Tree Felling Technique Thread

[hseII]

Douglas fir ,32 inch bar View attachment 166233 View attachment 166234 View attachment 166235 View attachment 166236

You forgot to mention the Deuce & a Quarter.


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[hseII]

I like to leave 4-6" on either side of the box, more if its large, less if its neutral and I need to drive it over with wedges. The biggest thing is observing the tree, where it wants to go, and the counter measures you need to take should it have to go elsewhere.

I’m accustomed to a different “box” than you.


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[XP_Slinger]

After looking at the top,
I decided to Bore this one rather than use a conventional back cut. In hindsight, I should have just made a conventional back cut as even though there was a lot of top weight leaning towards the lay, there was a few crooks in the stem that negated the top.

I had to bust out the steels on this one.

I left the hinge heavy on the left side for 2 reasons:
1. The house was just outside the lay & in the potential zone.

2. I’ve cut a lot of Red Oak in the past year that seemed healthy but the stump wood was already compromised due to decay.

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Great work bud. And thanks for elaborating on the how and why you made the cuts you chose and also bringing up what you think would have worked better. Good shtuff.

 

[treesmith]

Good thread Josh, wish I could fell more big trees in one but it's mostly stems and logging to firewood, anything questionable is dealt in sections amd often persuaded by pulling. The gums here are short fibre so hinges are not always trustworthy and there's usually plenty to hit
That said you can steer and swing pieces with a good hinge, as coltont said, no hinge no control

I like to get it moving fast in the right direction

 

[treesmith]

I've lost a lot of photos but I'll dig out what I can find, bottle jacks, winches, tirfors are all good, with wedges as backup, we tend to fell trees in pieces that favour the outcome or get a rope high enough to really get leverage or rig it down in sections, it's usually going through a stupidly small gateway anyway

 

[huskyboy]

Residential/right of way work sure is different than logging. Absolutely ZERO room for error or mistakes. You just want to get the tree down safely as possible. Logging is more about production and getting the most $ out of a tree. Not that you don’t want to be safe with logging... it’s just different. I’ve done both.

 

[XP_Slinger]

Good thread Josh, wish I could fell more big trees in one but it's mostly stems and logging to firewood, anything questionable is dealt in sections amd often persuaded by pulling. The gums here are short fibre so hinges are not always trustworthy and there's usually plenty to hit
That said you can steer and swing pieces with a good hinge, as coltont said, no hinge no control

I like to get it moving fast in the right direction

I’m thinking some big tulip poplar I’m going to harvest may have the same hold wood characteristics as the gum you mentioned. Gonna leave the hinge and trigger fat on the first one to see how it does. If I have to nip the hinge after wedges are driven deep I’ll go from there. Those trees actually have me a little nervous due to questionable hold strength...can’t be any worse than white pine right? Lol!

 

[XP_Slinger]

Residential/right of way work sure is different than logging. Absolutely ZERO room for error or mistakes. You just want to get the tree down safely as possible. Logging is more about production and getting the most $ out of a tree. Not that you don’t want to be safe with logging... it’s just different. I’ve done both.

Harrumph.

 

[TreeLife]

I’m accustomed to a different “box” than you.


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You have probably seen more...box...than me

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

I'm posting these up for @Cat 525 View attachment 166278 View attachment 166279 View attachment 166280

Interesting Tim. 40 plus years of logging experience from Mr. Strunk. I’ve often wondered how much of the walnut is cut. Thanks for sharing. Would love to see more.

 

[beaglebriar]

You have probably seen more...box...than me

Fart box prolly...

 

[460 magnum]

This video shows the same method. You can see there’s no control when it goes down. Talk about some some bore cutting skills.

What was the point in no face cut

 

[beaglebriar]

You don't steer or control it without hinge wood.

Exactly what I was thinking but I don't know everything there is to know on the subject...hence the question.

 

[Coltont]

This video shows the same method. You can see there’s no control when it goes down. Talk about some some bore cutting skills.

Skills? Your joking rite.

 

[Coltont]

Residential/right of way work sure is different than logging. Absolutely ZERO room for error or mistakes. You just want to get the tree down safely as possible. Logging is more about production and getting the most $ out of a tree. Not that you don’t want to be safe with logging... it’s just different. I’ve done both.

Your really all wrong about the logging side. Productivity is super important. As well as safety. But beyond that is not being lazy and taking the time to make the woods look good. It's just as important putting the tree exactly where you want logging as at is in residential removals. As much as the 2 are the same they are nearly not comparable.

 

[Coltont]

Exactly what I was thinking but I don't know everything there is to know on the subject...hence the question.

