Tree Felling Technique Thread

[RI Chevy]

Yikes Colton.
I wonder if all this wet weather is going to make for a bad dangerous tick season?

 

[mdavlee]

See I been telling them Randy & they ain’t been listening.

You made a believer out of me.

Mayhaps they’ll listen to you.


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Steep and deep is much easier wedging for sure.

 

[Coltont]

Yikes Colton.
I wonder if all this wet weather is going to make for a bad dangerous tick season?

Probably no different than how it's been here in central pa for 10 years. You bump into the rite bush or thicket and it's not uncommon to have 25 or 30 on you. Treating your clothes does help a little bit. Weird thing is I cut timber for a living and can only remember a few times getting them on me while working. Always thought maybe the exhaust and bar oil that gets on your pants cutting all day helped keep them away.

 

[XP_Slinger]

Probably no different than how it's been here in central pa for 10 years. You bump into the rite bush or thicket and it's not uncommon to have 25 or 30 on you. Treating your clothes does help a little bit. Weird thing is I cut timber for a living and can only remember a few times getting them on me while working. Always thought maybe the exhaust and bar oil that gets on your pants cutting all day helped keep them away.

Ticks have gotten terrible up here in Central NY in the last 10 years also. As I kid I crawled around every kind of brush you can imagine and never saw a single tick, now if you sit on the ground hunting you get covered with them. Sucks

 

[Coltont]

Ticks have gotten terrible up here in Central NY in the last 10 years also. As I kid I crawled around every kind of brush you can imagine and never saw a single tick, now if you sit on the ground hunting you get covered with them. Sucks

Exactly the same here, I'd really like to take my daughter with me picking morel mushrooms this spring but im not subjecting her to tick infested woods.

 

[Leeroy]

That's my theory on the ticks as well @Coltont
Go for a walk with forester/landowner and they will come out covered, and I might find a few at most. Also wonder if the vibes help too.

 

[RI Chevy]

I got the tick diaease a couple years back. Never even knew I had it ..
Damn ticks

 

[Skeans1]

I got the tick diaease a couple years back. Never even knew I had it ..
Damn ticks

Rocky Mountain Fever or Lime?


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[RI Chevy]

Lyme and another variant.
Never got the redness or seemed to have any symptoms.

 

[~WBF]

Good stuff gents.

Question: how much lean can be overcome with wedges as a general rule of thumb. I was eyeballing an ash yesterday, about 17” dbh, 10 to 15* of back lean, 75 feet tall.

Want to send it against its lean to fell into an open area but the relatively small diameter doesn’t leave a ton of room to drive wedges. I know it’s hard to judge the situation by my description but if you have some incite I’m all ears. I think I can push it over but it’s got enough lean that I know I’ll have to lift at the stump A LOT to move the top enough to fell against the lean.

Maybe I’ll just winch it over, there’s that option too

This is just funny

View attachment 168667

No rule of thumb. Many things to consider. Just because you have the rise doesn't mean you can move the weight. Lots of water in the tops certain times a year, branch heavy to one side, inconsistent tree angles. Pull of a hill. The species or Sometimes the top sag on elongated spindly trees that have reduced crown with a short wedging base. possibly it's the wind that becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back.


You can use degrees as another tool if its consistent but it is forever changing also.

The degrees are only relevant to the 'run' (base) from the back of the tree to the pivot that determines lift angle and not the wedge height.

So you understood that the other gentleman's figures were based on that one 'Angle' only
Keep in mind there is a saw kerf to be considered on the first lift also. Maybe it's 5/16 on a new chain ?? My K&H 10" are about 3/4 thick 12/16 minis 5/16 gives me a approx 7/16 lift only (which is a good thing) probably at about .7" with an 1" thick wedge.

There is a few other tools you can use to judge from the base too if the angle is consistent.

Hello everybody

 

[huskihl]

I agree Heath. I do not understand the slope on that cut ... back to the face.
But I am a simple guy. Not a feller.

I personally would have used a bigger bar on the saw to drop that tree.

Looked to me like he cut his holding wood when he was making the cut behind the right side of the jack. And then the the tree went left.

 

[~WBF]

Looked to me like he cut his holding wood when he was making the cut behind the right side of the jack. And then the the tree went left.

