Douglas Dent Professional Timber Falling

[Burnham]

Dent's book is still a good read and full of info.

I heard that years after writing it, he gave up recommending a dutchman cut to aid in falling leaners, as it is just too unpredictable?

It's entirely possible you heard/read it right here, from my keyboard .

I can confirm that Doug never taught it to us USFS C sawyer class students, nor recommended use of if questioned about it...and more to the point, advised against it's use.

His approach was along these lines, if I might be so bold as to attempt to paraphrase..."Oh yeah, it works. It works somewhere between next to nothing, and far over what you expected. That's not what any skookum sawyer should bet his fell on."

 

[Burnham]

An addendum to my previous post...I rather expect that Doug Dent could probably make as good an estimate of how to get what he wanted from a swing dutchman face as any sawyer.

But the man had three things in the bag that most of us don't have, or don't get well developed until we've been at it a good long time...

First, he had a lot of experience, even for a young man. Second, he had an almost supernatural ability to assess the physics of the dynamics of the individual standing tree as it would impact the facecut, hinges, and backcut.

And last was his understanding that even the most skilled of us, as he was, if we want to teach less skilled cutters so that they can learn, improve, and SURVIVE...maybe need to pull some of the more sketchy cuts, the less reliable ones, off the table when teaching.

In that last perspective, I was of the same mind in my specialty as a tree climbing instructor/certifier.

 

[Jomo]

You old timers ever heard of a boxcut to fell a hollow big tree?

Apparently a six inch face cut vertically as the face cut, bends and holds to the stump far longer then a triangular face cut, on hollow trunks.

Worked a charm on a 48 inch hollow Coulter pine that had to be stood up straight n felled opposite it's lean, over a three story mansion, on lake arrowhead, my pull line got real skinny before that tree straightened up!

It was the only tree in my career I ever pussed out on, despite having climbed it and setting up a fairly complicated long reach compound pull line to the skid steer on the beach pullin.
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It was an Ivy covered tree that I'd footlocked into, setting my bull lines the two outer most leaders of a three leader pine. One line tied off to both outer leaders, with a block in the middle tied to another bull line to the skid-steer.

The thing that tweaked my beak was once I'd cleared the Ivy encompassing the base to make my felling cuts?

I encountered a vertical fissure/crack on the mansion side I could and did literally walk into!

There was only maybe six inches of sound wood on either side!

So I called the guy I was contracting for, a third generation logger named Matt Allen, informed of my surprise discovery. He breezily informed to use a boxcut with a six inch vertical face, and that my finish cut align horizontally with the top of the six inch face cut.

I told Matt considering we're workin over a multi-million mansion on lake arrowhead, you should come over n demonstrate how a proper boxcut's executed?

All right Jon, I'll be there shortly.

Sure enuff, he shows up, puts an edge on his 084, executes the cuts as described, leaving about five inches of hinge, before signaling the skidsteer to pull her up n over.

That tree only broke free of the stump after hitting the slope after bending well over 180 degrees!

Jomo

 

[stikine]

Any pics by chance @Jomo ? Are you talking about a block face or something different?

 

[Marc-Antoine]

So, the boxcut can be considered in fact as a full face wheezie?
Interesting.
I wonder how much we can gain with a brittle wood.

 

[biggun]

But the man had three things in the bag that most of us don't have, or don't get well developed until we've been at it a good long time...

First, he had a lot of experience, even for a young man. Second, he had an almost supernatural ability to assess the physics of the dynamics of the individual standing tree as it would impact the facecut, hinges, and backcut.

And last was his understanding that even the most skilled of us, as he was, if we want to teach less skilled cutters so that they can learn, improve, and SURVIVE..

For a moment there I thought you were describing one of the members on here.

 

[chris_girard]

An addendum to my previous post...I rather expect that Doug Dent could probably make as good an estimate of how to get what he wanted from a swing dutchman face as any sawyer.

But the man had three things in the bag that most of us don't have, or don't get well developed until we've been at it a good long time...

First, he had a lot of experience, even for a young man. Second, he had an almost supernatural ability to assess the physics of the dynamics of the individual standing tree as it would impact the facecut, hinges, and backcut.

And last was his understanding that even the most skilled of us, as he was, if we want to teach less skilled cutters so that they can learn, improve, and SURVIVE...maybe need to pull some of the more sketchy cuts, the less reliable ones, off the table when teaching.

In that last perspective, I was of the same mind in my specialty as a tree climbing instructor/certifier.

Great knowledge!

 

[Mellow]

That tree only broke free of the stump after hitting the slope after bending well over 180 degrees!

Did you mean 90 degrees? 180 would be upside down!

 

[Jomo]

Yes I meant a little over 90 degrees.

Box cut, block cut, block face cut.

Jomo

 

[gf beranek]

Very good.

It's been demonstrated many times.

It's all about wood fiber.

 

[theTreeSpyder]

i don't think anything nor anyone, not even in person coaching at start;
has given me the feel, logic and understanding of of hinge pivot ,tension pulls , face close pushes and the leveraged distance between in balance to the loading as Dent's lil'book. Really first got hungrily as so cheap and all i could afford..
1 man chainsaw is mainly form late 50's, Dent and Gerry first books on subjects starting about a decade later, and still pretty much w/o peer.
The logic and theories presented prevail from the vertical falling illustrated, even to turning his models 90 degrees into rigging, crane lifts, even bucking w/o change to what he presents, when follow the forces to their buildings and reliefs.
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Not sure how many times i put lil'book down shaking my head at start, coming back around to it still seeking months later, until understood his drawings and how to COMMAND things easily that were once hard. Even sometimes the light bulb going on on the job, alone in tree; wow is that what i read...? And bit by bit, my game and thought process into it forever changed. When first trying to show 'Tapered Hinge' (don't think he calls it that but fits)on forums, then turning sideways for rigging, all i could say was to get the lil'book in my defense..
Besides the outright positions of the players he names, a main point is simply a cleanly sculpted face in this simple, but very powerful example of mechanics.
i still have seen no other reference like it.
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A 1000's of thanks, to da'man(boths of'ems)!