Tree cutting skills. Be careful who you learn or take advise from

[afleetcommand]

Feels like this thread is a "mirror" of another.

 

[afleetcommand]

John Adlers "Swing" felling tips

 

[davidwyby]

What I do know is you are analytical enough to build a plan to safely deal with that tree.

60” bar and use just the end!

 

[Stihlalltheway]

I have a real hard leaning dead Euc to drop. Euc is brittle and doesn’t split easily…I wonder if it will chair.

Do the worlds cutest little face cut and bore cut the back cut *s-word’ll buff

 

[Loony661]

Do the worlds cutest little face cut and bore cut the back cut *s-word’ll buff

On real hard leaners, I bore the center first, leaving the trigger thicker than normal. Then nip the front until it settles (this gets tricky and can easily pinch a bar if you’re not careful). Then cut the notch. Last, cut the trigger and get outta the way. Leaners always fall hard and fast.

 

[davidwyby]

Pic angle doesn’t show it but it’s probably 45° towards the camera. I’ll vid it.

Might just drop it straight on the trailer

 

[afleetcommand]

One thing that has been both interesting and fun is to put a camera up close to the tree cut & stump as if begins its fall. For fun here is a few. Obviously a production type doesn't have the time, but others might. I now have over 100 close ups to try and get a better understanding of how my trees react to different hinge & cut strategies'. Funny what the camera will pick up. Here are a few ( 2 minutes worth ) from before I got serious about it, for fun from last year finishing up with a couple from this year. Just stumps. Beginning to develop a "library" of different species as they do react differently. These from my farm and a couple of tree jobs.

A few "Stumps" to see and evaluate

From this last season of logging, a few stumps

rumble.com

 

[huskyhank]

Good video!

 

[davidwyby]

 

[Normzilla]

Yup, I agree with the premise of this thread.... and certainly the right person to get advise from in my world is :
This place. Pretty much nothing related to cutting the west coast huge pines applies here. Two video's really made impact from that collection, the first is this one:

Their site for those who work in the area's I do:

https://www.youtube.com/@gameoflogging

Seems like a cool dude with a good outlook on things, woods and hazard wise. But people die who bore cut, and people die who cut east coastnstyle. And people die doing it west coast style. And this form of cutting won't work on all trees certainly hear. And the biggest killer is complacency. Being in a hurry, or just plain taking things for granted. Mistakes we shouldn't make, or know better. The time many of these guys spend plunging and circling, kills me to watch. Your spending more time at the tree, woth a smaller saw, chasing more wood. You get on big trees it will take time whatever the cutting method. We gotta look and plan extra hard on every tree. Use the same skill and safety net, even if it's a sampling. If you practice practice and use the same steps, let it become not even second nature. Let it become nature, completely natural where you can do it and do over and over. Of you skip steps on small trees, and overlook things on little trees, and dodge bullets
You will definitely miss things and get complacency on more dangerous ones. I do like this guy and agree on most of what he's saying.

 

[Normzilla]

As well on bi g trees we do cut some of that heart wood up, and times do use some bore cuts and saw up some wood. But it's very different than East coast ways. It all depends how you chase that holding wood and what kind of hinge you need some we need thicker. Some you nearly saw off the stump or stay in the cut while it's moving, and then get put fast. I've had to do that in many that need to push through limbs and not get hung up.

 

[afleetcommand]

Seems like a cool dude with a good outlook on things, woods and hazard wise. But people die who bore cut, and people die who cut east coastnstyle. And people die doing it west coast style. And this form of cutting won't work on all trees certainly hear. And the biggest killer is complacency. Being in a hurry, or just plain taking things for granted. Mistakes we shouldn't make, or know better. The time many of these guys spend plunging and circling, kills me to watch. Your spending more time at the tree, woth a smaller saw, chasing more wood. You get on big trees it will take time whatever the cutting method. We gotta look and plan extra hard on every tree. Use the same skill and safety net, even if it's a sampling. If you practice practice and use the same steps, let it become not even second nature. Let it become nature, completely natural where you can do it and do over and over. Of you skip steps on small trees, and overlook things on little trees, and dodge bullets
You will definitely miss things and get complacency on more dangerous ones. I do like this guy and agree on most of what he's saying.

I could not agree with your overview more. Thank you for setting that as the standard to have an actual discussion. In fact can't say it enough. Thanks yet again. Every situation and area will work out their best way of doing things, have to trust them with an open mind. But bottom line is this is a game of statistics. And the more "complacent" we are the statistics go in the wrong direction regardless of approach. And every group where a lot of thought has been invested to build an approach will be somewhat protective of their baby. Hoping folks can learn with an open mind more from these type of forums where folks from literally around the planet can share their experiences. I did a video, not going to post the link you all know were it is; where my best laid out plan for my typical "blended" Humboldt/GOL style ran into a tree full of barbed wire. That situation just created impatience and went from bad to worse. Prolly the most efficient way at that point was excavator. And one point that rarely gets articulated is the over all context of what "efficient" means, in some cases a minute being "safe" is a fraction of the overall operation. like this last month in the swamp for me where its tree and extraction one at a time vs. just production like felling. Point being a more efficient by time cutting sometimes means very little in the over all system time wize, but one that is accurate, repeatable, and safe even if its not as "speedy" by a few seconds even minutes means more. Have to say I watch some of the west coast felling on video with awe. Recognize that centuries of thought has brought them to where they are to handle those enormous trees. Be fun to see more of Dave's type "situations" here to kick around situation by situation

