# Barber chair



## Doc Hickory

Here's a vid of a young feller creating a barber chair. His tree was a leaner, but not a really bad one. He hesitated during the back cut, and that created the situation. On the positive side, his running skills are outstanding....

‪Falling a tree gone wrong (Barber chair)‬&rlm; - YouTube


----------



## albert

Yeah, he took off just in time. Just proves you need to get that back cut done fast. From the angle of the camera it didn't look like much of a leaner.


----------



## Joe46

Did your Momma ever tell you not to run with scissors? If you got to run do so, just leave saw. I'll refrain from commenting on your falling skills.


----------



## Greener

Are you sure that was not on purpose, for a demonstration or something? Wow.


----------



## superjunior

run Forest run !!!


----------



## jpdocdave

Can the expereinced guys here explain what all that meant, what a barber chair is exactly, and how that happened? I am really trying to learn all I can on this site, great place to learn.


----------



## Bearcreek

A barber chair is what happened in the video. It's called that because the stump thats left vaguely resembles a chair. It usually happens when a tree has a good bit of lean and the back cut is not done fast enough. It can often be prevented by simply cutting fast enough, although sometimes, particularly with a heavy leaner, other methods such as using a bore cut, are required.


----------



## sawinredneck

Here is a Google image search, there are a few good examples, barber chair tree - Google Search

It's called Barber Chair because the tree splits as it's falling, knocking the sawyers head back like he was sitting in a barber chair getting a shave. But you don't want to be in this chair, and you don't want this shave!
I had a big Oak, 36"dbh chair on me once, it wasn't a good place to be!


----------



## murphy4trees

HAHA Andy,

Its called a barber chair because the tree mimics the motion of a barber chair.. While the top of the chair goes forward and down, the legs go back and up... When a tree barber chairs, the forward force on the top, exerts a force on the base of the tree that splits the trunk along its grain, so the front half (or thereabouts) of the trunk (above the notch) stays put, while the back half splits and lifts, hinging on the stationary front half. I've heard of trees hinging at 40', which would mean a 40' split in half trunk flies back as it lifts to a 40' height, and then can break at the unintentionally high hinge, and come falling down 40' to the ground, and landing 40' behind the stump... That is why the escape route should be 45 degrees back, not straight back.. Barber chairs will happen anytime the forward pulling force on the trunk is great enough to split the grain of the trunk, but not great enough to trigger the hinge to fold.. This is most often caused by heavy front leaner on species that split grain very easily, like ash, or can be caused by an unintentional bypass of the two face cuts, called a "dutchman" as was the case in the video, and can also be caused by pulling on the pull line too early in the backcut, before the hinge is formed.... this is one of the very real dangers of pulling with a truck or machine.. If you don't know what you are doing and call for the pull too early, you can barber chair the tree or break out the top. 

I talked to one contract climber that said the guy that hired him pulled early when he was cutting a mulberry and you would not have believed anyone could have crawl out from under the top of that tree unhurt... He got lucky.. then ended up breaking his back or neck in a car accident... you just never know..


----------



## Jayce

Sory, I couldn't got it. What do mean by it. 
Actually, I'm not seeing anything for what does it regard?
Can you see it??
regards


----------



## Greener

murphy4trees said:


> HAHA Andy,
> 
> Its called a barber chair because the tree mimics the motion of a barber chair.. While the top of the chair goes forward and down, the legs go back and up... When a tree barber chairs, the forward force on the top, exerts a force on the base of the tree that splits the trunk along its grain, so the front half (or thereabouts) of the trunk (above the notch) stays put, while the back half splits and lifts, hinging on the stationary front half. I've heard of trees hinging at 40', which would mean a 40' split in half trunk flies back as it lifts to a 40' height, and then can break at the unintentionally high hinge, and come falling down 40' to the ground, and landing 40' behind the stump... That is why the escape route should be 45 degrees back, not straight back.. Barber chairs will happen anytime the forward pulling force on the trunk is great enough to split the grain of the trunk, but not great enough to trigger the hinge to fold.. This is most often caused by heavy front leaner on species that split grain very easily, like ash, or can be caused by an unintentional bypass of the two face cuts, called a "dutchman" as was the case in the video, and can also be caused by pulling on the pull line too early in the backcut, before the hinge is formed.... this is one of the very real dangers of pulling with a truck or machine.. If you don't know what you are doing and call for the pull too early, you can barber chair the tree or break out the top.
> 
> I talked to one contract climber that said the guy that hired him pulled early when he was cutting a mulberry and you would not have believed anyone could have crawl out from under the top of that tree unhurt... He got lucky.. then ended up breaking his back or neck in a car accident... you just never know..



Murphy. Good post. Pretty much sums it up. Are red alders and maples considered wood that split grain easily? (Thanks for all the awesome vids, keep them coming.)
Colby


----------



## RandyMac

Most are caused by not using a deep enough undercut. Some trees, like Alders will 'chair just for the fun in it.
I'm sure some quack from GOL will show up to tell us all about bore cuts.


----------



## murphy4trees

Never cut red alder.. I have seen one norway maple barber chair and another one start to split, but I was able to get it to fall on the hinge before it bbch'ed.. So maple certainly could be considered prone. That second one had actually been plunged, BUT I left too much back strap, and it had a a heavy front lean.. I was trying the step cut on it, and found out NOT to use the step cut on front leaners..

That said, I use the plunge cut for a lot of falls and would never want to go back.. It has a lot of uses.. much more than just on front leaners..


----------



## lloyd786

*Barber Chair ?*

The guy who trained me told me it is called that because it will pick you up off your feet if it gets under you, like a barber chair.


----------



## Gologit

lloyd786 said:


> The guy who trained me told me it is called that because it will pick you up off your feet if it gets under you, like a barber chair.



If all it does is "pick you up off your feet" you're lucky. Barber chairs kill people.


----------



## Sport Faller

Gologit said:


> If all it does is "pick you up off your feet" you're lucky. Barber chairs kill people.



I suppose it would pick a guy up a little bit before their head (or anything else sticking out) got plucked off like a dandelion blossom


----------

