intentional barber chair

Wow, an old limb in the hinge area! Kind of nice to have only heard about such a thing and not have suffered from it yourself.
 
I was removing a load of trees over in Norway. Lots of Silver birch, Pine and Spruce. Forest form so pretty tall and skinny. Larger trees to be retained and a new power cable going through the woodland.

The old power lines were overhead and within range but we had a wide strip beside a footpath to lay things out. I put a pull line up a back leaner about 50 foot tall but only about 8-9 inches at the stump. Lined up the face between a large pine and large spruce. As we were trying to retain the trees, I was pretty careful where I cut it. Back cut was parallel and an inch thick IIRC. As it pulled over towards the gap it decided to pitch off to the side but at least 45 degrees and clipped the open phase power lines and fused out the repeaters.

The lads were ripping the piss and I got them all over and showed them the direction of the face, the hinge and back cut and the 3/4 of an inch knot that was in the middle and invisible from the outside.

It basically fell towards the gap and the hinge on one side broke and the whole tree changed direction on the knot.
 
Not an unuseful technique for crane work sometimes when there is imbalance with limbs and lean in the top pick. Whittle it down to the middle and the pick can move about before leaving the cut and the crane can make adjustments. It helps beginners in not getting their saws stuck. I wonder if smart Beavers might also use that to see which way the tree is going to fall so they don't get clobbered?
 
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  • #59
Skwerl2 said:
The big problem is that a tree isn't going to barber chair unless it is already cracked or weakened vertically. As Daniel proved with his skid steer, if it isn't already prone to splitting then it will just splinter apart when excessive force is applied.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true rocky...

the reason this one didn't BBC so much is that it was cut right to the center of the grain which was straight enough as to not run out to one side or the other, so it was extra tough to split the trunk... if it was cut to 2/3 way through as per the traditional teaching for back cut, it wold most certainly have split the trunk causing a BBC.. More experimentation needed to prove 100%, but that's a pretty clear conclusion based on first hand observation, all of which is not documented here..
 
Skwerl2 said:
The big problem is that a tree isn't going to barber chair unless it is already cracked or weakened vertically. As Daniel proved with his skid steer, if it isn't already prone to splitting then it will just splinter apart when excessive force is applied.
Click to expand...

Define " Excessive force".

Most barberchairs happen because gravity is the "Excessive force", it is a rare thing, especially in my world, that a skid steer is the "excessive force"
A tall , knot free stem of a species that is prone to split but have strong fibers will barberchair on you if not treated right.

No skid steer here, also most likely no internal weakening.
Just gravity and a rookie faller.

Didn't have the savvy or the saw to cut his way out of trouble.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2YAf61zz5VU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I show that one to all my apprentices.
It has great teaching value.
 
In this case, yes!

Trick is to know when you can cut your way out of it and when to get the hell out of Dodge.

Been in both scenarios myself.
 
This entire industry & your survival depends on making god decisions & learning fast from the bad ones. I will put money down that the faller in that video will not be enrolled in the Murphy school of deliberate barbers chairs !
 
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  • #66
Mine are super safe... safer than the alternative

The brother denies cutting a bypass in the face, but he did, even if it was a small one, it was enough to stall the tree and cause the BBC... As I recall, that one split pretty quick... I'd have run too... flight vs fight
 
You don't need a Dutchman to cause a barber chair. Alders rot a lot.

Could have been a Dutchman, defect, or clean wood.
 
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  • #68
tell tale is the short movement then stall before it splits.. just watched it again, and yes, if he had kept cutting, instead of stopping, stepping back and looking up, he probably could have avoided the BBC
 
Intentional barber chair? I saw thread this and felt I should chime in. As someone who has actually been on job-sites were men have died from barber chairs, this sounds insane to me. No timber faller or logger I've ever known would consider doing something like this. I recently got a phone call from buddy of mine who was falling a good size dead Lodgepole that barber-chaired on him. He made a split second decision to stay in the pocket, and continue cutting his hinge as fast as possible. He was pretty sure that decision saved his life. This guy is a great logger with years of experience, who has seen his fair share of crazy shit happen. He was pretty rattled by the close call. Sure hope you reconsider this experiment.
 
rico11764 said:
Intentional barber chair? I saw thread this and felt I should chime in. As someone who has actually been on job-sites were men have died from barber chairs, this sounds insane to me. No timber faller or logger I've ever known would consider doing something like this. I recently got a phone call from buddy of mine who was falling a good size dead Lodgepole that barber-chaired on him. He made a split second decision to stay in the pocket, and continue cutting his hinge as fast as possible. He was pretty sure that decision saved his life. This guy is a great logger with years of experience, who has seen his fair share of crazy shit happen. He was pretty rattled by the close call. Sure hope you reconsider this experiment.
Click to expand...
:thumbup:
 
Hang on a few there, Rico. Murphy will probably explain to you all the things you don't understand, that he does. Then you will have the gift of his wisdom. Lucky fellow that you are :).
 
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