Tree Felling Technique Thread

[woodfarmer]

So today an ash had a mind of its own and wanted to go 90* to my intended fall direction. Sat right down on my 24” tsumura light bar. I was pissed. Got the power head off and thought crap, there goes that bar.
I put the winch to it as it had also hung up. Pulling it back toward where I originally wanted it to go, thought I’d get lucky and just break the tip.
The bar had a noticeable bow to it. Long story shorter, I pulled the tree off the stump, down it went.
When I looked at the bar it was like nothing happened to it other than a couple of the epoxy inserts or whatever they are looked slightly damaged.
Put it back on the saw and ran it, no problem.
I am now sold on tsumura light and tough and.....flexible bars.

However I still find them almost too flexible for boring to set the hinge which I don’t do too often anyways as I find boring is not necessary 90% of the time. I think it has become a fad due to so many YouTube videos.
The only boring I try to do is to bore the heart on ash trees to prevent them Barber chairing.

 

[beaglebriar]

So today an ash had a mind of its own and wanted to go 90* to my intended fall direction. Sat right down on my 24” tsumura light bar. I was pissed. Got the power head off and thought crap, there goes that bar.
I put the winch to it as it had also hung up. Pulling it back toward where I originally wanted it to go, thought I’d get lucky and just break the tip.
The bar had a noticeable bow to it. Long story shorter, I pulled the tree off the stump, down it went.
When I looked at the bar it was like nothing happened to it other than a couple of the epoxy inserts or whatever they are looked slightly damaged.
Put it back on the saw and ran it, no problem.
I am now sold on tsumura light and tough and.....flexible bars.

However I still find them almost too flexible for boring to set the hinge which I don’t do too often anyways as I find boring is not necessary 90% of the time. I think it has become a fad due to so many YouTube videos.
The only boring I try to do is to bore the heart on ash trees to prevent them Barber chairing.

So bore cutting is a fad but had you bore cut that tree and wedged it you wouldn't have had to unbolt your power head.

Raff out roud...

 

[XP_Slinger]

So today an ash had a mind of its own and wanted to go 90* to my intended fall direction. Sat right down on my 24” tsumura light bar. I was pissed. Got the power head off and thought crap, there goes that bar.
I put the winch to it as it had also hung up. Pulling it back toward where I originally wanted it to go, thought I’d get lucky and just break the tip.
The bar had a noticeable bow to it. Long story shorter, I pulled the tree off the stump, down it went.
When I looked at the bar it was like nothing happened to it other than a couple of the epoxy inserts or whatever they are looked slightly damaged.
Put it back on the saw and ran it, no problem.
I am now sold on tsumura light and tough and.....flexible bars.

However I still find them almost too flexible for boring to set the hinge which I don’t do too often anyways as I find boring is not necessary 90% of the time. I think it has become a fad due to so many YouTube videos.
The only boring I try to do is to bore the heart on ash trees to prevent them Barber chairing.

Glad your bar made it. Good example of how a wedge could’ve saved the day. We all mis judge a tree now and then and it’s worth the 5 seconds it takes to set a wedge for insurance.

I don’t think bore cutting is a fad so much as a preference. I like it because at any given stage of cutting the tree is anchored until I release it, I like that level of control...helps my confidence.

 

[Dustin4185]

Hmm, my saws wear a Sugi lightweight bar. I may try it on the agency’s 362. I’m sure the Stihl lightweight bar has something to do with it now.

 

[Cat 525]

I am using tsumara lites 28 and 32s and have had no problem boring walnut!

 

[Junk Meister]

Raff out roud...

Duew Behave Astro

 

[huskyboy]

Never had a problem boring with my 24” tsumura. Well see how the 4 rivet tip holds up.

 

[XP_Slinger]

Ugly. Wasn’t looking at my face cut when setting the hinge on the bad side, caught myself before cutting through all the frigin hinge. Luckily I was felling the tree toward its natural lean and had a wedge on each side of the tree while I worked back to set the trigger. Wedges likely saved my ass and my bar.

No pride here guys, this is how we learn.

 

[woodfarmer]

Glad your bar made it. Good example of how a wedge could’ve saved the day. We all mis judge a tree now and then and it’s worth the 5 seconds it takes to set a wedge for insurance.

