I have a new Notch Cut For you

[stevenb]

Don't laugh.

I got my new Huskie 372 (the one I ordered got lost in shipping so I bought this one from a local).

Well we ran into a situation that has never happened before.

There was a misunderstanding where the notch was to go. I cut it in a spot that was wrong. My dad came up to me before I did the back cut and said he had a bad feeling about this, so I didnt make the back cut. So we attached a rigging rope to the tree and tied it to a Toyota 6 cylinder with the differential lock on, and moved the truck to the opposite side of the notch (where the back cut would be).

With me playing middle man yelling commands to me friend in the truck my dad cut another notch on the other side. Not a huge one but big enough to sway this to our advantage.

My dad got out of the way after cutting this notch, (a regular conventional notch).

I gave my friend the signal to fire up the truck, (with everyone clear). He rocked that tree. Backwards the forwards, and so on. But the 3rd back up that tree snapped at the notch and came down perfect.

The moral of the story is. If your gut tells you something is wrong listen to it. We did this time and we corrected the error. Now I am half Polish, my dad is from Poland. My friend deemed this (laughingly) the Polish Double Notch. Do not try at home.

Everything went well. But this was the worst tree we ever cut, hung up on vines on another tree. Incredibly hairy. It ripped all the vines out.

Hope u enjoy this story! And remember when working with a couple of guys have clear goals set it mind so you don't end up with a problem. When I cut the notch on the wrong side after that we spent an hour discussing options.

Moral of the story is, for difficult trees, plan and communicate. Don't assume everyone is on the same page.

 

[kf_tree]

basicly you got lucky.........you NEVER want to rock a tree that is notched. the notch and hinge wood is your control. by rocking it it could snap back in the opposite direction. slap the notch.....tenion the pull rope the start the back cut. how high was your rigging rope? did you climb the tree with the notch in it?

if i have the boys pulling the rope they know just a steady pull, no jerking the rope.

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[Blowdown1]

Morbid curiosity makes me wonder what would have happened had that thing dropped in the opposite direction while rocking. Toyota would have been Toy yo-yo.

 

[rbtree]

I think it did fall in the direction it was pulled, blowdown....right, steven?' I agree, though, rocking is not a good choice!

Sometimes, if not sure which way a tree is tensioned, as in bucking or working with a hung up leaner, I might notch both sides. That way, there's no saw hangups to worry about. I've probably even done it with a couple tops over the years, if the drop zone was open in both directions....say if it didnt seem to want to go in the intended direction, and no pull line was installed.

 

[superman_36]

or if the rope broke when the tree was rocking the wrong way
you got lucky

 

[begleytree]

Very lucky indeed. Always maintain a steady pull, never rock anything.
-Ralph

 

[a_lopa]

rock the tree=look for new job.

 

[Lawn Masters]

rock the tree=look for new job.

or a grave and casket. use common sense, and caution when taking trees down, and it should work out well. also proper gear is essential. or one can just take a Cat 330C excavator and knock the thing right down and rip out the stump as well.

 

[NWCS]

theres a reason loggers pay lots of L&I taxes and such.. logging can KILL you with one bad move. you got lucky this time.. may not be so fortunate next time. if i pull a tree.. its with the 20ton winch on my crawler loader.. and sometimes that aint enough! ive had my share of luck and bad practices.. but i wont even rock a tree.. thats like holding a stick of TNT in one hand and a torch pointed at the TNT at the other hand.. smiling like nothing gonna happen.. sooner or later its gonna kill ya. logging is reality at its highest point.. take it very serious and respect the job. we all hate to read about injuries and deaths. but we do it to learn more and stay alive so we dont have to be that next story in the paper. just more ammunition for the people against logging and forestry related work.

 

[kf_tree]

a few weeks ago we went to pull over a maple with the chip truck. i slapped my notch and as he was tensioning the rope i heard a pop. i went running...we pulled out the crotch. so now i had io go back up the tree to set a line again. it just didn't feel right to go up a notched tree.

 

[Marky Mark]

When in doubt just try the Lambert notch. NOT Study the Willock notch.

 

[Dadatwins]

I'm not laughing, I'm shaking my head in amazment that no one got hurt during this mis-adventure. Please read some of the post here about pulling trees over and get a better understanding of how it is done before attempting to do it again. This type of work does not allow for many mistakes, be careful.

 

[Newfie]

Get some proper training before you kill yourself or someone else. In another thread you talk about 8 years of experience, maybe 8 years of inexperience.

How do you notch a tree 180 degrees out of position? As for the rope (probably the unbreakable one?) and the toyota, that is gonna bite you in the a$$, if you don't learn to understand the dynamics of proper tree felling.

3 lucky people if you ask me.


Sounded like the situation called for a PLAN. Then you probably could have used wedges and the pull line safely.

 

[turnkey4099]

That started out scary and I dam** near sh** my pants when it came to rocking the tree.

Harry K

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Don't laugh.

There was a misunderstanding where the notch was to go. I.

Uh, I may be wrong, but the notch goes on the side of the tree where you want it to fall.

 

[Vman]

Marky Mark....OK, i am not a pro, but consider myself a pretty well seasoned home-owner sawman. my question; is the Lambert notch just a goof/joke? or does it have a reason/purpose?
(yes, i debated long and hard before i came up with the courage to post this question....but i had to ask!! :Monkey:

 

[notahacker]

Okay, am I the only one who noticed that there wasn't a wedge in the backcut to preven rocking? You have to put a wedge in a backcut if you are in doubt of the situationl a wedge can "drive home" a tree just fine.

 

[notahacker]

Both of those notches look ugly. Wouldn't advise useing those ever.

 

[Molecule]

Rocking!!! that whole thing gave me the image of the *tree "deciding" to go the wrong way -- it could have easily picked up that little toyota like it was a leaf ("with its hub locks on - LOL) and slung it over top of the tree and into the next county--like one of those catapults the Wisconsin-? farmers use for entertainment, slinging pianos, etc.

(Every fall for a beginner is a critical fall, and the problem most beginner fellers have with building their notches (after they first learn how to figure out where the tree needs to fall, and to have the humility to carefully aim the saw and cut the top cut first, at a good angle, kept just a little shy of going too far into the tree ...) the problem is that they try to be a blindfolded hero or something, and take out the bottom of the wedge in a single cut, as in "Gee-look Ma--I'm finishing a perfect notch with my eyes blindfolded." After the top cut is made, to not quite the full depth, the notch-wedge should be removed in say 2 to 5 horizontal layers, each say 5" thick, but leaving a 1" layer for finishing the "hinge line." This anti-heroic method doesn't add more than 50 seconds to total time, but ... it opens up visibility for a necessary "detail view" of the planned hinge line. Now that the end of the top cut can be seen, it can be tweaked and cleaned as necessary--then the last horizontal layer being maybe 1" or so can be taken out. Now, you can directly see --and therefore directly control-- the cutters as they shape out a clean single line for the hinge. There is no way, even the hero at a logging show, is going to get the two planes which form a notch in a large tree, to intersect in exactly one hinge line, which is only one kerf in thickness, and at the right depth in the tree and aimed at the right location. The feller who adds 50 seconds to his notch time, will save hours on hours, if not a life, by "taking the blindfolds off" when visibly forming a clean single edge line, for the hinge--not necessarily an easy task.)