No the fibers broke at the root Kevin on the 'safe side' (The tension side) Possibly going a bit punky at the root? Fibers look odd but maybe just from the stress break?
He cut the middle out and possibly some tension wood with it. He should have lead with axe and both wedges on low back side instead of chasing only. You get an upward pressure with a jack on a small tree . Not a lot of room from the hinge to the jack point. Wedging is ' different mechanics' the way I see it.
(Depending where it's wedged from.
The wedge is almost
always going to be steeper than trunk angle once it starts so its only forcing in with outer edge contact.

If not more high side holding wood then different techniques were needed.
Not sure why he is using the jack?

 

[XP_Slinger]

No rule of thumb. Many things to consider. Just because you have the rise doesn't mean you can move the weight. Lots of water in the tops certain times a year, branch heavy to one side, inconsistent tree angles. Pull of a hill. The species or Sometimes the top sag on elongated spindly trees that have reduced crown with a short wedging base. possibly it's the wind that becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back.


You can use degrees as another tool if its consistent but it is forever changing also.

The degrees are only relevant to the 'run' (base) from the back of the tree to the pivot that determines lift angle and not the wedge height.

So you understood that the other gentleman's figures were based on that one 'Angle' only
Keep in mind there is a saw kerf to be considered on the first lift also. Maybe it's 5/16 on a new chain ?? My K&H 10" are about 3/4 thick 12/16 minis 5/16 gives me a approx 7/16 lift only (which is a good thing) probably at about .7" with an 1" thick wedge.

There is a few other tools you can use to judge from the base too if the angle is consistent.

Hello everybody

Great info, thanks for sharing. Man you’re spot on, there’s never just one variable to consider.

Welcome to OPE!

 

[beaglebriar]

I don't know why the hell he was jacking those trees in the first place. Didn't look like anything a couple wedges couldn't handle. Piss poor technique imo.

 

[Deets066]

Found this walking a sale were going to be cutting along the property line. Not sure what the outcome was but it looks like it was dangerous. March 15 and the ticks are everywhere already.

Little bastards... I hate em

 

[XP_Slinger]

I don't know why the hell he was jacking those trees in the first place. Didn't look like anything a couple wedges couldn't handle. Piss poor technique imo.

Hard to say without being there judging the tree. But I agree, for the amount of jacking required to push it over it looked like wedges would’ve done the job

 

[RandyMac]

Yeah ticks, I rate them below spiders, but above yellow-jackets.
My cousin Kev and I got into a big patch of 100 year old 2nd growth Redwoods, the area was plagued with ticks and sticks.
We had a wonderful time, it rained every day, all day, from the first day, to the last day. Did I mention sticks?
I swear one *f-wording third the volume of a big 2nd growth was *f-wording limbs, nothing much bigger than 3'' dia, but the *f-worders were long and there are lots of them.
the sticks beat you black and blue, the ticks crawled into your boots

 

[~WBF]

Little bastards... I hate em

Hey Deets whats up?
That's the first time I have ever seen one in a real picture. Only seen a blown up illustration before in my first aid book.
Mind you I think I have them in my head every year. Everytime you bump your head and forget about it and you feel a scab a few days later. Or buddy threw a full unopened beer at me and it broke in the centre of my neck just below the base of the scull where my hard hat strap rides. It flares up all the time. My first reaction is "its a tick". That only has been tormenting me for 25+ yrs.

 

[Skeans1]

I don't know why the hell he was jacking those trees in the first place. Didn't look like anything a couple wedges couldn't handle. Piss poor technique imo.

Hard to say without being there judging the tree. But I agree, for the amount of jacking required to push it over it looked like wedges would’ve done the job

There’s many reasons to jack over a tree, how many of you guys have done poles? Or other super high value sticks where every foot counts because it’s a marked tree? Jacking is an art you normally go 1/3 to 1/2 way with the face after you put the seat in.

If you look the face is about 1/2 way in hinge is probably 10% and this is red cedar a super soft wood that pops off a stump.


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[Moparmyway]

No the fibers broke at the root Kevin on the 'safe side' (The tension side) Possibly going a bit punky at the root? Fibers look odd but maybe just from the stress break?
He cut the middle out and possibly some tension wood with it. He should have lead with axe and both wedges on low back side instead of chasing only. You get an upward pressure with a jack on a small tree . Not a lot of room from the hinge to the jack point. Wedging is ' different mechanics' the way I see it.
(Depending where it's wedged from.
The wedge is almost
always going to be steeper than trunk angle once it starts so its only forcing in with outer edge contact.

If not more high side holding wood then different techniques were needed.
Not sure why he is using the jack?

Welcome to OPE (again)
Still think your round filed chain can beat my square filed/ground chain ?