I don’t think bore cutting is a fad so much as a preference. I like it because at any given stage of cutting the tree is anchored until I release it, I like that level of control...helps my confidence.

There is more to the story, I bored through the face and set a wedge in the back. I then cut the bad side and just started cutting the (what was supposed to be) good side when she sat down. And that is the rest of the story.

I bore probably more than I need to is all I’m saying. Probably 90% of the trees I fell don’t require boring.
I too the stem on the left down with a step up boring cut due to the lean. The bigger stem on the right got a humboldt and traditional backcut, with no issues other than getting hung up. Which i put the winch on and pulled it back past the stump till it came free.

 

[XP_Slinger]

View attachment 167211 View attachment 167212 View attachment 167213 View attachment 167214
There is more to the story, I bored through the face and set a wedge in the back. I then cut the bad side and just started cutting the (what was supposed to be) good side when she sat down. And that is the rest of the story.

I bore probably more than I need to is all I’m saying. Probably 90% of the trees I fell don’t require boring.
I too the stem on the left down with a step up boring cut due to the lean. The bigger stem on the right got a humboldt and traditional backcut, with no issues other than getting hung up. Which i put the winch on and pulled it back past the stump till it came free.

I’m definitely boring more than I NEED too. But, I need the practice...lol!

Nice looking haul of ash. Goin to the mill?

 

[woodfarmer]

Yes, it probably won’t grade as nice as what I sent last year, it’s amazing how much the ash has deteriorated in the last year.
There is a very good discussion on AS, in the logging forum. “Where is wyk”. Pages 24-26 lots of good info from some very experienced fallers.
I’ve been felling trees for over 30 years and never even knew what a bore cut was until I joined a forum 10 years ago. I’ve have learned a lot and proabably been very lucky in the sense I’ve never had much of a barber chair.
However I think I’ll stick to only boring trees that are absolutely necessary. I always use wedges and just don’t find that I can place them where I need to as easily when using bore cuts.

 

[Coltont]

So bore cutting is a fad but had you bore cut that tree and wedged it you wouldn't have had to unbolt your power head.

Raff out roud...

At least he didn't have to fart with taking the power head off a saw with an external clutch!

 

[Coltont]

Ugly. Wasn’t looking at my face cut when setting the hinge on the bad side, caught myself before cutting through all the frigin hinge. Luckily I was felling the tree toward its natural lean and had a wedge on each side of the tree while I worked back to set the trigger. Wedges likely saved my ass and my bar.

No pride here guys, this is how we learn.

View attachment 167175

Watch your over cut when matching your face cuts.

 

[Johnmn]

Ash you say?

I should have taken a picture of the pile today. The big ones are 24"

 

[beaglebriar]

Ash you say?
View attachment 167294
I should have taken a picture of the pile today. The big ones are 24"

The ash market has to be absolutely flooded right now.

My father in law was over the other night, he has a bunch that he wants me to tip over. Mostly firewood though.

 

[XP_Slinger]

The ash market has to be absolutely flooded right now.

My father in law was over the other night, he has a bunch that he wants me to tip over. Mostly firewood though.

Damn beetles have made ash a “use it while you can” tree. I’m taking a lot of ash out of my stand too. But at least they’re bringing decent money. My mill said China is importing ash as fast as they can.

 

[XP_Slinger]

Watch your over cut when matching your face cuts.

Exactly right. The next one went much better, nice uniform hinge. This is why I posted the pic of my bad cut, so we could talk about what would have corrected it.

 

[Johnmn]

The ash market has to be absolutely flooded right now.

My father in law was over the other night, he has a bunch that he wants me to tip over. Mostly firewood though.

Around here ash pulp yes, to the point where they won't hardly take it. But these are solid trees so they will be going to make boards.

My mill said China is importing ash as fast as they can.

Mine told me the same!

 

[beaglebriar]

Damn beetles have made ash a “use it while you can” tree. I’m taking a lot of ash out of my stand too. But at least they’re bringing decent money. My mill said China is importing ash as fast as they can.

They were taking it in log form which is illegal. From what I was told a local buyer here had $600,000 worth of it in containers that was seized in Hong Kong.

Heard it from a local logger so take it at face value.

 

[Cat 525]

It's not illegal to ship whole logs if they were fumigated in the containers correctly! Any species of logs has to be fumigated or debarked or both to ship!