Tree felling vids

Jed,

Why do you talk about your hinges being "too fat"? or too fat on one side? You seem to know what you're doing but suffering from some serious delusions about the completely arbitrary and fictitious rule of hinge thickness. And I could look for some old rope to send out to ya if you need a pull line. I personally will set a pull line on front leaners if I'm there already cause "why not?" Watching you bang away on wedges without a pull line set makes me concerned for your well being.

And if you want to make your notches (and therefore your life) a little easier, learn the game of logging open face top angled cut first. Lots of good reasons to cut a Humboldt, but just cause it's what I know (or what I've seen) isn't one of them. and did you know I put this video out, showing the use of a carpenters T to check the gun of a notch in May 2010, well before Willard mentioned using one in a thread he started on the same subject?

https://youtu.be/W28q8sVJLOs?t=144
 
Cool video ... I see what you mean ; I’m no expert (more of a weekend warrior) at treefelling/work by no means ... by the same line of thinking wouldn’t a wedge (with same open face but leaving uniform thickness hinge) heavy to the right cause the tree to drop slightly to the left and vice versa heavy to the left tree drops slightly to the right ... most likely not as pronounced as using the hinge to steer it but same idear ... I’m a fan of pull-lines also just in case ... I’ve also learned to use a heavy strap or chain above the face especially with forward leaning ash as it is prone to B.B. chair
 
Daniel: Thank you. Rope setting just takes longer. You're probably right, I think that I do tend to overrate hinge-thickness a bit too much, but I would strongly disagree if you insisted that I didn't matter at all.

Frankie: No. If I understand you, then I'd like to point out that the leverage that the wedge provides, while it can serve to help lift a side-leaner on the low side, has absolutey NO effect on the holding wood once one has tipped the tree past the Center of Gravity. Thanks for the response, though.
 
Let me try to defrag your harddrive here Jed. The reason hinge thickness matters to you is becasue you are banging trees over on wedges, and if you leave them too thick they aren't going anywhere. With that little loader and a pull line you could leave a thick hinge and not have to worry about it. I've pulled some nasty side leaning silver mapes and such (terrible holding capabilities) with hinges 6" thick and more... great control.. don't care what anyone says.. seen it done it trust it
 
You don't live in the land of trees that readily barberchair and kill people, from the sounds of it. Hinge thickness matters. Being able to use wedges gets rid of the pull-rope/ machine crutch.

Good fellers can blow out an accurate face and tip it over easily, way faster than using ropes. Some days I don't even get a rope out of the truck.
 
you're not going to barber chair a tree with wedges, Sean... I'm still trying to figure out how setting a rope takes too much time... Like you're already there to take the top of the tree out. Maybe you wrap up your ropes and that's what takes too much time.. I stopped wrapping ropes in the '90s. I AM sure it's much different game based on trees and topography and familiarity of techniques. There is just too much upside to setting a rope and very little downside IMO
 
came up with this idea on Saturday. Was cutting a hemlock loaded with vines. Just took a small top towards the DZ and let it hang, then another short rip cut and another and another, till the four cuts were all laying out heavier and heavier to the dz and the lay. Made it easy compared with trying to get the straight pieces to the lay, then fight each piece to the ground. So I used a rip cut on this spruce top (not very big) and used the hanging weight of the top to give the next cut some front lean. You could easily use a short line to hang the pieces. I like the idea as a time saver...


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PVpLAx5R-l0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I like the hanging top idea.


I'm not saying you will barberchair a tree with wedges.


I get by with gravity instead of rigging lines, frequently.

If you're in a bucket, it's easy to carry a rigging line.


Digging a rope out from under a log is part of what takes time and/ or someone to get on a machine.


Wedging is a pain in the ass when hinges are kept thick.


Ropes and thick hinges have their places. That is the right kind of hinge for certain applications with lots of pulling leverage.


Good hinges, suitable for the task, matter.
 
we almost always have a machine on site to lift and move material. I developed another technique to cut a notch in the trunk to slot the rope in to prevent it from getting trapped, but rarely use it as it is not needed on our jobs.
 
SeanKroll said:
Wedging is a pain in the ass when hinges are kept thick.
Click to expand...

