Falling pics 11/25/09

[bitzer]

hard to see our short, rough terrain in the pics but that job was probably the roughest ive ever worked on. hoping winter lasts a good while yet. last year it got warm for a while in march, we had to pull the plug. I promptly headed for Arizona with the family, then winter came back. We have work right through breakup this year. Have to shut down for a couple weeks when the gravel gets soft but it sure beats two and a half months off like last year.

there are a few guys left hand cutting around here, not many though. Your forester is right, not many guys want to work a saw, even though there is a decent living to be made still. Most of our timber is doable with equipment. We do use a guy every now and then when theres a good run of big hardwood. I can cut up to thirty inch stuff with the machine, but its slow having to cut off limbs individually with the head. Bitz you should test run a single bunk like the one in my pic there. I think you'd be in love. its a 1010d TJ/deere. real nice machine. and if that guy you know is in a bind and needs to unload his equipment cheap i might know someone

Yeah we had frost in the ground here until April 1st. I did a lot clearing job during the month of April and then I was cutting some high ground. Never really stopped last year. I'm sure I would love that single bunk. Anything with joysticks and power shift would be nice. Enclosed cab could be a bonus too. That guy just says he wants out of the mech logging. I think they just say that sometimes to make me feel better. I'm hoping in a few years I can demand a pay raise to cut the big timber!

 

[bitzer]

I hope y'all still here, can't see ya. I gotta cut a big beech tomorrow on the side of a slope. I need it up hill to be able to get it out, but it will certainly hit before the hinge breaks off. heavy top, butt is 40" or more, stem is around 40' to the top or less. any suggestions on face type?

Box cut face will keep it on the stump for longer. Humboldt with a snipe should keep it above the stump. I'm guessing you don't want it back over the stump?

 

[treeslayer2003]

no sir, that what i'm thinkin it will slide down hill if cut off but if it stays attached won't be able to break it off as it only gonna fall about 45 degrees till it hits the slope. I was thinkin block face too.
I hate beech lol.

 

[HuskStihl]

View attachment 332923

Nice stump Mr. Pick! I bet they're mostly all looking like that now

 

[HuskStihl]

Box cut face will keep it on the stump for longer. Humboldt with a snipe should keep it above the stump. I'm guessing you don't want it back over the stump?

no sir, that what i'm thinkin it will slide down hill if cut off but if it stays attached won't be able to break it off as it only gonna fall about 45 degrees till it hits the slope. I was thinkin block face too.
I hate beech lol.

Awesome boys! Keep talking shop, I'm listening. So the sniped Humboldt or block will help it slide off the uphill side of the stump and not go down the hill. What's the lean, will you be able to chase the hinge far enough to keep it from sticking on the stump? To bad Gologit doesn't understand hardwoods

 

[bitzer]

no sir, that what i'm thinkin it will slide down hill if cut off but if it stays attached won't be able to break it off as it only gonna fall about 45 degrees till it hits the slope. I was thinkin block face too.
I hate beech lol.

Well if you want it to break the hinge and stay above the stump you can put in a full face Dutchman with a steep Humboldt and snipe. I usually will put the Dutchman an inch or two deep all the way across the face. Bore out the heart to help with the fiber pull. You've got to have it cut up pretty tight as well. This will get the hinge to break quickly and the Humboldt/snipe combo will keep the butt above the stump. The snipe should be in the stump not the butt. You will have to high stump this thing a little to get it there though. I know exactly the type of situation you're talkin about. Up hill with a big topped beech like that. Some beech can be so nice, **** straight and with a little top. Others just a huge umbrella.

 

[bitzer]

I really got to get to fixn ****!

 

[Metals406]

Box cut face will keep it on the stump for longer. Humboldt with a snipe should keep it above the stump. I'm guessing you don't want it back over the stump?

I'll parrot this and add, that I've never cut beech -- only seen it cut on videos.

Another quick way to hold one on, in these parts anyway, is to do an open face -- but don't meet at the back. Have them an inch or two apart and knock the pie out with your axe. That taller fiber column in the back really bends. It's one less cut than a box cut or any other face with a snipe anyway.

A guy kinda does that too when you miss, & don't want to recut and possibly mess up the gun -- so you just pound the face out.

 

[treeslayer2003]

yea, huge top. I wouldn't fool with it but the LO wants it gone. ima have to git gone quik on this one. yer right on on the humbolt n snipe I think to get it broke and on the ground.

