coos bay for large heavy leaners

[sierratree]

Been learning alot from the posts, here............Lots of great info and quality expertise.... And yep, doesn't pay much, but it's a great office.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Where in the Sierras you hail from?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Ahhhh Down near Yosemite myself ...
Nice!

 

[sierratree]

what's the fire doing on the sierra nf?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

So far moving North for the most part. I was just getting ready to check the new info and see what happened over night with the wind changes. No containment in sight as yet I am afraid to say.

 

[sierratree]

what's the terrain on the fire? do you contract fall?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

No... I am pretty much private sector. We usually come in before and after the fact. Prevention and clean up.
Terrain is terribly treacherous and steep. I wouldn't work that canyon in most places with out rope. As one fire fighter put it when asked about dozer access to hold ridges.. "you would need to air lift the dozer to the ridge. We can only hope to hold 25% of the ridges due to access."

 

[mdvaden]

Yeah the Coos Bay works wonders, but there are a few things about it and the trees you use the cut on that you should always remember.

Number one, the Coos Bay is a release cut only. There is no directional control with it.

This is a cut I'm not familiar with.

But tell you what ... doing a Google search for:

"coos bay" felling cut

3rd picture listed in the results was your avatar

 

[gf beranek]

Association I guess. The coos bay was described to me some 30 years ago by a fellow named Mike Davis. A somewhat unconventional method for releasing heavy leaners to their favor. And it works pretty good. But still one has to mind their p's and Q's when using it

 

[Bermy]

oh wait a minute, Bermy.............now i get it...............

Haha, outed the girl! Sqwerl was messing with my post, and there is nothing I can say just now that wouldn't have two meanings...

 

[stig]

Just to get things straight.
That is one situation where I would have brought out a bar that could reach through the tree and then some!

 

[sierratree]

Thanks, Stig, for the heads up................Just for info: I stayed on the escape route side of the tree the entire time, except for one cut when I took out the offside. In both instances I had an escape route on the cutting side and never had my body behind the tree. Once the backstrap was cut, the tree behaved as it should have..............I appreciate you looking out, safety wise...........

 

[Burnham]

I'll echo...nice bit of work, and thanks for sharing.

 

[stig]

I posted that because I'm sort of the advocate for using short bars around here, but on a scary beast like that one, no way!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Gotta have ya winged boots on as well..

 

[Burnham]

Staying a long bar length away from one you think might explode is a very good plan.

 

[sierratree]

I agree. I brought in a more experienced faller, who has had a few of these type of trees under his belt. We studied it for a while and determined its bark was worse than its bite, so to say. Definitley not to minimize the situation, though. There is always that potential for the unexpected. We determined there wan't much tension from the backstrap, so with caution, we proceded. Wouldn't go blindly into this type of situation.

 

[gf beranek]

Very wise.

 

[davidwyby]

Cool!

Let's pop another oldie but goodie up!

 

[chris_girard]

Love the Coos Bay cut. Most climbers and cutters here on the east coast have never seen that cut before, but it's definitely one that I teach my guys.

Thanks Jer for showing that cut in your Fundamentals Book!

 

[gf beranek]

Ultimately you can thank Mike Davis for that. I just passed it on.