Tree felling vids

Sorry but I'm not seeing anything special there. Most of us were doing stuff like that within our first few weeks of picking up a chainsaw. You set a rope, cut a notch(sloppy, I might add), pulled a tree over, and only broke a few small limbs on the other trees. Big deal.

Don't get me wrong; I admire your ambition and enthusiasm in making these videos. I have neither the time nor the inclination to document my work but you're not doing anything that 90% of us do every single day.

Am I being too critical? Or maybe I'm missing the point.
 
Off the top of my head, most tree guys don't cut clean, nice faces (as you alluded to in your post) and back cuts, nor do they use wedges.

Yes, most tree guys cut down trees, but not with the finer details of Jedidiah.
 
Mellow said:
Sorry but I'm not seeing anything special there. Most of us were doing stuff like that within our first few weeks of picking up a chainsaw. You set a rope, cut a notch(sloppy, I might add), pulled a tree over, and only broke a few small limbs on the other trees. Big deal.

Don't get me wrong; I admire your ambition and enthusiasm in making these videos. I have neither the time nor the inclination to document my work but you're not doing anything that 90% of us do every single day.

Am I being too critical? Or maybe I'm missing the point.
Click to expand...
Certainly, nothing special about this tree... easy fall... just a discussion of some details that may help some viewers... obviously not much for the experienced fallers... Although one point of contention may be that the notch is cut so deep as to be almost 50% diameter so that the hinge is as wide as possible. That contradicts the 1/3 or 80% rule. and of course, the hinge is much fatter than many here show. Someone was saying something about an elegant thin hinge... total nonsense IMO..
 
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murphy4trees said:
Certainly, nothing special about this tree...
Although one point of contention may be that the notch is cut so deep as to be almost 50% diameter so that the hinge is as wide as possible. That contradicts the 1/3 or 80% rule. and of course, the hinge is much fatter than many here show.
Click to expand...
200.gif
 
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murphy4trees said:
Certainly, nothing special about this tree... easy fall... just a discussion of some details that may help some viewers... obviously not much for the experienced fallers... Although one point of contention may be that the notch is cut so deep as to be almost 50% diameter so that the hinge is as wide as possible. That contradicts the 1/3 or 80% rule. and of course, the hinge is much fatter than many here show. Someone was saying something about an elegant thin hinge... total nonsense IMO..
Click to expand...

Well, Mr. Murphy...if anyone has a solid handle on nonsense, it would be you.
:lol:
 
Kind of funny how the guy who was raving about "micro notches" a short while ago, is going the other way now.
 
gf beranek said:
There's a time for both.
Click to expand...
It depends on what you call a thick or thin hinge. As far as thin goes, often enough the trunk left in residential work requires the hinge to be pencil thin to pull over without a machine. But as for thick hinges, I think I'd prefer a multi hinge approach like a triple hinge rather than >3" thick as they just break instead of bend.

The other day I was pulling with a mini skid while the boss was cutting a big 35-40" Ash log about 30ft tall. He stops cutting after the face cut wanting a 36" bar instead of 24", I laughed inside thinking of you pros. I said, gut the hinge and walk the saw all the way around, but that appeared out of his comfort zone/experience level, though he's cut a lot more trees than me. I think I've only felled a tree 3 times this year so far. Not finding a 36" he starts the back cut, I do my best to judge when to pull with the machine based on any movement I feel or see and how thin I judge the hinge to be. It must have been 12" thick still as he and the, know-it-all (as usual) climber, no offence to you climbers, motioned to start pulling. I put as much tension on the rope as I know I can, but they keep waving me back as I go nowhere. So, for the sake of getting along, I don't argue the trivial matter and just do what they say, which results in the tracks slipping and wiping the grass off the ground reducing my pulling ability by half now that the tracks only have wet dirt to for grip. Anyway, the tree finally goes over once his hinge was around 3".