 

[HuskStihl]

I'll parrot this and add, that I've never cut beech -- only seen it cut on videos.

Another quick way to hold one on, in these parts anyway, is to do an open face -- but don't meet at the back. Have them an inch or two apart and knock the pie out with your axe. That taller fiber column in the back really bends. It's one less cut than a box cut or any other face with a snipe anyway.

A guy kinda does that too when you miss, & don't want to recut and possibly mess up the gun -- so you just pound the face out.

That's my standard face! Turns out I just need the correct situation to not make it a **** up

 

[Metals406]

That's my standard face! Turns out I just need the correct situation to not make it a **** up

Hahaha. . . We should name it the OSHF. The 'oh **** Husky face' -- but the acronym sounds a lot more professional.

 

[HuskStihl]

When Bitz says "full face Dutchman" that's extending your gunning cut an inch or so past the bottom cut evenly all the way across? Would you put the back cut above this or even with it? Sorry for being a dork, but we've been doing the husky vs Stihl/how do I sharpen/should I port this? thing for what seems like months

 

[treeslayer2003]

Jon i'll leave terminology to some one who knows it better. far as the back cut, I would put it higher if I was to jump it wich I won't cuz I jus can't move fast as I used to. I think if every thing else is right it probably wouldn't help a lot.

 

[northmanlogging]

I hope y'all still here, can't see ya. I gotta cut a big beech tomorrow on the side of a slope. I need it up hill to be able to get it out, but it will certainly hit before the hinge breaks off. heavy top, butt is 40" or more, stem is around 40' to the top or less. any suggestions on face type?

Humboldt with the full dutch, or underhand block face (like a humboldt mixed with a block face). IF you go with the humbloldt, and I hope I'm not to late... make the bottom slope cut steep, not much you can do about a low stump on this one except come back and cut it lower. Never cut beech, but from the sound of it its not fun.

When Bitz says "full face Dutchman" that's extending your gunning cut an inch or so past the bottom cut evenly all the way across? Would you put the back cut above this or even with it? Sorry for being a dork, but we've been doing the husky vs Stihl/how do I sharpen/should I port this? thing for what seems like months

Full face Dutch is basically having both sides of the slope cut fall short of the gun cut, if done intentionally it can help pop the hold wood early, and let the butt move freely, works good for falling into obstacles, like gullys, or into a big mess of other screwed up hung up trees. Or in this case popping the hold wood before the tree runs out of ground.

As a note of caution, full dutch's can help cause a barber chair, especially when they are made too large, stalling the tree rather then popping the hold wood.

 

[treeslayer2003]

you are right, that's why bitz said to gut the heart a bit. and yes beech will bust.

 

[bitzer]

I haven't seen one chair, but they will split out easily enough. Personally I like cutting beech. Well the nice straight ones anyway. Cuts fast. What are the chances that its not going to be a big rotten sob inside Mike? Around here any beech over 30" seems to be a culvert.

Yes you do have to watch it on the full face dutch for chairing. I typically only go in about chain depth or so. Like bypass all the way across until I can't see the chain anymore. Definitely heart bore. Christ I'm beat. Gotta hit it boys!

 

[treeslayer2003]

man beech is hard here like white oak or hickory. and yea I have seen lots of um hollow but not on this tract. I think its solid.

 

[northmanlogging]

I'll go about an inch or so deep, depending on tree size. Only done it unintentionally on alders... it wasn't pretty...

 

[treeslayer2003]

ugly beech is down. wound up using a block as a proper humbolt I couldn't reach the back cut. all went well, its waiting to go on a truck. thanks fellas.
oh, bitz it was 39" where I cut it and had about a two inch wide soft spot in the center....I ain't cutting it off, it goin on the load.

 

[bitzer]

Good to hear! That's amazing to me that it was that sound. I put beech in the category of ash and elm for hardness. They all seem to cut fast for me. To me white oak is easier cutting than red. Hickory really isn't that bad either speed wise. Although shagbark likes to throw chains and crap in your face. Overall the worst on the stump for me is hard maple. I cut a job a couple of years ago that was 7 or 8 truck loads of beech. The whole woods was beech. It was in spring time just as things were startin to leaf out. Lots of rain. I felt like I was in Sherwood forest.