How do you cut a tree up?

[gary s]

A cant hook IS for rolling logs. A pickaroon is a handle with a curved pointy thing on the end for reaching out and grabbing things, totally different.

 

[svk]

I'll be darn, according to google I guess other folks consider a cant hook the same as a log roller/timberjack.....I've always heard it used the same as pickaroon

 

[Red Amor]

always head the tree first and work your way back to the stump unless you just need the log AND you can safely discard the head to gain the log which can often require machinery or at least a very competent woodsman,

 

[Philbert]

A timber jack is a cant hook with a foot to hold the log off the ground.

Philbert

Peavy


Cant Hook


Timber Jack


Pickaroon (a.k.a.Hookaroon)


Philbert

 

[slowp]

Conifer crowns do not shatter. The hard to find old growth would have the top parts bust up if on broken, rocky ground or if felled by an unskilled hack. On those trees, some of the limbs might break off, but the stobs had to still be bucked off. Our second and third growth trees have more pliable branches and they will fold up under the tree sometimes -- think springpoles. An interesting factoid is that we still have volcanic ash in the crowns and on the hemlocks, you will run into pockets of the ash where the limb joins the tree bole. Ash is hard on chains.

Ambull, there's no need to hurry when woodcutting. Take your time and you won't be as likely to get injured. I cut blowdowns sometimes. I take my time and ponder them before starting to cut them. Then I work slowly because I missed a springpole once and was impressed by how high it launched a chunk of wood. It was a vine maple pinned by the blowdown and I was in heavy ferny ground.

If you aren't in a hurry, and don't want to spend money on more stuff, wedges work fine. You should be carrying one anyway. You'll need it if you don't have it along. I invested in a Peavy when I had to deal with a maple on a hillside. It had been limbed and decked so I had to stuff chunks of wood under the last logs cut to keep them from rolling down. Improvisation is good.

 

[svk]

Conifer crowns do not shatter.

Wrong.

You've clearly never cut down a white pine.

 

[c5rulz]

Well trees have a lot of troublesome brush. Lately I have just been getting trailer loads of chunks when my logger buddies were around.

Last week picked up the scale:

Got a 2nd load and it's almost cut up, 1st load in the back.

 

[svk]

Well trees have a lot of troublesome brush. Lately I have just been getting trailer loads of chunks when my logger buddies were around.

Last week picked up the scale:

Got a 2nd load and it's almost cut up, 1st load in the back.

Nice looking loads!

 

[c5rulz]

Nice looking loads!

Some don't like to work with "big wood", but it makes firewood in a hurry and has little bark. I don't run 50cc saws anymore.

 

[Knobby57]

Push the tree over with a track loader , cut off the stump . Have my brother pick up the entire tree with the grapple on the skid-steer and move it to the brush pile . Slice off the little crap , move over to the log pile and go to town . Can usually take down and cut up a 70' oak in about 15 minutes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Philbert]

(Ooops - replied to wrong thread).

Philbert

 

[Chris-PA]

That takes too damn long. Buck half way through until you get to a spot where you can get the bar under the log. Cut it off there, roll the log 180 degrees with your timberjack and then finish the other half of the cuts.

Yup, kerf it and roll it is my usual approach, at least if it's not too big. Unless I get lucky and it's got lots of places to get under it with the bar.

It is fun to jack a long trunk off the ground by driving a wedge into a kerf at the middle. The problem I find is that you can only do that a couple of times, and then the log is too short to lift far enough to get a bar under it any more.

 

[JDavidS]

After reading another post in here that was complete with pictures, I got to thinking if I was doing something different than most. When I drop a tree, unless there are some extenuating circumstances, I always cut off most if not all branches first and get them out of my way. Once that is done, I then buck the limbs that are in the air because I find the smaller stuff to go so much faster when they aren't on the ground. I then I'll bounce back and forth cutting everything that's off the ground even a little. This may include a few pieces from the butt end but not usually. This pretty much leaves the main part of the trunk for last. If needed, I will use the cant hook.

So what's your method? Am I the minority here?

Very similar here- 346XP for the smaller stuff and then the 357XP for the main trunk.

