Cutting oak trees

[PAwrestling#1]

Can someone please share any info or where I can find a quick video on proper way to notch and cut oak trees to keep them from splitting or splintering??

 

[PAwrestling#1]

anyone?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

What issues are you having? Are they barber chairing on you? Breaking when they hit the ground? Jeff

 

[HuskStihl]

What do you mean? Splitting when they hit the ground?

 

[Gologit]

Are you cutting leaners? We need a little more specific information.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

And of course the simple answer is no, there isn't a quick youtube video that gives you a skill that takes years to master. There are however plenty that show you how not to do it...

 

[Gologit]

It sounds like maybe the OP has some trees 'chairing on him. If so, it's good that he's stopped to ask advice.

OP, do us a favor please. Post some pictures or descriptions of what's happening. You've come to the right forum for help but we need to know what's wrong before we can try to fix it.

 

[PAwrestling#1]

As they begin to fall the tree is splitting right up the middle at the start of fall.. yes the last one was a serious leaner. the two other ones were not leaning at all but were white oak which i heard have a tendancy of splitting??

 

[rwoods]

As they begin to fall the tree is splitting right up the middle at the start of fall.. yes the last one was a serious leaner. the two other ones were not leaning at all but were white oak which i heard have a tendancy of splitting??

Stay tuned, some of these guys are on the West coast and almost everyone is at work right now. They'll steer you straight. White oak can be straight as an arrow and still split as you described ( a barber chair). Not only does this waste good wood but it is extremely dangerous to the cutter. Ron

 

[Cfaller]

Do a search on this site on Coos bay, boring back-cut. These two back cuts are the most common for preventing a barber chain.

 

[bitzer]

You need a wide open face and a sharp saw. Cut the heart out of the hinge from the face. Especially on heavy leaning trees. You need to remove as much compression wood as possible. If you have too narrow of a face, when it closes it creates a tremendous amount of pressure along the hinge which in turn causes the chair. If you have a wide open face (conventional or Humboldt) with a snipe and remove some of the heart wood this will relieve that pressure. When the tree stalls out is when it chairs. If the tree is fairly straight and not leaning heavily and your saw is sharp enough (and big enough) you should be able to complete the back cut as long as you stay with it. If you leave it go as soon as it pops it will chair. On heavy leaners you can bore them although I don't. It is probably the safest that you do though. By removing as much compression wood as possible and only leaving the tension wood to cut you will be relieving the pressure that causes the chair. Of course there is more than one way to skin a cat. The biggest thing is the compression/tension wood no matter how you cut them. Its the same basic concept.

 

[KenJax Tree]

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/manual/felling/cuts/notches.html

 

[PAwrestling#1]

wow thats alot of terms you threw at me.. I think what i did was my notch was to tight , not opened enough which i think was part of your answer. I heard about cutting out the heart but would love to see some type of illustration before trying it. Im just a firewood home cutter guy.. haha.. but i am selling some oak logs for molding to a guy and had 3 trees split 8 to 12 ft up.. pretty costly. majority of these trees are only 16 to 20" breast hieght trees,not big at all, im running a husky 394 XP 24" bar new chain. Does the depth of the notch help or hurt chairing.

 

[HuskStihl]

Ok, so you're talking about avoiding a tree splitting "barberchairing" just as it starts to fall. The reasons this happens is that the face is not open, and you are not moving through the back cut fast enough. The physics involves an open face cut, and using a technique to make your back cut faster. Several ways to do this. You can make two cuts from the edge of your face cut meeting at the middle of the back of the tree forming a triangle. This essentially makes your saw move much more quickly through the back cut. You can bore (just like it sounds) wood out of the center of the tree through the face cut, or you can bore from the side and remove much of the holding wood before starting your back cut. You also need to move quickly through your back cut, requiring a fairly strong saw and a sharp chain.
Here is a video of one of the best fallers on here boring out behind the holding wood on a leaner. You can't see it from this video, but he is also very handsome

[video=youtube;cGOsmIMasmI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGOsmIMasmI&feature=player_detailpage#t=84[/video]

Don't worry about the wedges and the chunk of wood stuffed into the face. Those are techniques to turn the tree away a certain direction. You will notice after boring how little back cutting is required before the tree falls, that prevents the barber chair

 

[treeslayer2003]

PA, most these guys are pros but what bitzer said is best for you imo. make an open face and do not cut any farther than the face. next bore straight into the face to gut out most of the hart leaving a couple inches of the hinge on both sides. finish with your backcut and don't play with it, cut it quikly to the hinge leaving not more than two inches. less is better imo. do not try to stump jump white oak, it is tricky even for pros. they will split if you leave any hart, that why I,m telling you to bore the hart first. it is tricky to try n swing them, throw them in the direction of the lean if you can. I hope I have explained this in a way you can under stand. I don't seem to have any pics to show you. keep talkin to us till ya think ya got it. white oak here chairs easy and I don't want ya to get hurt.

 

[treeslayer2003]

depth of notch depends on lean. biggest thing, line up your cuts and don't cut deeper in than your face. I know ya gonna think ya never gonna get thru the back in time, that is the purpose of boreing the hart out.

 

[mdavlee]

A few quick drawings for you.

 

[treeslayer2003]

I wouldn't make the notch no more than 1/3 tree diameter, less if heavy lean. make that top cut 45 degrees or more, you want to let the tree fall a good ways before the notch closes, that's when all the stress occurs. you can try taking out a piece top and bottom so it won't close till the tree is about down. if you cut deeper than the notch then the crack closes up and that is when you will have tremendous stress and the tree splits. sorry for the multi posts, i'm just trying to help you understand whats happening when a tree chairs.

 

[treeslayer2003]

A few quick drawings for you.

yes, like this. thanks Mike.

 

[mdavlee]

That's the best I could do with a cup and medicine bottle and sheet of paper as a straight edge.