into the stick you cut if from; on a conventional... it could shoot into your gut.
 
Had you reached through with your bar at that angle, Gary, you would have had a 2/3 width hinge.

Cut the bark off the tree at the hinge, and the back where you will be backing up/ helping over your tree with wedges (which don't do squat in bark, except let the tree squat back). This will narrow the tree, also, as well as make it more clear what is happening with the wood (matching cuts, dutchmen) and see the exact hinge thickness.

If you're cutting a 21" tree, a 20" bar can be easiest to screw up with. Remember that the bar tip is curved, so if you're seeing the very tip, it will be easy to overcut you hinge. An inexperienced spotter on the far side can "help" you with this error in perception of the active hinge thickness.

Also, as a less advanced feller, mark your ideal hinge on the side of the tree. This will help you when you look around the tree, and for a spotter to help you. There have a concrete point as a target for the end of the back-cut kerf, unless you learn things while in the backcut that makes you change plan part way through (sometimes you're hinge is on the very edge of a hollow, but still conceals it. Look for discoloration in the hinge when cutting the face-cut).


I'd cut 6"-12 on the "offside", and then 16" from the 'inside', as Justin mentioned.Easy to keep the offside hinge square, and then I am sure to use my dogs to anchor and pivot as I approach my final hinge thickness, always checking my gunning sights.

Aim with your gunning sight as far away as possible, rather than close up. Your gunning sight will be aimed at two different points depending on which side of the tree you're aiming from. The will be a few feet apart (tree thickness plus distance from the tree to the gunning sight line, doubled). Does this make sense?



The corners are the most important part for steering a tree, which is why hollow or hinge-gutted/ Letterbox'ed for brits go to the lay. If you're corners are the right thickness, and it tapers a bit as you go inward on the hinge, you're probably ok. Avoid a Centerpost, a thick middle part of the hinge. Hard to wedge/ pull that over.
 
pantheraba said:
Alex and I flopped this one recently...used his Kubota with a redirected block to pull it to the lay. An 80 foot pine, recently died...still had cones, good hinge wood. Homeowner video....

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xtz14lp_GSc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Click to expand...

.

I realized I should have gotten the pictures onto this page to go with the text.


don't know why it only quoted the video.

I originally looked at this on Tapatalk on my phone and the video doesn't show up there. I didn't know I was missing anything. I'll watch the video now.
 
:thumbup:Sean. parallax error I think it is called the difference in gunning sights from side to side or from the sight on the saw body to the actual lay of the tree. But gunning and sighting could be a whole other discussion onto itself. And I'm pretty sure it has been a few times around here. Lol.
 
inbredJed said:
Plus, it will really save you Gary, should you're top meet with the obstruction of another tree. On a Humboldt, the top will just wedge into the stick you cut if from; on a conventional... it could shoot into your gut.
Click to expand...

Surely the elevating of the back cut above the horizontal cut in the face prevents this. The humbolt does help a lot, especially with a wide cut face
 
Sure Pete, but the Humboldt whose back-cut can be safely made on the exact same plane as the face-cut, saves us the disadvantage of fighting the necessarily beefier hinge incurred when the back-cut is elevated for a conventional face. Beatin' a dead horse again with this, but still... you can really notice it, when you have to push a biggish top with your left hand.

Sure, with a conventional back-cut you can continue to cut-up wood while pushing with your other arm, but this more easily leads to loss of directional control from cutting off the hinge. Small potatoes here, granted. :|:
 
squisher said:
:thumbup:Sean. parallax error I think it is called the difference in gunning sights from side to side or from the sight on the saw body to the actual lay of the tree. But gunning and sighting could be a whole other discussion onto itself. And I'm pretty sure it has been a few times around here. Lol.
Click to expand...
I think parallax error is a little different. Each side of a 4' tree should have a different target. They should be right around 6' apart. You will make a rectangle. Short sides across the tree and between your gunning targets, very long sides down the gunning sights toward you targets.
 
49c98fda0491f79801fe67b38284e2d7.jpg




https://www.google.com/search?espv=...mg..2.6.284.8b4jlxfbRT0#imgrc=giZNJsVBRRdOVM:

parrellax error, I think, is looking crooked down the sights, sorta. If it were a scopeless rifle, and you looked at the close sighting tab (whatever its called) on the left side, and sighted down it to the right side of the end-of-barrel sighting tab, it would have a slight angle to it...parralax error, I believe.
 
so like the rifle thing if you don't adjust your gunning target of the hinge for the difference of being on one side of the tree or the other or for the difference of where the saw sight aims vs where a straight line from the centre of the hinge is. Isn't that parallax error? I'm probably confusing myself. But I meant what you drew out there. Lol.
 
If I'm dropping a vertical spar, and my gunning sight is 2' off-center of the hing, I aim with my gunning sight for 2' off-center of my target point.
 
You bet. So would I. But what I'm wondering is if you don't compensate for that is it called parallax error what you will be out by. Or not?
 
Here's a few clips of some felling and taking more dead down.
HO wanted a couple spars left at 8' for carving. Guess he'll have some bears or some such done.
Kind of like taking a big top I guess :lol:
Had to strip one to lay it out by the house. He wanted to not bugger the manzanita as well. Had to tie a few back and slide the trunks through.
I did the climbing and falling on this one. HO changed it up so Mike ended up doing ground work. HO clean up, but we moved some of the wood and brush just to make our job easier.
Pretty straight forward stuff. Enjoy :)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6g3eZmyJ3uo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
All but one tree was back leaning felled into head winds.
Sorry no barber chair action .....
 
squisher said:
Gary I wouldn't have done that boring in thing you mention on a pull tree. You always should be checking your offside when making the back cut unless you are really confident in your ability to gun it straight. You also should know whether your bar fully reaches across the back cut and if there's any doubt of it, cut in or 'around' on the far side first and either set your offside hinge thickness or atleast be advancing it first and then finishing up on the inside(side your on). Imo you got pretty lucky there as the offside that wasn't back cut looks rotten otherwise it could/would've most certainly affected the lay. The back cut looks way high to me and the hinge a little shallow too. Don't bother sending the .02 for my armchair review. Lol.
Click to expand...

squisher said:
The offside of the backcut is hugely important. The aiming of the backcut in general, keeping it straight and even. Height and level ness of cuts are big and the basics but the thing I've seen people(and myself) screw up on the most is the offside of the backcut to thick or to thin I like to take a knee and gun the backcut to the same thing I gunned the hinge to and proceed straight through the tree. By using the gunning sight on the saw and getting right down and staring along that line at your target it keeps your back cut perfectly parallel to your face if your gunned at the same thing. When advancing the backcut(if the bar clears the whole tree)I'm always looking down that sight ensuring I'm advancing evenly.
Click to expand...

excellent advice.... +1 on using the gun sights for the back cut. how high that back cut should be is debatable, with straight grain and clean wood and pulling with a high line and machine you have a lot more flexibility. The bore cut takes a little longer in most cases, and may not have been needed here, though it certainly could have been used effectively. staying at the stump as the fall is brushing other trees isn;t the best idea either. if you cut enough trees you're gonna see some strange stuff happen..
 
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