 

[Ambull01]

Conifer crowns do not shatter. The hard to find old growth would have the top parts bust up if on broken, rocky ground or if felled by an unskilled hack. On those trees, some of the limbs might break off, but the stobs had to still be bucked off. Our second and third growth trees have more pliable branches and they will fold up under the tree sometimes -- think springpoles. An interesting factoid is that we still have volcanic ash in the crowns and on the hemlocks, you will run into pockets of the ash where the limb joins the tree bole. Ash is hard on chains.

Ambull, there's no need to hurry when woodcutting. Take your time and you won't be as likely to get injured. I cut blowdowns sometimes. I take my time and ponder them before starting to cut them. Then I work slowly because I missed a springpole once and was impressed by how high it launched a chunk of wood. It was a vine maple pinned by the blowdown and I was in heavy ferny ground.

If you aren't in a hurry, and don't want to spend money on more stuff, wedges work fine. You should be carrying one anyway. You'll need it if you don't have it along. I invested in a Peavy when I had to deal with a maple on a hillside. It had been limbed and decked so I had to stuff chunks of wood under the last logs cut to keep them from rolling down. Improvisation is good.

Yeah I guess the speed will come with experience. Buying all this stuff is one thing, the bigger issue is having to carry all this crap. I usually have to walk a bit to my scrounge area and I already have too much to carry.

Well trees have a lot of troublesome brush. Lately I have just been getting trailer loads of chunks when my logger buddies were around.

Last week picked up the scale:

Got a 2nd load and it's almost cut up, 1st load in the back.

Well I'm totally jealous. Impressive amount of splits.

 

[Gypo Logger]

This is the fastest way. Lol

 

[fixit1960]

Some don't like to work with "big wood", but it makes firewood in a hurry and has little bark. I don't run 50cc saws anymore.

I'm in the same boat as you c5rulz. Seems like everyone else is getting the good easy stuff.. I'm left with the 38" and 46" trunks no else has saws to cut or they don't want to wrestle them. I cut a 12 foot trailer load last Sunday and never used anything smaller than a 32" on a Husky 288. Working up a 5' red oak blow down that's been down at the edge of a farm field for about 5 years.

Makes you earn your keep working the big stuff.

 

[c5rulz]

I'm in the same boat as you c5rulz. Seems like everyone else is getting the good easy stuff.. I'm left with the 38" and 46" trunks no else has saws to cut or they don't want to wrestle them. I cut a 12 foot trailer load last Sunday and never used anything smaller than a 32" on a Husky 288. Working up a 5' red oak blow down that's been down at the edge of a farm field for about 5 years.

Makes you earn your keep working the big stuff.

I agree.

Even though the rounds are very large, I don't pick up anything more than 100#'s.

 

[fixit1960]

I agree.

Even though the rounds are very large, I don't pick up anything more than 100#'s.

I have a ramp on the back of the trailer and if I can get the round rolled to it, I can strap it and use a hand winch on the front of the trailer and pull it in. That way I can get it home and roll it or pull it off the trailer and use the vertical splitter. If you make one noodle cut now your committed to noodling it small enough to pick up each piece and load. Sometimes that is 3 noodles. If it is over 40" that makes it 5 cuts to get them manageable and then you have to wrestle them on and off the trailer and into position on the splitter.

Sometimes I feel like I auditioned for the old All Star Wrestling TV show. If I was wealthy enough to afford a skidder and 5th wheel trailer and a truck to pull the trailer, I could just load up and go to the timber. But if I had that kind of money I could just buy propane!

It's work but it keeps me in shape...

 

[slowp]

Wrong.

You've clearly never cut down a white pine.

ALL conifer crowns do not shatter, and no, I'm not a faller. It would also depend on the age and size of the white pine if the eastern ones are anything like ours. The second growth still has pretty flexible limbs IF not an open grown wolf tree. Are you falling large, old conifers? Yard trees?

 

[slowp]

Yeah I guess the speed will come with experience. Buying all this stuff is one thing, the bigger issue is having to carry all this crap. I usually have to walk a bit to my scrounge area and I already have too much to carry.



Well I'm totally jealous. Impressive amount of splits.

Peavies or is it peaveys or peavys are heavy. We seldom take one along on our trail clearing work because of that. If you have a Lab sized dog, they can easily carry plastic wedges, file spare chain, etc. in a dog pack. They will werk fer fud.