How would you fell this Maple 11" leaner?

[Billy_Bob]

Here is a small diameter maple tree (about 11 inch) leaning quite a bit to the left. It can fall the way it is leaning, wide open area.

The probem with this tree is it is small and I am wondering how deep of a face cut I should put in? There is not much room to have a regular depth face cut, then bore in with the saw behind the hinge.

I was planning on using an open-face facecut (90 degrees) so the holding wood would keep the tree attached to the stump during the entire fall, then bore in behind the hinge with my saw and saw back from the face (leaving wood in the back to prevent barberchair). Then???

I would now have the face cut and the area behind the hinge bored out. Then the final cut I have seen 3 ways.

1. Is to cut from the back at a downward angle to the back of the boring backcut.

2. Straight from the back into the boring backcut.

3. Cut from the back several inches below the boring backcut.

Here is the tree... (the saw is tilting slightly - not level)...

 

[redlaker]

try any of the above and see how it works... try something different on the next one.

in the time it took to type that post it could have been felled, limbed and bucked.. you can't cut it down with a keyboard hehe

but I am the cut first ask questions later type

oh ya I would make a shallower face, then just go in quick on the backcut assuming its for firewood... but I have no hardwood experience

 

[Nailsbeats]

If you must bore it then do it first. Leave a good strap on the back. Then put a small face on it, personally I would do a very short humbolt or traditional (less than 1") so it jumps off. Trip the back below the cut and you're set.

 

[Billy_Bob]

If you must bore it then do it first.

I like that idea of making the bore cut first. Then I could better judge how much of a face I could use to leave enough hinge.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Now this is interesting on leaners from New Zealand...

It is a .pdf and on page 42 of Acrobat (page 43 of document), it shows the face cut (what they call a "scarf"), then a bore cut, then the final cut "as low as possible".

http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/treefell.pdf

 

[2dogs]

A tiny face and a backcut all in under a minute. Cut the stump to the ground.

 

[smokechase II]

No one says why

"it shows the face cut (what they call a "scarf"), then a bore cut, then the final cut "as low as possible".

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I do not know why they have made that emphasis and without an explanation............
I would think that generally finishing the cuts farther from the bore would invite a more powerful release of the slab and that strikes me as questionable.

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Options listed earlier:
1) Angled back-cut is from a primitive period in our past. Means more cutting and provides no benefit although there are those that want it to.
2) & 3) Both are OK just be ready for the jump and the possibility of the saw being caught by any portion of the slab and have both hands/thumbs/mind engaged.

{This 'tear out slab grabbing the saw' is more likely to happen if one just cuts out the back.}

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The reason the bore is used as a barber chair reduction technique is that it is less risky than depending on your saw to out cut the barber chair. Don't take a chance on a saw running out of gas or shutting down or cutting poorly for any reason. (I've hit nails in trees and one bullet where there were none or very little in the way of external scars.)

If you were to just straight away back cut a heavy leaner make sure you cut something in the hinge prior to back-cutting. Nip the corners or better yet do the old triangle cut and possibly a face center bore prior to the 'power in let's get this done event'. The reason for these cuts is to break up the continuity of the hinge to reduce the chance of a split starting.

The boring back-cut takes the hinge down to the minimum on a no stress level.

 

[ray benson]

This was posted a couple years ago by Murphy4Trees. Saved it for reference.

 

[Bushler]

Face it quarterd toward the maple (1st pic) and cut it down...don't complicate it.

Logging is pretty simple really.

1. Whack em down.
2. Jerk em in
3. Call for trucks.

 

[2dogs]

Face it quarterd toward the maple (1st pic) and cut it down...don't complicate it.

Logging is pretty simple really.

1. Whack em down.
2. Jerk em in
3. Call for trucks.

+1 (4. Stop and have a beer)

 

[Billy_Bob]

...I would think that generally finishing the cuts farther from the bore would invite a more powerful release of the slab and that strikes me as questionable...

Perhaps the fibers in a tree are sort of like a rope and say that rope is the holding wood left with this cut. So maybe you can cut it down lower and it would release just the same? Or perhaps give a bit of a delay allowing you to cut the entire "rope" before the tree falls?

(Sort of along the lines of the root pull thing and making the side cuts.)

 

[056kid]

hell i could zing right through that thing, top to bottem. If you wanna make it fo left or right face it that way and remove compression wood first!

 

[Nailsbeats]

This was posted a couple years ago by Murphy4Trees. Saved it for reference.

That picture of Murph is right on dead nuts, I love it. Notice the huge strap and short notch so it will hold until cut then jump. If not, he's dead, no room for errors when you're strapped to your work. Lottsa energy being released there, needs to happpen clean, nice job.

 

[Billy_Bob]

FYI - I asked about the New Zealand cut (which is face, bore cut, then final cut low down) in the commercial forum. Someone said the final cut low down prevents the saw from being thrown up with the tree when it falls.

So this cut with a leaner prevents barberchair and prevents problems with the bar getting caught with the final back cut. Sounds pretty good to me!

 

[Nailsbeats]

FYI - I asked about the New Zealand cut (which is face, bore cut, then final cut low down) in the commercial forum. Someone said the final cut low down prevents the saw from being thrown up with the tree when it falls.

So this cut with a leaner prevents barberchair and prevents problems with the bar getting caught with the final back cut. Sounds pretty good to me!

That someone was me, I log and do tree trimming, that's why I am stalking you. The trip cut down low does not prevent barber chair, the hinge already being set and the back cut made before release does that. What I said was that the butt log will not have fibers pulled, just a strap to remove once on the ground.

Also, the saw has less chance of going with the tree because with your final cut you are cutting into the stump not into the tree that is going over.

 

[ropensaddle]

Notch and drop. I would have it cut and hauled by the time you figure out how to do it!

 

[2dogs]

That someone was me, I log and do tree trimming, that's why I am stalking you. The trip cut down low does not prevent barber chair, the hinge already being set and the back cut made before release does that. What I said was that the butt log will not have fibers pulled, just a strap to remove once on the ground.

Also, the saw has less chance of going with the tree because with your final cut you are cutting into the stump not into the tree that is going over.

Soooo Nails, let's say you have a heavy head leaner 30" DBH. The tree is sound, the roots look good, and this is just a takedown- no commercial value. The lean is extreme though and you're on a steep sidehill and a barberchair is always a possbility. I would probably use a Coos Bay cut. Would you try to face and bore on a sidehill or...what?

 

[Bushler]

What's a Coos Bay cut? That's where I learned to cut and I never heard that.

 

[2dogs]

What's a Coos Bay cut? That's where I learned to cut and I never heard that.

I learned a Coos Bay as 2 cuts, one on each side of the tree and inline with the lean. These are about 1/3 the diameter of the tree leaving it hanging on a strip 1/3 the diameter of the tree. Then the strip is cut fast and the tree falls down the slope. I have used it with succes.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Soooo Nails, let's say you have a heavy head leaner 30" DBH. The tree is sound, the roots look good, and this is just a takedown- no commercial value. The lean is extreme though and you're on a steep sidehill and a barberchair is always a possbility. I would probably use a Coos Bay cut. Would you try to face and bore on a sidehill or...what?

Your Coos Bay cut will work. You could also bore it. I think I would have to be there or see a picture to know exactly which to choose.