Notch too small?

[Koala]

This is a dead tree I took down a few weeks ago.

Pinus Nigra, Austrian Pine I guess.

I cut a small notch on purpose , not being sure about the conditions of the wood inside( later they revealed to be better than what I expected by looking at the bad shape of the whole tree.)

Looking at the pics right now I was wondering if that notch was too much small. What you guys think?

 

[flushcut]

Tree is on the ground, nobody hurt, true to the lay (I think) =well done in my book.

 

[Tucker943]

Plenty of control there.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm not a fan of huge underbeds inless I'm undermining the COG.

 

[18 stoner]

The "mini notch" is used by all the pro's

To be honest, I wouldn't say it was that small. What you acheived there is a hinge thats almost the full width of the butt. Ideal I'd say to get the most hold from your hinge wood.

Very nicely done.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

There's the 1/3 "rule" and the 80% width of the stump "rule".

You played it safe with expecting a weaker hinge if cut deeper, getting a good, wide hinge. If the hinge were on the opposite side of the tree, where it tapers much more, then you would have had a very narrow hinge.

Were you expecting heart rot? If you are expecting/ anticipating poor hinge wood, you can put a vertically oriented bore cut (for lack of an electric drill and long bit, or core sampler) into the area of the face, perpendicular to the hinge to find out what you have inside. You'd only be removing a kerf width from the hinge, and that would be at the more brittle heartwood, anyhow.

Was it hard to tip? If not, great.


Perhaps a gap face would have helped to have the hinge bend over a taller area, giving it more flexibility to the dead, dry fibers, but seems like it went to the lay.

 

[Burnham]

Looks good to me, agree with previous posts noting irregular bole shape and how your placement improved the situation.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Actually amazes me sometimes how much good holding fiber is left in some pines even after dead for a while.

 

[gf beranek]

ditto

 

[Koala]

I was a little bit concerned about the hinge because before I had cut down a smallest pine which was in much worst conditions , with the heartwood starting to get very brittle. Outside it looked like this.:



It still amazes me how people can transform a dead tree into a real hazard , waiting years before deciding it's time to take it down.
anyway...

Actually that was a job I got from my ex-boss. I didn't see the trees before....he just told the trees were dead since no more than one year
He said he didn't remember exactly if there was room to fell them so he suggested me to bring my spurs. What a nice man. :roll:

I'm so glad he's my EX-boss now.

Was it hard to tip? If not, great.

Forgive my poor english. What you mean exactly ?

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Your English is fine.

Was the tree hard to tip over with the hinge placed somewhat farther forward than the 1/3 facecut depth "rule"? If it tipped over easily enough, then its all good. Good width for side to side directional control.

Looks like a fine job on a dead tree.



So now that he's your EX-boss, are you self-employed, or do you work for a company/ government agency/ other organization?

 

[Koala]

Thanks.
No, it wasn't that hard.

I'm self employed . I started my small business just one year ago.
One of the best (few) things I've done in my life. Only paper work sucks.

I don't own big equipment, got my pick up . my chainsaws, my ropes , my saddle, and my (small) tree knowledge.
But I'm doing tree work every day( in full season ...not now ) and that makes me very happy.
LIke someone wiser from here was saying, i'm also making a decent living out of it.
I cooperate with a bunch of tree guys (they do own more equipment than me for sure ) . When we join our forces we can bid on big jobs and compete with bigger companies.
Hard times ( financially speaking) around here , so selfishness is not the way to go.Not even the right time to take out a loan so...
We decided to share and cooperate in a honest way.
So far our little project is working out.
We do believe in it , we're trying to fight the old selfish no-cooperation mentality around here....
and most important we love tree work and we enjoy a lot doing it.
Personally, I'm so addicted to trees that I don't even consider it a job.

 

[flushcut]

View attachment 41110

On trees that look like this I pull out my pocket knife and stab it a few times down low to see just how bad it is and/or do a trunk sounding with a rubber mallet, axe or whatever is handy.

 

[Burnham]

I'm all about the bore test, too. Way more conclusive than a poke with a blade. I'll do at least two on a suspect stem. Sean is right on how to orient the bores to minimize weakening the hinge-to-be.

 

[Tucker943]

I focus less on depth into the bole, and more so on width. If the tree allows me a plenty wide hinge without digging in real deep, then I take it. I used to really cut a ways in to make my notches. After some time logging eastern hardwoods, my methods evolved. On a big fat pig, I still dig a good notch out. On smaller more common sticks, I find myself staying a little more shallow then I used to. I seem to think I developed a desire to leave lots of room for wedges, and I also like to allow myself plenty of wood in the bqckcut to read how the tree is behaving.

 

[mistahbenn]

Be careful talking about notches and the size of them, or old Murph will be along blowing his trumpet

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Tucker, you make a valid comment on leaving wedging room.

as another way to skin that cat...

Willie made a video with a good technique. Bore through the face, with the bar flat against your horizontal cut, in line with the lay. This will exit the backside with a slot that will allow the tip of the wedge not to bottom out against the hinge. You then can set a wedge, followed by cutting the sides of the backcut up to the hinge. You can send that center wedge home, and when the conventional facecut closes, even with the tip of the wedge protruding, it won't break off the wedge tip.


If you need to stack wedges, you can do that on both sides to life the tree more. If you get your center wedge up to the back of the tree, you can always chop/ cut the back of the tree away in order to be able to pound the center wedge more. If you've stacked wedges on the sides and lifted the tree, you can stack on top of the center wedge, too.

OR...

Go with Stig's shim technique, if you have them.

 

[Tucker943]

I've bored the face and wedged through it many times on small blue spruces. A marvelous technique on those dense spruces that are a headache to try and set a line in. Hickory too. I like to be cautious there and be certain not to go to crazy as that wedge is now pushing upward on the hinge itself. Ive limited doing that to trees with outstanding hinge cooperation.

 

[ClimbingFool]

Wanna talk about some good holding wood. Just cut some of those pines in Butch's neck of the woods. There like Digger pines....

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Fiber that will hold a good sized stem off the ground even after you think it should fall all the way eh?

 

[Tucker943]

Shagbark hickory. I was working in 2 of the today. They will hold all the way to the ground even with some stump shot and a tight notch.

 

[MasterBlaster]

What's a Digger pine? And where in my neck of the woods were you?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Digger = Bull = gray pine. Pinus sabiniana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_sabiniana

 

[MasterBlaster]

That looks like any pine I've ever seen, for the most part.

In my mind, a Bull Pine is a fat, shorter pine.