Which has most likely been the main cause for the fallacy that fat hinges are undesirable. Jed calls his hinge "too fat" in one of his videos. Have you seen my tapered hinges that are 8" on the wide side in oak and maple? NOBODY is going to wedge those trees... 2:1 MA pulling with a 4x4 dodge 2500 gets them going though.
 
murphy4trees said:
... I'm still trying to figure out how setting a rope takes too much time...
Click to expand...

Dude, if you came out here to do work, you'd figure it out really quick. Waist deep ferns, waist deep Sollal, waist deep Oregon Grape, I don't even wanna talk about Black Berry, Stinging Nettle and Devil's Club. Out here, bean bags are generally for little kids. I personally think they have their place, but I know tree guys who wouldn't be caught dead with one on their truck.

And yes, as Sean already mentioned... out here, barber chairs get people. I know of a guy who was seriously maimed by one. No one would leave too fat of a hinge here. I have fallen 160' trees here in residential settings. Here, if a guy leaves too fat of a hinge (I don't care what kind of saw he's runnin) on even a slight head-leaner, and gust of wind hits the top... he might have a heck of a time sharing the barber-chair vid with his East Coast buddies, I don't care HOW fast his internet is.
 
Not to mention to fat of a hinge has a tendency to break unevenly. Fibers don’t bend. They are pulled to failure. Species dependent of course.
I’m kind of a hinge junkie. I, as well as my crew, do a quick stump forensics on almost every tree we fell. This has helped me with teaching my guys. Also because of Jed, Burnam, and Gerry; I strive for perfection on every cut. Oh shit, I left out Reg (please forgive me). My guys have the same attitude. We do stray from traditional or commonly taught guidelines a bit as well. We also study the outcomes.
I need to go to bed. To many hours today. I think I’m rambling
 
Jed said:
Dude, if you came out here to do work, you'd figure it out really quick. Waist deep ferns, waist deep Sollal, waist deep Oregon Grape, I don't even wanna talk about Black Berry, Stinging Nettle and Devil's Club. Out here, bean bags are generally for little kids. I personally think they have their place, but I know tree guys who wouldn't be caught dead with one on their truck.

And yes, as Sean already mentioned... out here, barber chairs get people. I know of a guy who was seriously maimed by one. No one would leave too fat of a hinge here. I have fallen 160' trees here in residential settings. Here, if a guy leaves too fat of a hinge (I don't care what kind of saw he's runnin) on even a slight head-leaner, and gust of wind hits the top... he might have a heck of a time sharing the barber-chair vid with his East Coast buddies, I don't care HOW fast his internet is.
Click to expand...

The tree I'm talking about was the spar. YOU WERE UP IN THE TREE TO MAKE THE CUT. why not instal a pull line there and then? This isn't about throw lines... it's about using everything to your advantage. I don't want to be like "I told ya so" with you Jed.
 
murphy4trees said:
The tree I'm talking about was the spar. YOU WERE UP IN THE TREE TO MAKE THE CUT. why not instal a pull line there and then? This isn't about throw lines... it's about using everything to your advantage. I don't want to be like "I told ya so" with you Jed.
Click to expand...

No, you're right... with that particular tree, yeah, definitely, a guy could just as easily leave his line, BUT:

1) Ya really shouldn't just leave yer climb line. (I've gotta climb line that a friend gave me that is all beat up on one end (he's a rope-bag guy) from him pulling over stems onto the blacktop. :|:... as a result: I've always gotta use the other end to climb off if I wanna feel pretty safe. :|:

2) Therefore: Ya gotta ask fer another line. Takes time. Also:

3) Ya gotta have a dude come over just to jerk on the line. Takes time. PLUS:

4) Ya tend to wast a ton of time (as somebody already pointed out) pinching lines into the dirt, and fussing around with the log to get yer line out so ya don't cut it, and just generally being a dummy when ya could have just banged er over. A guy should always have an axe and wedge on him anyways.
 
I can see if you’re doing ROW work with multiple spar drops how a line is a pita (unless you HAVE to of course)

If it’s domestic with one or two trees, you might as well use a pull line.
 
real, olds-cool

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