Hazard tree contract fallers

[Burnham]

If you only are using one wedge, set a second one and drive them with alternate whacks. Even a third.

Add magnesium or steel wedges. They drive with less loss of power to absorbtion within the plastic. Not a steel splitting wedge, a thin driving wedge.

Gut the hinge to make it easier to wedge over.

Bore out an alcove and jack it over with a hydraulic bottle jack, 12 ton or better, 20 ton. This is ghetto from a true logger's perspective, a Silvey 50 ton with a pressure gauge is prefered.

 

[Jonseredbred]

Run????

 

[Burnham]

Run????

Not until you at least unbolt your powerhead and take it with you .

 

[Gord]

Fall something else, preferably big, at it. Kidding. No one does that...

 

[darkstar]

Fall something else, preferably big, at it. Kidding. No one does that...

Yeah now we are talkin. Long as it didnt hang

 

[darkstar]

I always wanted to fell in the forest for a spell to get it down well.
Pun intended.
Its so hard to get good at felling , just doing residential.

 

[pete mctree]

I always wanted to fell in the forest for a spell to get it down well.
Pun intended.
Its so hard to get good at felling , just doing residential.

It was invaluable experiance for me. So many climbers cannot fell a tree with anywhere near the accuracy of a faller. Well here in the UK anyway

 

[Burnham]

Fall something else, preferably big, at it. Kidding. No one does that...

We sure as hell do.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

If you only are using one wedge, set a second one and drive them with alternate whacks. Even a third.

Add magnesium or steel wedges. They drive with less loss of power to absorbtion within the plastic. Not a steel splitting wedge, a thin driving wedge.

Gut the hinge to make it easier to wedge over.

Bore out an alcove and jack it over with a hydraulic bottle jack, 12 ton or better, 20 ton. This is ghetto from a true logger's perspective, a Silvey 50 ton with a pressure gauge is prefered.

I find that a little tug with one of these works wonders

 

[Burnham]

Sure would do the trick, so long as you can get a line in it high enough.

I saw the results once of an attempt to pull over a hard setback Noble fir...they just threw a choker around the bole about 4 feet above the backcut, which was as high as could be reached by hand. That little tug broke the hinge and pulled the butt of the tree right off the stump towards the skidder...whole thing went over backwards per the back lean instead of standing up and hingeing forward.

Scared the bejeezus out of me .

 

[SkwerI]

Amazing how some people will ignore the simple and obvious laws of gravity when trying to pull over a 60' tree with a choker 6' off the ground.

 

[Dave Shepard]

It's all in the hinge. I've pulled low on some trees, but nothing big.


Thor, is that a 205? 208? I've got a 208 with a factory special order grapple.


Dave

 

[Gord]

When using a machine to push trees over it's common to aim for the backcut a little lower than the apex of the notch to help prevent the hinge from breaking due to the push on it.

 

[darkstar]

Far out ,so you are cutting below the notch?
You could get killed on some forums for even mentioning that.
OR worse, youll be BANNED

 

[SkwerI]

All depends on what you're doing and how you're doing it. Seems like a reasonable procedure if that's how you're doing it.

 

[stig]

Burnham, we always make the "German" or bore cut on the downside of the undercut.
Have you tried the hardhead wedges, the plastic wedges with a steel insert for driving. I find they beat anything else for sheer lifting power( except a jack, of course!)
They were totally unknown here until I started importing them from Bailey's and selling them to all the fallers I know.

That skidder look like an old Kockums "Treefarmer". Because they were made in our neighbouring country, Sweden, we used to have a lot of those working in the woods here.
Wonderful mashine, but the winch pulls really fast ( and hard!), so you have to be on your toes, when pulling trees with it.
First time I tried it back when I was just a green sprout, I set the wire in a smallish oak, bored the back cut leaving a little bit to hold the tree. Then I yelled pull and proceeded to cut all the way through.
I did't even get the saw revved, before the tree had blown up on me from the force of the pull.
Didn't hurt me none, but I had to change my underwear.

 

[gf beranek]

What Gord said.