Yep I understand. Personally the guys on here that are slick stumping and advocating it as a way to cut trees in a safe manner astonishes me. But hey if it's working for those guys have at it.

 

[Dustin4185]

I’m curious as well to what they use if their main concern is safety and control and their reasoning behind it. I teach a fair amount of chainsaw safety courses and felling courses but we never sacrifice safety and control of the tree just to save the log quality. Don’t get me wrong we cut to salvage the timber but when dealing with big dangerous trees the most important aspect is controlling that tree and getting it down without incident.

If they don’t like the humbolt for safety, or an open face cut for its control....WTF do they use and did they say why????

Good deal on getting some training going. Everyone can learn, if they’re willing of course.

Conventional face cut. I have asked numerous other instructors I know (both GOV and logger side). It must be that particular instructor. After a long discussion with the guys that went, we found out the guy that said that also had a diabetic issue during the morning session. Starting talking crazy and about passed out. MAYBE this was part of it. They even showed the a Humboldt in the woods on day 2. They all pretty much just used a "conventional" face cut or open face cut to do their test.

 

[huskyboy]

Your really all wrong about the logging side. Productivity is super important. As well as safety. But beyond that is not being lazy and taking the time to make the woods look good. It's just as important putting the tree exactly where you want logging as at is in residential removals. As much as the 2 are the same they are nearly not comparable.

You basically just reworded my post... I’m confused. Lol

 

[treesmith]

Three cypress in the far left corner, first was a twin stem half over house and half over garden, tied tops together and felled both into garden with a rope.
second leaning towards camera but over left hand fence, felled it at 45° to lean with rope, third (stump shot) leaning over house roof, used high rope into impact block at 90° to lean, extremely full branches and all weight and lean over or past the fence and roof. Left the hinge slightly fat on side away from house, bit of side weight there so, maybe not necessary but worked fine

Put rope in and took up slack, cut shallower high face cut to keep hinge intact, tensioned rope till tree moves slightly, start back cut and slip in wedge to stop sit back if any, carry on with back cut and slip another wedge, tension rope more to take a bit more weight and see when it's starting, finish back cut and seat wedges , make escape, yell "go"

 

[Drptrch]

Conventional face cut. I have asked numerous other instructors I know (both GOV and logger side). It must be that particular instructor. After a long discussion with the guys that went, we found out the guy that said that also had a diabetic issue during the morning session. Starting talking crazy and about passed out. MAYBE this was part of it. They even showed the a Humboldt in the woods on day 2. They all pretty much just used a "conventional" face cut or open face cut to do their test.

So here is a response to Dustin’s question from “2Dogs” CalFire Hazard Contract Faller in Central Calif.




“There two main differences btw the Humboldt and conventional face cuts. One is that a Humboldt will give a flat butt with a bit less waste. This is of no value on a fire of course.

The main difference is how the tree acts as it is falling. A conventional notch will hold the tree to the stump or at least closer to the stump than a Humboldt. This makes it the face cut of choice for tree service guys and S212 sawyers. The hinge doesn't close as fast so it breaks later or maybe not at all. It is easier to teach when the instructor has no experience the fire service. It's a big scary world out there. Many of the hand crew sawyers and captains that I work with, and that is quite a few with the projects we have going right now, make a HUGE face cut that never closes and requires the sawyer to make another cut to free the tree from the stump. However for the sawyer that never cuts big trees it's OK.

The Humboldt's real advantage is how you can set it up to move the tree. In it's simplest form the sawyer knows the narrow face will close early and push the tree out away from the stump where it will be easier for the skidder or yarder to fetch it. Lean, Dutchmen, snipes, Coos Bay, thick hinge, angled hinge, gutted heart, jack seats, etc. can all be sawn into a Humboldt more easily than a conventional face. On bigger trees say 36" dbh and greater you need to be able to use those techniques to get the tree to fall exactly where you aim it.

For me and my son Cody and most of the other guys sawing a Humboldt is more intuitive than sawing a conventional face. It is more likely my cuts will match up. In my opinion when an instructor is telling his students to never use some certain technique then he probably doesn't know how and when to teach it. Many years ago when I took S212 one of the students early on asked about the "always and never" scenarios as if falling is black and white. He thought about that and gave a few funny responses. He also said "never put in the back cut first which got laughs. My hand shot up and so I explained jack seats. At noon the first day he asked me to help teach the class, not because I'm a smart nut but because I had much more experience.

Anyway, conventional face for tree service, firewood cutting homeowners, and firefighters. Humboldt for fallers.






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