Cutting oak trees

Wesspur
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These are also good cuts for dealing with leaners.
 
treeslayer2003 said:
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.
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treeslayer2003 said:
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.
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treeslayer2003 said:
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.
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PA, I was hoping Treeslayer would weigh in here as he should have a lot of white oak under his belt. I am highlighting one thing he has said in all three posts. I,like you, am a firewood hack which usually means we aren't the most proficient in the world at lining up our cuts, but here is one species of trees that isn't very forgiving. Be careful. Ron
 
TS....Bitz and Gologit given ya the best advice ........watch the height of ya back cut and ifn ya gonna plunge and leave a strap then watch when ya release it as it'll go quick and imo release it from under not over ...........The sketch posted by Md was a humbolt face with a snipe but the methods described will work with the conventional or open face too.
 
Prolly best to ignore my video. I put it up as an example of how to bore behind the face from the side. I extended the gunning cut past the face on the near side intentionally to turn the tree and bored out the back leaving a triangle of holding wood before cutting the strip. I am not confident enough to stand in front of a leaner I've faced and bore the heart out thru the face. I will leave that to the real pros (Gologit, Bitzer, Jolly, Treeslayer, Cfaller, Busted). I like to try to talk like a pro, but am in actuality a pimply faced kid in my mom's basement
 
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bustedup said:
TS....Bitz and Gologit given ya the best advice ........watch the height of ya back cut and ifn ya gonna plunge and leave a strap then watch when ya release it as it'll go quick and imo release it from under not over ...........The sketch posted by Md was a humbolt face with a snipe but the methods described will work with the conventional or open face too.
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definetly under, how ever I don't recommend the plunge and strap to any inexperienced faller. it never been my preference anyway.
 
HuskStihl said:
Prolly best to ignore my video. I put it up as an example of how to bore behind the face from the side. I extended the gunning cut past the face on the near side intentionally to turn the tree and bored out the back leaving a triangle of holding wood before cutting the strip. I am not confident enough to stand in front of a leaner I've faced and bore the heart out thru the face. I will leave that to the real pros (Gologit, Bitzer, Jolly, Treeslayer, Cfaller, Busted). I like to try to talk like a pro, but am in actuality a pimply faced kid in my mom's basement
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Jon, you done Purdy good job on that one. but you was swingin it. there is some white oak on this side that is very straight grained. when we get into it things change and swingin those is tricky at best. and you don't need to be that humble bro. ;)
 
treeslayer2003 said:
definetly under, how ever I don't recommend the plunge and strap to any inexperienced faller. it never been my preference anyway.
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Neither do I Mike way better to coos it or gut it imo a bit more control and well ifn it looks like going tits up more time to leg it
 
I ain't tryin to hog this thread but thought of this. by boreing/gutting the hart the tree may slab just a little of the sapwood. that won't matter as it won't be much and it won't go up the tree, only a few inches and that will be slabbed off at the mill anyway.
 
Keep in mind guys, he's just cutting 16-20" dbh oaks with a 394xp running a 24, by the time ya get a decent notch and hinge, not a lot of room fore a bore, and way easy to overcut.... the bore... wth's he doing with a 394, I want a 394. Somethin's not right. I'm gonna go eat worms.
 
TheJollyLogger said:
Keep in mind guys, he's just cutting 16-20" dbh oaks with a 394xp running a 24, by the time ya get a decent notch and hinge, not a lot of room fore a bore, and way easy to overcut.... the bore... wth's he doing with a 394, I want a 394. Somethin's not right. I'm gonna go eat worms.
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they not that bad bro, I ate a lot of um. yea, that is alota saw, he gonna have to watch what he doing.
 
TheJollyLogger said:
Keep in mind guys, he's just cutting 16-20" dbh oaks with a 394xp running a 24, by the time ya get a decent notch and hinge, not a lot of room fore a bore, and way easy to overcut.... the bore... wth's he doing with a 394, I want a 394. Somethin's not right. I'm gonna go eat worms.
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Not sure you're experienced enough to run a 394. Well, maybe with safety chain:jester:
 
day late and dollar short as usual... Alder here tend to chair pretty easy, either cut em fast with a very sharp aggressive chain and too much saw, or use one of the coos bays gologit pictured.

Put a wide open face on it maybe even use a birds mouth or block face (birds mouth is both top and bottom slope, block is a big fat square chunk with a slope on one side or the other)

Think of a piano hinge (hence hinge wood... get it) if you close it the wrong way too hard the screws holding it together pop loose, much like the fibers holding the tree together.

Also the point of boring the face is to remove as much as the hinge to relieve pressure and help cut through the back side in a hurry.

There is the GOL/Swedish stump dance that involves facing wide open, then plunging in to start the back cut leaving a strap or trigger establishing the hold wood at bare minimum then releasing the trigger or strap. Its slow, takes some practice, only makes sense on leaners and chair prone trees, and the coos is more practical...:rolleyes2:

Look up and plan your lays too
 

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