"When using a machine to push trees over it's common to aim for the backcut a little lower than the apex of the notch to help prevent the hinge from breaking due to the push on it."

Pulling limb locked trees apart too, with the rigging set low on the tree. Quite often the force needed to pull the limb lock apart is greater than the strength of the hingewood due to the location of the rigging of course. So a low backcut here will leave a ledge for the tree to butt up against and heal over.

It's unconventional because it doesn't follow all the rules, but it works.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

The skidder was just a pic I pulled off google, The kockums are more common than the Timberjacks over here. I've pulled hundreds of back leaners over with a choker set at about 8'. Its just a matter of knowing what your doing in advance, and leaving a thick hinge.

 

[Burnham]

I agree with all said about setting the backcut low for pulling over...but Dark asked what to do if the tree sets back on your wedges hard. That indicates an unexpected situation to me, one where the cutter mis-read the lean. In that case, the backcut would most likely already be substantially in, and since the setback was not anticipated, the backcut would be in a more normal position relative to the facecut.

I believe under those circumstances, great care must be excercised with pulling with powerful equipment.

And don't pull the tree down on top of your skidder, either .

 

[Burnham]

Burnham, can you use this bore cut in combination with a tapered hinge to increase the effect?

jp

Sorry, overlooked this post jp.

On the surface of it, seems like it would, but the more I think about it, I'm not so sure...the bore increases the flex potential in the hinge, while a thick portion of hinge might fight flex. I really don't know the answer.

Stig seems to be the man with experience with this technique...how about it, Stig?

 

[sotc]

i would think the new trick i heard learned here, boring an 1/2 inch below the back cut to insert a wedge might work.
sometimes ill use the dingo bucket or forks in the back cut as a wedge. the bucket curl is strong and works better than pushing

 

[stig]

My experience with the bore cut is that it will prevent a too thich hinge from splitting the log, by adding flex to the hinge.
It'll also make the hinge last longer before breaking, again because it adds flexibility. Over the years of experiencing with this cut,I've found that on most hardwood trees it'll add 10-20 degrees of fall before the hinge breaks. On side leaners this could be the crucial 10 degrees that lets you fall the tree on the right side of whatever obstacle you are trying to stay clear of.
Normally we don't make the high stumps that americans do, but on any hazard tree I'll go 2 feet up on the log to make sure the grain is running straight and use the bore cut.
Around here the rule for stumps is: ½ the height of the toes.
What we call the toes of the tree is where the roots come out.

The methods we use for falling are very different from what you americans do, we use much shorter bars for one thing.
We actually take pride in being able to fall fat trees with a short bar.
If you want to see an example, look at my homesite www.skoventreprenoeren.dk
It is in danish, but there is a video of me falling a beech tree on the bottom of the front page.

 

[darkstar]

Nice website.
Yeah im a fan of uber low stump cuts.
I cant get my crew into it though and they always have a big hunk of junk wood...

 

[sotc]

.
Around here the rule for stumps is: ½ the height of the toes.
What we call the toes of the tree is where the roots come out.

The methods we use for falling are very different from what you americans do, we use much shorter bars for one thing.
We actually take pride in being able to fall fat trees with a short bar.
If you want to see an example, look at my homesite www.skoventreprenoeren.dk
It is in danish, but there is a video of me falling a beech tree on the bottom of the front page.

in the woods we get fined if stumps are left to high. it is impressive if you can make good cuts with a short bar but id rather make 3 cuts than 5 to get the tree down

 

[SkwerI]

In these parts, all the wood is junk wood. Taking extra time to make the felling cut at stump level offers me no benefit whatsoever, since the trunk usually gets cut up so the skid steer loader can put it in the truck anyway. I do not care if the machine picks up a 3' piece or a 6' piece to put it in his truck and haul it to the dump.

If I'm felling a tree in a residential setting, I'm going to make the felling cut at the most comfortable and most accurate height. Not hitting obstacles is much more important to me than the size of the junk wood chunks. If there is the possibility that the trunk will be cut up for firewood, then I try to make the felling cut either one or two firewood rounds high. But most wood that is saved for firewood here ends up rotting before it is ever burnt.