Trees you've cut

[Hoser]

There’s less and less guys around here who want to cut ash with a saw due to them chairing.
Most of them are coming down now with a harvester or a big hoe.
I have neither so I just gut the hinge and haven’t had an issue since (knock on wood).
Talking to my cousin from across the pond he also said ash doesn’t have that reputation, which I found surprising.

 

[Normzilla]

@TheDarkLordChinChin hoping to generate some learning discussion - @Woodpecker @Catbuster @chiselbit @Normzilla

I’d wager the nick (red) maybe made it break off, and I think it would hold better if the vertical cut (green) was parallel to the grain - what say ye?

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Who cut the tree? And what was the overall outcome landing etc.

 

[Normzilla]

There’s less and less guys around here who want to cut ash with a saw due to them chairing.
Most of them are coming down now with a harvester or a big hoe.
I have neither so I just gut the hinge and haven’t had an issue since (knock on wood).
Talking to my cousin from across the pond he also said ash doesn’t have that reputation, which I found surprising.

I’d be willing to say it’s technique.

 

[Normzilla]

Yeah your hardwoods all look taller and straighter. Most of ours are shorter and with a bigger spread.
Pics related.


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Any tree can barber chair. In the right circumstances. Defects, mostly improper technique. To say otherwise would be living on a false sense of security. Treat any tree like it can barber chair, yes some trees are more prone too. Apply the same skill and cut every tree like it matters apply everything.

 

[davidwyby]

Who cut the tree? And what was the overall outcome landing etc.

It was fine, just didn’t swing as much as wanted.

 

[Normzilla]

It was fine, just didn’t swing as much as wanted.

Oh gotcha I wasn’t sure if it was one u cut or someone else. I do that too when I have low stakes good time to try stuff

 

[TheDarkLordChinChin]

There’s less and less guys around here who want to cut ash with a saw due to them chairing.
Most of them are coming down now with a harvester or a big hoe.
I have neither so I just gut the hinge and haven’t had an issue since (knock on wood).
Talking to my cousin from across the pond he also said ash doesn’t have that reputation, which I found surprising.

It will chair if it's tall, straight, has no lower branches and the grain is straight. Often see branches splitting when cut but the main stem is unlikely to chair if its all gnarly and forks out fairly close to the ground.

Spruce often tries to chair because it's tall, straight and has a long and straight grain. But it usually fails at chairing because the timber is also very flexible and full of branches that hold it together. It usually splits up a few feet max then stops splitting or tears off.

Sycamore and beech are notorious for barber chair, if they're growing in a forest where the competition from growing so close to other trees forces them to grow tall and straight.

 

[TheDarkLordChinChin]

Any tree can barber chair. In the right circumstances. Defects, mostly improper technique. To say otherwise would be living on a false sense of security. Treat any tree like it can barber chair, yes some trees are more prone too. Apply the same skill and cut every tree like it matters apply everything.

I think the two main causes of barber chair are dull chains and stopping cutting when the tree starts to move.
If your chain is dull you can't keep up with what the tree is doing.
I barber chaired a small willow a few years back. My saw was dull, the tree started to fall and I couldn't cut fast enough to finish my hinge so the tree split under it's own momentum.
Same happened with a tall and straight ash a few weeks later.
Since then I'm very diligent about chain sharpness.
I cut with a fairly hooked side plate and rakers high enough not to bog the saw when dogging in and also high enough that I don't get kickback when boring but still low enough to cut fast.
We are cutting different trees all the time and have to file chains to be able to cut various different trees on the same day.
Our hardwoods are softer than US hardwoods I think and our soft woods are a bit harder from what I can tell.