 

[Loony661]

Seems like a cool dude with a good outlook on things, woods and hazard wise. But people die who bore cut, and people die who cut east coastnstyle. And people die doing it west coast style. And this form of cutting won't work on all trees certainly hear. And the biggest killer is complacency. Being in a hurry, or just plain taking things for granted. Mistakes we shouldn't make, or know better. The time many of these guys spend plunging and circling, kills me to watch. Your spending more time at the tree, woth a smaller saw, chasing more wood. You get on big trees it will take time whatever the cutting method. We gotta look and plan extra hard on every tree. Use the same skill and safety net, even if it's a sampling. If you practice practice and use the same steps, let it become not even second nature. Let it become nature, completely natural where you can do it and do over and over. Of you skip steps on small trees, and overlook things on little trees, and dodge bullets
You will definitely miss things and get complacency on more dangerous ones. I do like this guy and agree on most of what he's saying.

I could not agree with your overview more. Thank you for setting that as the standard to have an actual discussion. In fact can't say it enough. Thanks yet again. Every situation and area will work out their best way of doing things, have to trust them with an open mind. But bottom line is this is a game of statistics. And the more "complacent" we are the statistics go in the wrong direction regardless of approach. And every group where a lot of thought has been invested to build an approach will be somewhat protective of their baby. Hoping folks can learn with an open mind more from these type of forums where folks from literally around the planet can share their experiences. I did a video, not going to post the link you all know were it is; where my best laid out plan for my typical "blended" Humboldt/GOL style ran into a tree full of barbed wire. That situation just created impatience and went from bad to worse. Prolly the most efficient way at that point was excavator. And one point that rarely gets articulated is the over all context of what "efficient" means, in some cases a minute being "safe" is a fraction of the overall operation. like this last month in the swamp for me where its tree and extraction one at a time vs. just production like felling. Point being a more efficient by time cutting means very little in the over all system time wize, but one that is accurate, repeatable, and safe even if its not as "speedy" by a few seconds even minutes means more. Have to say I watch some of the west coast felling on video with awe. Recognize that centuries of thought has brought them to where they are to handle those enormous trees. Be fun to see more of Dave's type "situations" here to kick around situation by situation

Well said, men. Open mind is a must. And situational awareness is another. It’s a fine line between being confident, cocky, and complacent. We run that ragged edge everyday we’re in the woods and it’s up to us as individuals to keep our head in the game, and humble about it.

 

[afleetcommand]

A contrast

Planned

 

[afleetcommand]

Actual

 

[davidwyby]

“Wide open faces”

 

[Normzilla]

I could not agree with your overview more. Thank you for setting that as the standard to have an actual discussion. In fact can't say it enough. Thanks yet again. Every situation and area will work out their best way of doing things, have to trust them with an open mind. But bottom line is this is a game of statistics. And the more "complacent" we are the statistics go in the wrong direction regardless of approach. And every group where a lot of thought has been invested to build an approach will be somewhat protective of their baby. Hoping folks can learn with an open mind more from these type of forums where folks from literally around the planet can share their experiences. I did a video, not going to post the link you all know were it is; where my best laid out plan for my typical "blended" Humboldt/GOL style ran into a tree full of barbed wire. That situation just created impatience and went from bad to worse. Prolly the most efficient way at that point was excavator. And one point that rarely gets articulated is the over all context of what "efficient" means, in some cases a minute being "safe" is a fraction of the overall operation. like this last month in the swamp for me where its tree and extraction one at a time vs. just production like felling. Point being a more efficient by time cutting sometimes means very little in the over all system time wize, but one that is accurate, repeatable, and safe even if its not as "speedy" by a few seconds even minutes means more. Have to say I watch some of the west coast felling on video with awe. Recognize that centuries of thought has brought them to where they are to handle those enormous trees. Be fun to see more of Dave's type "situations" here to kick around situation by situation

Absolutely and thank u as well for chiming in and sharing knowledge as well.

 

[hseII]

I pity the people learning from a wranglerstar or whoever on social media or YouTube.

August Hunike is top shelf along with Reg Coates.

I pray the pupils don’t watch Most Everyone else.

 

[hseII]

Nice, that's a pretty awesome piece of life to meet Dent. Never had a chance to look at Jepsons stuff, but would like too. I'm wondering on the hardwood accidents, just tough trees or were they strictly timber fallers inexperienced with hardwood too? One area I feel fortunate I've been able to get a good mix of both over the years. While early on I was more experienced in hardwoods.and big ones too, and some fir etc, but had not gotten onto super tall stuff. First redwood I got into was pretty tall ones, in my 20s, and slightly intimidating at first definitely a learning curve, into the life of a timber faller. You also mentioned fires, that's another great topic and learning curve. Never had I experienced or cut fire trees until the 2017 fires hit sonoma county. That was a different animal and learning curve of experience. Definitely more hazards and different stuff involved.

JJ Summed it up well.

Jepson’s “To Fell A Tree” is to the East Coast of what Dent’s book is to the West Coast.

Both are correct depending on where a fellow is standing & what he’s cutting.

I’ve got Mr. G’s stuff & intend to study it when I have time.

I have & like both.

 

[hseII]

PS,

Is this the new @Normzilla work thread?