Tree felling vids
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MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Interesting. I avoid the saw grab by cutting level with the face cut.
bstewert
TreeHouser
How do you do it differently?
murphy4trees
TreeHouser
I make a slightly (downward) angled top cut first, make it as deep as is practical, like stig says, so they just fall over... then make the flat cut-(bottom of the face), and don;t even try to make the two face cuts match evenly.. instead make the bottom (flat cut) an inch or so high purposely, so two cuts will definitely bypass. Once the bottom cut has bypassed the top cut, just keep cutting..... straight back, til the piece starts to settle just a hair... pull the saw out, and nip the back strap, and the piece just falls right over, directly into the face.. NO HINGE... it simply falls that way cause it has to... There is no need for the control a hinge offers.. so its ridiculous to make the effort to create one, then have to make that much more effort to push the piece.
This bypass face and back release is quick and easy...
mistahbenn
Treehouser
Gord is the man!
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
Other interest : when blocking down a leaning stem over target, it gives a rest to keep the round in place, even a heavy one, held by only one hand. So there is time to shut down the saw, and put the both hands to take the round. And with a thin step between the front and back cut, there's a small strength needed to free the round, so you can put all your forces to control the weight, without the surprising effect of the wood fibers popping as in the usual cross cut.
Ok, I get it.
I'll see if I can try that at the next take down.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
Tom does it that way too .
Lets see if I can explain this:
I start out by making a horizontal cut almost all the way through the stem. I keep an eye on the cut and only stop when it starts to close.
Then I make a 45 degree upwards cut creating what is basically a hinge-less Humboldt.
This makes the round sit forward a bit, so when I cut the remaining fibers, it's own weight combined with that slight lean will cause it to fall.
I don't make my final cut a bypass cut , but try to hit the first cut dead on. I don't want any fibers hgolding the round back.
One has to be careful doing that, a slight overcut above the first cut will make for a sawsnatcher.
I start out by making a horizontal cut almost all the way through the stem. I keep an eye on the cut and only stop when it starts to close.
Then I make a 45 degree upwards cut creating what is basically a hinge-less Humboldt.
This makes the round sit forward a bit, so when I cut the remaining fibers, it's own weight combined with that slight lean will cause it to fall.
I don't make my final cut a bypass cut , but try to hit the first cut dead on. I don't want any fibers hgolding the round back.
One has to be careful doing that, a slight overcut above the first cut will make for a sawsnatcher.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Good explanation, Stig...I got it now. And the precautionary saw snatcher explanation is good...thanks.
Ian Flatters
TreeHouser
The reason why i cut lower on the stem sections that are evenly balanced is because its less likely to take the saw with it, i'll put together another video this weekend hopefully of a thuja we did a while back. Also ive been playing with the face depth to try and get the timber to hit the ground flat. Obviously anything with a lean or a top i use normal felling cuts.
But basically, i cut my horizontal line just over halfway, add the face in the direction of the drop zone, cut lower to create the step, chainbrake on then push.
But basically, i cut my horizontal line just over halfway, add the face in the direction of the drop zone, cut lower to create the step, chainbrake on then push.
Gord's Magic Cut or sniped snap cut. Releases without pushing. No saw snatching. Some directional control on vertical to leaning-to-the-lay sections. Easy peasy. A fast way to block down a spar. No fighting hinges, no pull ropes, no ropes trapped under logs. No pulling up the pull line, then having to get your climbline back out of the dropzone(or back in the ropebag on your harness).
Jed
TreeHouser
Ian: Thanks so much for posting the vid. Great taste in music btw. Hey, I caught your line about "making the timber hit flat." Have you heard of Jerry Beranek's 18% rule? Man, it's sweet for taking down tall, straight stems. We'll bust the top our of a 120' Fir, so now, you've got a 100' stick. Descend eighteen feet. (If you are six feet tall, then kick the bark off of that pig with your spurs to mark-off six-foot increments three times (18' log). Now saw your face-cut at least 60% of the way through the pig (straight stem, mind you). Torch it off with the back cut.... Bam! The log just did a 270 degree flip, and landed flat and safe (if it's been raining) usually is up here, so no worries. Next log: 14.76'. Next one: 12.1' etc. Man, I owe Jer the world for that little trick.
Tarzan: Thanks as always. Well sawn!
