So give me some professional opinions on this fall. It all went well but.... Did I go about it correctly? What could have happened? I've been at it for a while, but just a weekend firewood cutter. This was a big, leaning, hollow sycamore. That's 3 red caution flags already
.
View attachment 551391 It was good to fall it in the direction of the lean. I did not know how hollow it was. You could see from the bottom looking up
that it was hollow, you just see far up into it. I felt like there was some solid wood all the way around, but how much...? There was no question which direction it was going to fall. I cut a shallow face cut notch hoping to stay in the solid wood. After cutting the notch, I see that it is only solid on the outsides of the notch, It has punky wood in the middle of the notch. I started my bore about 1 1/2' from the notch. my 42" bar wasn't long enough to poke out the other side. I went ahead and cut toward the back of the tree until the bar came out the other side. I then went to the other side, put the bar in the kerf hole and cut that toward the notch, and stopped 4" away to create the hinge on that side. Then went back to the side I started on and cut toward the notch, Stopping 4" away again to finish the hinge.
View attachment 551400 Now I just cut from inside my bore toward the back of the tree till it popped loose. Then I ran. So what do you think? Correct or not? I never measured it, but I'm guessing 48" tree.
Thanks for sharing.
All in all, good job using heavy leaner safe practises. Now the painful part..(just kidding. )
A few things are worth mentioning that a picture doesn't tell me, I will just run a little check list.
Always look at all your options.
taking it off the lean is another mitigater for a heavy front leaner with some side lean and may allow you to
put in a deeper undercut in some cases. It can also cause you trouble too of getting pinched in the low back cut in a case like this tree. Decision may come down to where the rot is, how ballance the forward lean is and how far its Leaning.
By the looks of the lean, shape of the stump and where the rot is the worst I don't think you could have really gotten a deeper undercut anyway. Looks like it was your best option by far. In order to make a decision on a tree with obvious heart rot you want to sound the shell with an axe or bore the back when back straps or wedging is needed.
• was you undercut open enough with no bypass cuts?
•getting away from the tree and not standing there watching it. (You definitely did that, as you said you ran...lol
I'm just curious about the big bar?
It's awfully big for falling In general.
*If you have a low side then make sure you deal with it FULLY! ; after the undercut, Even if it a balanced tree that means right to your holding wood and then out because you are not going back there. Get in the habit of that as those are the highest compressed fibers (pinch points) and you want to deal with them before you weaken the structure further on that side.
Doing that also puts you in an unfavorable position with a now weaker structure.
Think if it was on a steep hill and now you are 4 ft down.
Sometimes you may need to split the undercut and only cut half an undercut on the low side in order to keep the strength in the high side so you can cut the low side botton without getting pinched. THEN cut highside undercut. (For reference )
Deal with low side and then the other.
Don't try to bore through the whole tree on big diameter. You need an adiquate bar even if it was a solid tree. The most important thing is that the undercut is level because that sets up everything especially when workng from one side.
If you are going to eventually bore in behind the undercut then I would suggest basic setting of the saw from the side first so it's level length ways as well width. You shouldn't have to sight through your undercut for reference if your undercut is level so this means tip towards the front.
Once it's started in the cerf then take your hands off it step back and get down to eye level with the bar and see if it's good both ways. If its not good then repeat.
Next extend the shallow cerf to where you want your holding wood when bore and cut back to the highside of the back, (generally) as thats where your saftey trail usually would be (IF possible) repeat on high side back to your meating point.
Keep in mind; we plan the work and we work the plan
• Saftey trail to the postion of your closing point.
• stand at the top and picture yourself in the final position you would like to be cutting in.
•plan for the lower cerf ( IF there is one)
to suite that finally position.
So on a tree like that you could have released it from almost 6 ft away with a 36" bar If you needed. It's better to use it and not need it than need it and not have used it.
I do things a bit different and change it up to suite the situations. I also fall alot where there is only one reachable side.
so I get used to working from the top of the hill even if it means starting from the back down to the low side as far as I can reach then maybe I can cut a step in the stump or just a slot to put my fingers in
and then lean out and cut one hand. I will first cut as much as I can on the low side through the undercut behind the hinge. Then it gives me a better position to test for pinching and shortens my travel. If I feed a stick through there I will be able to see how far I have to cut to as I'm hanging from my fingers. Necessity is Morther of invention.
Let's all use good judgment and stay in our experience levels and work up from there. Two hand on the saw is a really Dam good plan. Start with those basics principles in mind and you will all find your styles from there. Difference situations call for slight different approaches. There is many reasons I would use the back strap
•tree that may be leaning a bit from a damage root system.
• rocky steep ground
• big tree on steep ground/downward fall
• heavy leaners
• saving the wood from fiber pull.
Good job again, nice level cuts. Good decision making skill
Ok maybe it was the painful part...long post
