Notchless Felling?

[Tucker943]

I don't see the advantage on that last picture. The flare in that log gets sawn off at the mill anyhow. 90 degree notch straight down the log and into the stump flare and you would have far more control. As long as your notch apex isn't deeper then the small end of that first log, no one could say you cost them money.

 

[FJR]

I had a friend I went to school with that is from south central Illinois, a good ol boy. His family owns a sawmill and do their own logging. He would always talk about cutting notch less at ground level because every inch counts. I think he said it was because they were veneer logs. I looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language the first time he mentioned it. There must be money to be made it people are willing to increase the chance of losing their life.

 

[Tucker943]

Stig cuts veneer. Stig?

 

[pete mctree]

I spent years cutting valuable saw logs & veneer - at ground level - always, but NEVER without a felling notch. Small & narrow, yes, but enough to control the tree

 

[Stumper]

Many statements have puzzled me in my life but calling White Oak finicky has left me staggering.....

 

[stig]

Stig cuts veneer. Stig?

Notchless is nuts!
I can cut a tree just as low, and frequently do, and still have a hinge for control.

 

[Tucker943]

Stig I wonder how your forester would respond to you stabbing your saw into a veneer log with no notch?

 

[stig]

Probably about the same way as when we felled one with axes and whipsaws some years back.
I had my old mentor come out and show a bunch of apprentices how it used to be done.
The forrester afterwards told me that when he and the logbuyer saw the axe marks in the face cut on that one, they were pretty nonplussed.

 

[802climber]

My point was that it's nuts, but possible. I didn't even do it for very long, and I don't think trees should be cut like that either.

Very little control, very very dangerous and stupid.

 

[802climber]

I don't see the advantage on that last picture. The flare in that log gets sawn off at the mill anyhow.

Trim? Many of them don't have to be cut so low, just depends who's writing the paychecks. And grade, etc.

90 degree notch straight down the log and into the stump flare and you would have far more control. As long as your notch apex isn't deeper then the small end of that first log, no one could say you cost them money.

Yeah, for sure, on some species. The type of face cut you are talking about will break a walnut tree almost every time. Or at least rip the butt.. I preferred a deep but skinny notch and boring out the heart to keep it from busting.

 

[802climber]

Many statements have puzzled me in my life but calling White Oak finicky has left me staggering.....

When I said finicky, I was talking about wrecking the butts of veneer white oaks, slabbing or splitting them.. even cutting it properly, leaving too much hinge wood or too skinny of a notch will bust them. That's all I meant.

 

[woodworkingboy]

People that complain of the loss of a few inches in a tree because of decreased value, are misguided. I think a study should be done to see if they are also excessive eaters.

 

[Tucker943]

One foot of the butt is worth 10 feet of the top.....

 

[802climber]

People that complain of the loss of a few inches in a tree because of decreased value, are misguided. I think a study should be done to see if they are also excessive eaters.

Yep, and if the crisis is not those few inches, then there will be some other problem.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Curious how long it is before the valuable veneer logs get processed? Some get exported? It seems like if they were really worried about every little millimeter, they would have you slapping on some sealant on the ends to prevent checking, immediately after the trees hit the ground.

 

[Tucker943]

They do during the summer here.

 

[802climber]

 

[woodworkingboy]

Walnut..yum yum. Just wish they didn't have to stick it into a kiln and mess it up.

 

[Tucker943]

Did that log pay good?

 

[squisher]

I bet it did. Black walnut is worth a fortune up here.

Nice!

 

[802climber]

I was just trying to show the flitch savers put in there right away. But yes, it pays, and it turns people half crazy.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I consider it the best wood for woodworking, in just about every way. One particularly nice quality is that it air dries relatively quick and quite well, then is quite stable after that.

 

[squisher]

I had posted it years back on here as a thread I think. I got 3G for a black walnut tree. The log and all the bigger limbs sold raw to a guy who had it custom milled to make into grandfather clocks.

My Unc lined it up. I flipped him a g on the deal.

 

[stig]

Are those flitches made of metal or plastic?

We used to have to pund s-shaped metal ones in the beech logs going to the local veneer mill.
Then they bought a tub grinde and a furnace and didn't want metal in the logs any more.

Nice not to have to drag all that extra weight around in the woods.

 

[rumination]

What is the purpose of the flitches? Do they stop checking somehow?