A lot of people don't realize making the hinge and pulling the tree over can be 2 steps, but they think: pull and back cut, and if you can, cut it off the stump before it hits the ground.
 
nice hinge on that spruce. Precision incision, as Keith Borders use to say.

In open layouts, for fair-standing trees in general, and stripped out poles standing vertical with no side-favor, one not need a beefy hinge to hold or guide either.

In more tight quarters a wide face opening is probably more important than extra hinge-wood. Ensure some stump-shot and a gap at the hinge and you should never go wrong.

If in doubt go to plan B.
 
Nutball said:
It depends on what you call a thick or thin hinge. As far as thin goes, often enough the trunk left in residential work requires the hinge to be pencil thin to pull over without a machine. But as for thick hinges, I think I'd prefer a multi hinge approach like a triple hinge rather than >3" thick as they just break instead of bend.

The other day I was pulling with a mini skid while the boss was cutting a big 35-40" Ash log about 30ft tall. He stops cutting after the face cut wanting a 36" bar instead of 24", I laughed inside thinking of you pros. I said, gut the hinge and walk the saw all the way around, but that appeared out of his comfort zone/experience level, though he's cut a lot more trees than me. I think I've only felled a tree 3 times this year so far. Not finding a 36" he starts the back cut, I do my best to judge when to pull with the machine based on any movement I feel or see and how thin I judge the hinge to be. It must have been 12" thick still as he and the, know-it-all (as usual) climber, no offence to you climbers, motioned to start pulling. I put as much tension on the rope as I know I can, but they keep waving me back as I go nowhere. So, for the sake of getting along, I don't argue the trivial matter and just do what they say, which results in the tracks slipping and wiping the grass off the ground reducing my pulling ability by half now that the tracks only have wet dirt to for grip. Anyway, the tree finally goes over once his hinge was around 3".

A lot of people don't realize making the hinge and pulling the tree over can be 2 steps, but they think: pull and back cut, and if you can, cut it off the stump before it hits the ground.
Click to expand...
that sounds like a shlt show... good luck over there..
 
murphy4trees said:
hardly.... you just don't get it.....

why???

because it's outside your little box. haha 😄
Click to expand...

I get that you constantly have to come up with some new idiocy in order to show us all, just how "Out of the box" you are.

As for that tree in the video, when you try to get a tree down in a small lay between other trees while causing as little breakage as possible, you want a hinge that breaks as the tree reaches the other trees or a little before, so the tree can "roll with the punches".
I'd aim a little to the side and use a step duchman in that side of the hinge to break the hinge, allowing the tree to roll.
That greatly reduces the chance of broken branches.

But I guess that is too " in the box" for you.
Anyway, what are some broken branches to the " King of collateral damage".
 
stig said:
I get that you constantly have to come up with some new idiocy in order to show us all, just how "Out of the box" you are.

As for that tree in the video, when you try to get a tree down in a small lay between other trees while causing as little breakage as possible, you want a hinge that breaks as the tree reaches the other trees or a little before, so the tree can "roll with the punches".
I'd aim a little to the side and use a step duchman in that side of the hinge to break the hinge, allowing the tree to roll.
That greatly reduces the chance of broken branches.

But I guess that is too " in the box" for you.
Anyway, what are some broken branches to the " King of collateral damage".
Click to expand...
A sound technique in the woods.. hardly needed in this scenario.... I've cut plenty of steep narrow humboldts cut head high to allow the but to drop and shorten the fall, while reducing the forces at the tips.. not to many roll-offs as suburban scenarios don't often require them... as it was here.. the only damage was a very small ash limb on a tree that will certainly be dead in a couple of years from EAB. Even if that tree wasn't a gonner the damage was so minimal that it's really not worth mentioning, except for someone online who is looking for any derogatory comment they can find... you're ego forces you to attack and attack.. which dampens any real discussion that could lead to a fruitful dialogue... that's a shame
 
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