# Very close call felling a big doug. fir - whacked my arm but could have been much worse!!



## davefr (Sep 21, 2015)

First of all I'm no pro when it comes to felling. My task was felling a big doug. fir about 25-30" in diameter. It had to go in one direction to avoid a snag.

I made my notch cut just fine and then proceeded with the back cut. I got lazy and thought I could make the back cut with a 16" bar by alternating both sides so the cut would meet in the middle. The fell did not go as planned and the tree came down about 90 -120 degrees from it's intended fall. It whacked my arm real good and I thought it was going to crush me. 

I inspected the cut after the fell and discovered the holding wood was very inconsistent, Nearly none on half the cut.

Lesson learned: always use a bar longer then the diameter of the tree for the back cut so you can make a nice straight line and monitor the progress of both ends of the backcut as it approaches the notch. Maybe the pros can skillfully do a consistent backcut with a short bar but I can't. It was lazyness and stupidity on my part and I got real lucky.


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## hanniedog (Sep 21, 2015)

Lesson learned.


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## Westboastfaller (Sep 22, 2015)

Unless your a skilled faller that uses a three ft bar through a reg work day then its not considerd exceptable work practises.

You got more things to learn than that. Like compression/tention.
Highside/ lowside
You fell it from the wrong side of the tree it appears But if that was the safest side (example: unstable limb or tree on the high side)
It was behond your expierence level. If you are falling from the compression side (usually low side) and chase your undercut on the high side then you come strait through with the back cut where your feet are planted the tree will hit you again no doubt.

Know your tention side and leave ample holding wood because if you cut the sap wood on that side it will tear off easy. always visualy check the far corner from the back of the tree and make sure there is no bypass cuts in the undercut as well as properly cleaned out undercuts. Depth and openings need to be proper

Stay off the hills friend or at least away from trees cranked up the hill.


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## davefr (Sep 22, 2015)

^^Thanks and yes I have lots to learn.

This is tree #1. There's no damn hinge left and a very inconsistent back cut. I should have done a plunge cut and rotated the bar around to the other side leaving 10% hinge on both ends and then been more aggressive with wedges and then alternated between wedging and slight increased hinge cuts. I guess a smaller bar would have done the job just fine if it was done correctly.







#2 tree went much better.






#3. This was an old half rotten cherry tree and concerned me because it could have been unpredicatble.


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## Westboastfaller (Sep 24, 2015)

Thanks for sharing. I keep hearing;
"Lesson learned" but its not.
Screw the bore cutting and maintining holding wood and get back to grade one page one.
Sight overview! tree assessment!


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## JRoland (Sep 25, 2015)

I agree with westboastfaller. Picking your pics apart, tree 1 which I assume is the one that whacked your arm, looks like everything was lining up until you cut all your holding wood. Which still would have been ok if you would have assessed the lean better and been on the opposite side of tree at the time. Pic 2 it looks like again you have all holding wood gone on the one side, but probably were falling in the direction of lean more so than the first tree. Also, if lesson was learned about a longer bar after tree 1 what happened on tree two? I would say be thankful only your arm was whacked and study up.


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## HuskStihl (Sep 26, 2015)

Pic 1 you overshot your angled cut with u'r gunning cut on the far side. That combined with accidentally cutting off all u'r holding wood on that side created a "Dutchman". The side with the holding wood left intact will pull the tree in that direction. Very useful when u'r intentionally moving a tree away from its lean, disastrous when done accidentally.

We are all giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming there was negligible lean. I'd guess that 90% of the times a tree goes the wrong way, the problem was a misread, or overestimating how much technique can overcome gravity


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## Westboastfaller (Sep 27, 2015)

Correction in my second post spelling:
Site overview of course NOT sight overveiw but OP's "sight overview" does need adjustments ..as we were staying..lol

Anyway; excellent back cuts and steps in all trees here. All flat cuts are just that. On the second tree looking at the trunk it is clear there was an even strip of holding wood as far as the bar was reaching. Still an exceptable cut.

*Note: always be extremely careful on juvenile softwoods as they may have lost big branches in reascent years. Look for grow over evidence as it could be disastrous acting as false holding wood if it was to end up on your tention side.
Remember, the grain is opposite.

I've been Falling Fir 2-3 ft for a few weeks here and left a few chunks on a few that my 36" didn't quite get through. It just looks a bit worse when it's of smaller dia.


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## catbuster (Oct 11, 2015)

HuskStihl said:


> Pic 1 you overshot your angled cut with u'r gunning cut on the far side. That combined with accidentally cutting off all u'r holding wood on that side created a "Dutchman". The side with the holding wood left intact will pull the tree in that direction. Very useful when u'r intentionally moving a tree away from its lean, disastrous when done accidentally.
> 
> We are all giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming there was negligible lean. I'd guess that 90% of the times a tree goes the wrong way, the problem was a misread, or overestimating how much technique can overcome gravity



Not only did you accidentally create a dutchman, you damn near chased through all your holding wood. If you have to chase your back cut, stop and reassess. 

My question, though, is why did you even consider falling these as a new faller with only a 16" bar? 

And yes. I have to agree with Husk. Gravity wins, hands down, all the time. If you don't have a decent practical knowledge of physics this job will get you severely hurt.


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## BC WetCoast (Nov 11, 2015)

Westboastfaller said:


> Correction in my second post spelling:
> Site overview of course NOT sight overveiw but OP's "sight overview" does need adjustments ..as we were staying..lol
> 
> Anyway; excellent back cuts and steps in all trees here. All flat cuts are just that. On the second tree looking at the trunk it is clear there was an even strip of holding wood as far as the bar was reaching. Still an exceptable cut.



Not to be a grammar nazi, but I think the word you want is acceptable not exceptable.


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## tidy (Nov 22, 2015)

^ you missed a few others more: tention/ tension, strait/straight, expierence/experience, bah I'm so bored


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## rarefish383 (Nov 23, 2015)

I didn't notice how high you had your tag line? If you are using a wedge to tip the tree you have to lift the entire weight of the tree, and once it starts to move you are out of the equation. You can do nothing to guide or move the tree. With a tag line you have a little control after it starts to move. I just bought a new half inch rope, 120 feet, from Baileys. I think it was $69. No reason not to have a tag line in a tree.


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## Westboastfaller (Nov 24, 2015)

tidy said:


> ^ you missed a few others more: tention/ tension, strait/straight, expierence/experience, bah I'm so bored


Then i'll tell you a joke.

Did you here about the dyslexic insomniac atheist???

I Lay awake all night long wondering if there really is a doG.

You boys should be ashamed of yourselves.
Now go home and tell your mothers how you have been behaving.

Go on.


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## murphy4trees (Dec 20, 2015)

falling skills are definitely a safety issue.. many novices just keep cutting until the tree goes, often over cutting and blowing through the hinge (holding wood) as per your first pic... rather than cut and watch for movement (the back cut), try predetermining how much hinge you want to create and then cut to create that. generally fairly easy to do when using pull lines and equipment to do the pulling.. use the gunning lines on the saw to determine the exact gun of the notch (pick an exact visual mark in the distance), then all you have to do is keep the gunning line pointing there during the back cut and the hinge will be straight. you can tell exactly how much hinge you have by seeing the distance between the notch and the back cut... and you can do that fairly easily from both sides if your saw has the gunning lines... I don't go for the hinge being 10% of the diameter.... I usually just go 1-1.5" on straight medium and small trees. with moderate pull (or wedges if that's all you got).. 2"+ on bigger trees, and up to 4-6"+ on side leaners with multiple bull ropes and trucks pulling etc....


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