Falling pics 11/25/09

[northmanlogging]

meh, I tuck my pride in my armpit, as should be obvious by now... Just not real often I come across a 5' diameter tree someone wants me to cut down...

 

[treeslayer2003]

northy what are them trees? cedar?

 

[Joe46]

Not to step into NM post, but yes. Western Red Cedar. They can be limby, sky bound bastards that defie you to get them off the stump!

 

[Gologit]

Not to step into NM post, but yes. Western Red Cedar. They can be limby, sky bound bastards that defie you to get them off the stump!

Yup, you can spend a lot of time limbing one of those. That's why I like a stroker delimber on the landing.
The ones we have down here can be weird to fall...not always but every once in awhile without rhyme or reason. Most of the fir and pine will talk to you a little when they're just about sawed up but a cedar will sometimes just go, no warning, no hesitation. Seems to be the second growth that's prone to that. Keeps you on your toes.

 

[northmanlogging]

Yup ceder, mostly ceder on this project, cut one today 4'3"

These big ugly ceders will talk to you a lot, deep throated booming, and popping, and then sometimes they just detonate on you boom boom splat...

Not sure how yer eastern ceder responds on the stump, these are mostly tame, the hold wood seems like it should be brittle cause it breaks clean and hardly ever get any fiber pull, but they hold to the stump well enough

The last month or so I've just been doing cleanup and wrenching, this logging stuff is hard work... I only fell 4 trees today but it took like 4 hours to limb and buck em.

 

[treeslayer2003]

lol, that big poplar was a pita to get on the truck, loader grapple just didn't want to hold on to it spread that wide. took longer to get that one tree out n on the truck than the rest of the load. I really make more money on 30" stuff.
no cedar in these parts big enough to cut.......I did look at some white cedar a while back but weren't legal to harvest um where they were.

 

[northmanlogging]

all hard wood then huh... maybe some pine...

the self loaders here have fairly small grapples on em, trees start getting up to the 3-4' range and you start needing to chain em up, not a super big deal until you realize the loader jockey is a 72 year old with one leg hopping up and down a loader tower...

The big landing loaders I think they tend to run 50-60" grapples not much they cant pick up and toss around.

 

[treeslayer2003]

yea, yellow pine and hard wood. once in a while find a big old growth heart pine.
I really need a big loader..........and a pile of money lol.

 

[slowp]

OK faller gods. I have a question. I was doing some road work today and cutting down alders, whice always have a lean to the road daylight. When a tree has a lean, does one make one's back cut level or make it with the lean, which leaves a stump that would look like a slopping back cut except it was done with the lean? This has been bugging me along with the is the steer manure really from steers question. Cut with level level? Or with the lean slant?

 

[treeslayer2003]

boy do I wanna see what Bob says here lol, I always wondered too but I just cut level and try to match the face.

 

[HuskStihl]

OK faller gods. I have a question. I was doing some road work today and cutting down alders, whice always have a lean to the road daylight. When a tree has a lean, does one make one's back cut level or make it with the lean, which leaves a stump that would look like a slopping back cut except it was done with the lean? This has been bugging me along with the is the steer manure really from steers question. Cut with level level? Or with the lean slant?

I can say from personal experience that when you suggest making the back cut perpendicular to the stem and not horizontal, many, many people, Scores of people. Hundreds of people, will all come out of the woodwork and make fun of you on AS.

 

[treeslayer2003]

yea, but only a few matter

 

[JakeG]

Good question! Were you using a conventional or humboldt face cut? If so, were your horizontal cuts parallel with the earth or perpendicular to the fibers? Personally I think it's safer to avoid a ripping situation on your horizontal cuts.

 

[slowp]

I guess I'm not understanding Texan today, sorry. I'm doing bad Humboldts and went with the lean of the tree on the back cut. There have been no barber chairs but we are talking about small, 6" at the stump, alder.

 

[northmanlogging]

OK faller gods. I have a question. I was doing some road work today and cutting down alders, whice always have a lean to the road daylight. When a tree has a lean, does one make one's back cut level or make it with the lean, which leaves a stump that would look like a slopping back cut except it was done with the lean? This has been bugging me along with the is the steer manure really from steers question. Cut with level level? Or with the lean slant?

I don't consider myself a faller god yet, more like an acolyte...

anyway, always make yer cuts level, the reasoning is if you start tossing in funny slopps then you start getting funny reactions with the tree, level and plumb is predictable, to a point... Also a crooked back cut is still a crooked back cut, having that funny slope in it will lead to nastyness if you need a wedge, nastyness in the stump splitting and lots of tears and screaming why gods do you hate me so...

 

[northmanlogging]

Good question! Were you using a conventional or humboldt face cut? If so, were your horizontal cuts parallel with the earth or perpendicular to the fibers? Personally I think it's safer to avoid a ripping situation on your horizontal cuts.

I think he was say'n to cut it with the lean... this conventional stuff I don't know what that means though...

 

[Gologit]

boy do I wanna see what Bob says here lol, I always wondered too but I just cut level and try to match the face.

Bob says...it depends on the tree. You guys knew I was going to say that. None of this is gospel and I might vary the methods a little with each different tree. All I can do is tell you the way I was taught and share what's worked for me. I've had some good luck but I had some good teachers and some excellent object lessons (read...screwups) too. The screwups are the ones you really learn from.

On small trees without much lean I don't think it's too critical but I'll still make my back cut perpendicular to the grain. Granted, it leaves a farmer-looking stump but that's better than cutting at an angle to the grain and taking a chance on a barber chair.
Little leaners will hurt you, too.
On larger trees, say anything over 30" or so or on heavy leaners I try to make my face fairly steep and as deep as I think I can get away with. That's easy to over-do though and it's better not to push it too far.
I'll almost always put a snipe in the face. I want that tree to slide down and hit butt first if it can. I usually use a Humboldt face if I'm falling it to a flat lay or going cross hill. If I have to fall one uphill I might use a conventional with no snipe and forget about trying to get it to hit butt first. I don't want it sliding back down the hill at me and if I can hold it to the stump a little I feel better.
I back the big ones up the same way as the little ones but I tend to power through them as hard as I can and I get my marks set before I start. I like the V style Coos Bay but a T will work just as well if your cuts are lined up right. I seldom use a bore cut. I want a straight cut the first time, no screwing around with do-overs...not on a leaner. There's a tendency to cut through your hinge or cut a corner off when you're going that hard so either scribe a mark where hinge should be or have somebody spot for you.
LOL...Usually with our kinds of trees you won't get close enough to the hinge on a leaner to have to worry about cutting out but if you're chasing the hinge it can still happen.
Like I said, none of this is carved in stone but I've done alright with it. I'm sure there are other ways just as good but I tend to stick with what I know will work for me. Falling trees is always just a series of small corrections and stopping little problems before they become big ones.

 

[slowp]

OK, I'm understanding Californian. That's a scary thought!

 

[JakeG]

Great post sir. I use the triangle and "T" coos regularly and recently tried the no face coos on small hardwoods. They all work as described.

 

[Gologit]

OK, I'm understanding Californian. That's a scary thought!

Just don't start talking like a Valley Girl, okay?