Tarzan: Thanks as always. Well sawn!
murphy4trees
TreeHouser
I thought about it a while and decided it was better to go without a humboldt for this cut... I know a lot of you faller type are used to cutting humboldts and you might even be better at cutting them than trad or open face, but for me, its much easier to use a slanted top cut rather than fight gravity cutting uphill... I don't see the advantage of a humboldt in this situation. the pieces move just fine with just a narrow AND DEEP trad notch. any reason why you do Stig?
And Jed,
I like that 20% trick A LOT too.. showed it to one of my new guys who has a good head on his shoulders and was born to climb, and he wanted to argue with me about how he thought that the "openness" of the face should make the amount of rotation change. after about the third time I had to repeat myself, that the it didn't matter much and that the 18-20% was all that was really important, and he wanted to keep arguing about it, I had to get in his face a little and tell him "it doesn't matter WTF you think, I AM telling you the way it is, and you ought to STFU and listen, like you don't know $hit, cause you don't". Actually, (he may have been a little drunk) his attitude in that conversation reminds me quite a bit of a lot of the dumbazz critiques of my videos made by so many that think they know so much, but don't... I finished by asking him why he wanted to keep arguing about it?........... I didn't make this chit up.. this was taught by west coast loggers that do nothing all day, but spike up single stem conifers, limbing them up as they go, and then bomb the wood down on the way back, and there's big $ involved in making those pieces land flat..
Anyhow when we get a couple good trees to play with, we're gonna do some experimenting and hopefully get it to video... I just bid three nice straight white pines, hope to get the job and put the camera in the bucket..
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
With a snipe on the bottom of the face cut, the log is almost out of the spar when the hinge breaks. That's nearly a free fall.
With a slanted top cut, the butt of the log is always on the spar when the hinge breaks. As the butt rests a little longer, the log tends to flip quicker in the air. The forward motion tends to reduce this phenomenon though.
That's how I see that, but maybe I'm wrong about the relative speeds (rotational, forward and vertical).
murphy4trees
TreeHouser
by "this situation" I mean bombing chunks, where how and where they fall is not important.. as long as they go in one general direction.
Jed
TreeHouser
Cool Daniel: I'd love to see the vid if stuff works out. Ohhh... and I'm just a private sector, res. arb., but we still find that trick really handy. I believe that when and if loggers out here have to climb, (I don't know of any of them that do) they would most likely have to "Joe-poke" the logs (land em on end) to get them so save-out better. I should have given you the shrapnel advisory in my last post, btw. A dead fir log will bust up something fierce when it hits hard ground. Green does too, but I (maybe by good luck) haven't lost too many projectiles out of them yet.... 
Ian Flatters
TreeHouser
I do have his DVDs but when i get the chance to watch TV i get 5mins in and the wifes like WTF!! ARBPORN!! I do really need to watch through them.
Ian Flatters
TreeHouser
I put together some footage off a job a while back, shows me using the swedish cut on the stem sections http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ml5aVtKh3Q&feature=youtu.be
murphy4trees
TreeHouser
That's a nice cut bro... good anytime you can set your saw and push, without fear that you might have to do some more cutting..
the ability to set the saw gives you more control on the direction and rotation of the fall/piece...
the one I use, which has yet to be named, is good for fatter wood, where don't want to have to push by hand.. zip zip and she just falls right into the face..
I'll try to get some video of that for ya'll
the ability to set the saw gives you more control on the direction and rotation of the fall/piece...
the one I use, which has yet to be named, is good for fatter wood, where don't want to have to push by hand.. zip zip and she just falls right into the face..
I'll try to get some video of that for ya'll
flushcut
TreeHouser
Ha that's funny I call it the same thing!
SouthSoundTree
Treehouser
Ian, is that sloping release back cut so that you can be sure to cross the plunge kerf? Any risk of a saw snatcher that way?
Many use a horizontal release cut slightly below the plunge.
Is that thuja plicata, what we call western redcedar or western red cedar?
Many use a horizontal release cut slightly below the plunge.
Is that thuja plicata, what we call western redcedar or western red cedar?
Ian Flatters
TreeHouser
Yeah western red cedar, its called a dog tooth back cut. Taught at colleges to avoid the risk of barber chair, personally i use split level but Tom has only been out of college for a bit so i let him do what hes been taught rather than tell him different ways and he makes a hash of it.
Jed
TreeHouser
Yeah man. Had the same problem. Here's what you do: wait till she's had a really long walk, and then tell her that, after dinner, you'll give her a foot-rub. Make good on it, but rub her calves as well, then pop working climber into the laptop....
Man, I'm telling you: before you've finished with her Achilles tendons, she'll be sawing her own logs while you watch Jer saw his!
