Notchless Felling?

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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.



That's a good chunk of change. We have some black walnut logs piled and I may have to rethink their use. We just brought back a 10' x 32'' log on Friday. I imagine it is all about finding the right buyer.
 
That's a good chunk of change. We have some black walnut logs piled and I may have to rethink their use. We just brought back a 10' x 32'' log on Friday. I imagine it is all about finding the right buyer.

Regionally it must be somewhat different. I remember Al not believing it, but it happened. The buyer picked it all up from my yard for that price. I can't remember the measurements on the main log but it was a good size.
 
Is that a flitch with driver which is struck with a hammer? Seem like it would be hard to hit accurately if that tool is the driver, itself.
 
Never seen those types before. For holding cracks, all I have seen and used are a double pointed spike bent into an elongated U shape.
 
Is that a flitch with driver which is struck with a hammer? Seem like it would be hard to hit accurately if that tool is the driver, itself.

Its easy as pie. If you can hit the head of a nail, you can surely land the head of that hammer in the vicinity of the split.
 
Its easy as pie. If you can hit the head of a nail, you can surely land the head of that hammer in the vicinity of the split.

I guess its sorta an i-beam cross sectional shape, which wouldn't have to be dead center to work to drive it in the rest of the way after the first swing.
 
Driving those is mainly about committing yorself do doing it.
Like SLAM that sucker in, don't try tapping it.
Whereas when you set them with your wedge driver ( to avoid carrying anoter hammer through the wood) you tap one corner in, to hold the flitch in place so your fingers are nowhere near it, and then Slam it with the maul.
 
its no big deal!

Have held wood in my hands each day for like the last forty years... Goes back even farther if I want to add school shop classes. I remember being in a guy's shop and when the wood came out of his planer, he simply let it fall on the floor in a heap, where it could get dings and bruises. No big deal, it wasn't going to be used for much was his opinion, the scars didn't hurt, even though the edges coming from the saw and jointer were sharp to begin with before the planer. Later he told me that he could see my objection, the principle of the thing. The point is, I think of wood as a material that is worthy of degrees of respect, the material in general, maybe somewhere some 'consciousness' in it. Certainly there are exceptions, but trees generally tend to be pretty so far complete in their totality from outside harm, before being cut. When working with wood while still in the tree form, I like to see clean cuts, not tears and such, if possible, not random helter skelter. A hinge that folds and breaks and tears is often a necessary evil, but I think we all like to see even and as clean as possible effects that can result with skill and knowledge, a degree of care from ourselves to the wood. I can't really put it into words, just a feeling I get when seeing things done like in the video. It slightly pains me to see the tree twist and lose it's years of developed character to randomness. At least with hinges we generally want to rely on what the tree has until the end, some ergonomic symmetry in action, or how best to put it. I wouldn't go so far as to ask how one that does such methods sleeps at night, but I think that most would agree that there is a lot of brutalizing that goes on in the world, and if wood could talk......
 
Chris, not sure if you are responding to my post or Murph's, I was just thinking that at least a kerf in the front would have been more polite. There is a lot of cutting being done in my area, both by experienced people and otherwise. Sometimes I like to check out the stumps after everyone has gone, it kind of gives an estimation of the degree of skill. My criteria might be a bit skewed, but I find clean results more enjoyable to see than ones that more seem the result of haphazardness or speed, even if there is no blood or otherwise that would indicate that nobody got hurt.
 
I've done it ur way and your right oaks etc cooperate.But its not 100% so be warey. If there's any rot or decay in the base of the tree that is not seen, bad and unseeable things can happen. This last year I been mainly using an open face knotch u cut the notch only 20% of the tree dia. and you can back cut level with your notch little safer found I have more control from the hinge
 
Have held wood in my hands each day for like the last forty years... Goes back even farther if I want to add school shop classes. I remember being in a guy's shop and when the wood came out of his planer, he simply let it fall on the floor in a heap, where it could get dings and bruises. No big deal, it wasn't going to be used for much was his opinion, the scars didn't hurt, even though the edges coming from the saw and jointer were sharp to begin with before the planer. Later he told me that he could see my objection, the principle of the thing. The point is, I think of wood as a material that is worthy of degrees of respect, the material in general, maybe somewhere some 'consciousness' in it. Certainly there are exceptions, but trees generally tend to be pretty so far complete in their totality from outside harm, before being cut. When working with wood while still in the tree form, I like to see clean cuts, not tears and such, if possible, not random helter skelter. A hinge that folds and breaks and tears is often a necessary evil, but I think we all like to see even and as clean as possible effects that can result with skill and knowledge, a degree of care from ourselves to the wood. I can't really put it into words, just a feeling I get when seeing things done like in the video. It slightly pains me to see the tree twist and lose it's years of developed character to randomness. At least with hinges we generally want to rely on what the tree has until the end, some ergonomic symmetry in action, or how best to put it. I wouldn't go so far as to ask how one that does such methods sleeps at night, but I think that most would agree that there is a lot of brutalizing that goes on in the world, and if wood could talk......

That's quite poetic and we all can appreciate a love and care for trees.. though that manifests in many different perspectives.. The old Jaanes gardner I used to work with, Hiroshi Makita used to like to chisel out the (almost) flush cuts on Jap maples cause they healed over without as much deformity in the trunk... Rubbed me really wrong, but I never agrued te point. I just kept my mouth shut... Wait til you see the upcoming vid on riip cut rigging ..
 
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