ever heard of doing this?

[voxac30dude]

so this guy my uncle knows used to be a pro timber faller for cali somewhere. anyways, he said you have to bore cut dead tree's sometimes to take out the center wood of the tree so there is less chance of barber chairing to occur. is this true? do you need to take out the center in some dead trees?

 

[Tree Pig]

Yup I do it often on dead or leaners if its still has good outer wood then and you cut that first there may be nothing left to support the weight as you cut through and reach the dead in the center.

+1 for the bore cut

 

[Jeff_Cochran]

why would you bore cut a dead tree? i would think you would want as much hinge wood as possible to hold the lay right as opposed to the hinge breaking due to a thin hinge on decaying brittle wood. a the sudden break of a bore cut with a tripped back cut could lead to a mechanical failure. isn't that what happened to keith pancake?

 

[Tree Pig]

I am not saying bore cut them all but on a tree with a dead center if you cut the exterior HOLDING wood first then you could have a problem. I guess it comes down to being able to judge the tree before you cut. When doing it I also get a line up in the tree for back up first. Non existing or dead punky wood is not going to be a good hinge. Its always worked for me but maybe Ive just been lucky.

 

[Jeff_Cochran]

i'm not saying to not bore cut or snipe wood from the sides before you start the back cut to prevent barber chairing. i just think that in heavy leaners and dead trees we should go a step further and chain and or some other way bid the top and bottom of the work as to control the barber chair if it does happen.
cutting the corners out before you start your back cut does almost as good as a plunge cut + it has the added benefit of being able to control hinge depth thus the saw operator having the ability to fine tune the lay.

 

[outofmytree]

For suspect trees with damaged or even no heart wood, I use the bore strap realease cut. However it is worth noting that I also ALWAYS have a tag line on the tree and right before I relase the strap I put a wedge in the bore on both sides. By increasing the upward pressure with wedges and the lateral pressure with a tag line it ensures that the stick "pops" off the stump and falls exactly where I want it.

This is not a cut to be played around with early on. Learn as much as you can before you use it and then practise on trees which even if they fall wrong are going to do no damage. I have strapped the trunks of trees with tie down straps and rachet adjusters to prevent splitting when taking out the top of a pine or Cape lilac. This is a good precaution when "learning" the ropes and works just as well when felling.

 

[SINGLE-JACK]

For suspect trees with damaged or even no heart wood, I use the bore strap realease cut. However it is worth noting that I also ALWAYS have a tag line on the tree and right before I relase the strap I put a wedge in the bore on both sides. By increasing the upward pressure with wedges and the lateral pressure with a tag line it ensures that the stick "pops" off the stump and falls exactly where I want it.

This is not a cut to be played around with early on. Learn as much as you can before you use it and then practise on trees which even if they fall wrong are going to do no damage. I have strapped the trunks of trees with tie down straps and rachet adjusters to prevent splitting when taking out the top of a pine or Cape lilac. This is a good precaution when "learning" the ropes and works just as well when felling.

:agree2: Good advice outofmytree ... rep ya if I could

 

[ddhlakebound]

Perhaps I've misunderstood, but I think the original poster is referring to boring into the face to remove heartwood, not using a bore cut parallel to the face to fell a hollow tree or leaner.

I've heard some mention of boring out the center heartwood, but never tried or seen it done. Mostly I think people do that to fell a tree with a bar less then 1/2 the diameter of the tree.

I can envision scenarios where reducing the width of the hinge could promote barberchair in leaners, and also scenarios where severing some of that center hinge wood helps force the hinge and reduce the chances in other trees. I'd think it depends alot on learning when to try a trick like that.

 

[Behemoth Jim]

Sorry to be so dense, but could somebody fill in the gaps and explain terms here-- bore cutting, and barber-chairing?

These sound like really neat terms I could impress people with if I knew what they meant!:monkey:

 

[matt9923]

Sorry to be so dense, but could somebody fill in the gaps and explain terms here-- bore cutting, and barber-chairing?

These sound like really neat terms I could impress people with if I knew what they meant!:monkey:

This is Sawbones not mine- you may either impress or confuse them.

 

[lumberjack333]

Perhaps I've misunderstood, but I think the original poster is referring to boring into the face to remove heartwood, not using a bore cut parallel to the face to fell a hollow tree or leaner.

I've heard some mention of boring out the center heartwood, but never tried or seen it done. Mostly I think people do that to fell a tree with a bar less then 1/2 the diameter of the tree.

I can envision scenarios where reducing the width of the hinge could promote barberchair in leaners, and also scenarios where severing some of that center hinge wood helps force the hinge and reduce the chances in other trees. I'd think it depends alot on learning when to try a trick like that.

Seen it done that way on a 40" pine using a 16" bar, worked beautiful.

 

[Behemoth Jim]

Ok, thanks for the glossary, Matt. I knew about half of those terms already. That book must be about 50-80 years old!

Well that explains barber chairing. For takedowns, I guess it doesn't matter. We took down a sweetgum recently that had about a three-four foot fiber of wood that pulled out of the hinge. Those sweetgums set some real records for orneriness. (Part of one of them also fell on our Husqy 346XP).

So bore cutting is poking the bar in like a knife thrust, I guess? I do that sometimes, too. If you're doing it in a big or hard tree, you want to make sure your oiler's working well!