Need advice felling this forked, split tree

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This thread has been a good lesson for this firewood hack and very occasional feller. Although I feel for the OP and respect him for having the balls to put his exprience out there his apparent casual attitude towards such serious business made me feel very uncomfortable. The feedback from exprienced folk here confirmed that initial impression.

It's sure fired up this amature to hit the books and remember to be aware of my limitations.
 
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It works now you see it did that help you understand what I was trying to say? :msp_tongue: Like I said I suck at teaching/explaining if I don't have a visual aid.

I didn't see them put any wedge in when tipping the tree.
 
I didn't see them put any wedge in when tipping the tree.

It's not a necessity it just helps sometimes when you're at risk of over cutting your hinge.

As soon as swampageddon lets up I'll get out and make a video to show a little better what I'm talking about.
 
It's not a necessity it just helps sometimes when you're at risk of over cutting your hinge.

As soon as swampageddon lets up I'll get out and make a video to show a little better what I'm talking about.

I see what you mean about overcutting the hinge and having the tree crush onto the bar........on large leaners I tend to go fairly big on hinge then head out the back as fast as I can cut.
 
I see what you mean about overcutting the hinge and having the tree crush onto the bar........on large leaners I tend to go fairly big on hinge then head out the back as fast as I can cut.

And that works well that's usually how we do it. But after our logger buddy showed us how to cut that oak down plunge cutting makes me feel a little safer. Relief cuts work well if you know where to put them. I had a duh moment last week when cutting. I should've plunge cut it and I didn't and got pinched. It was a mistake on my part but it was easily fixed. Afterwards I told Ronnie we need to buy some wedges to leave in the trunk.
 
Plunge cuts are the ####s for falling leaners. And for all kinds of stuff, i've only gotten used to using in the last year or so. Same with wedges. With a small plastic weedge in your pocket and bore cutting its pretty hard to get the saw pinched. If you use it in time you don't even need to pound on it. :)
 
Would this method have been inappropriate in this instance???
I put a little something extra on this one for Bob....

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Now where's that "Smite" button???
 
Would this method have been inappropriate in this instance???
I put a little something extra on this one for Bob....

That'd be fine for a solid trunk in my opinion. But why are the #2 and #3 cuts there? Since the trunk had the big vertical split going through it, I wouldn't cut it like your pic shows. I'd cut out and remove the inside half (the part in the direction it will fall) of the trunk/tree first and then treat the back side as its own tree. For speed and efficiency, I think the small face cut followed by a bore into only the inside lean half, then finally cutting through the backside while in the bore cut is the way to go. Again, I'd have just ripped through the split after making the face cut to make sure it would separate and then angle a cut toward the face cut (the hinge) and let it drop. Wastes a little more wood and takes a bit more time, but that would pretty well ensure that half of the tree will cleanly split away from the other half.

Also, since it's oak with a heavy lean, if it were large enough to justify I would make a bore cut after the face cut and then rip down into the back side of that... to prevent it from pulling a bunch of wood out the middle and possibly twirling it to the side as it fell. Maybe none of this is making much sense, but it seems to in my mind and I haven't had any trees REALLY surprise me yet. :)
 
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That'd be fine for a solid trunk in my opinion. But why are the #2 and #3 cuts there? Since the trunk had the big vertical split going through it, I wouldn't cut it like your pic shows. I'd cut out and remove the inside half (the part in the direction it will fall) of the trunk/tree first and then treat the back side as its own tree. For speed and efficiency, I think the small face cut followed by a bore into only the inside lean half, then finally cutting through the backside while in the bore cut is the way to go. Again, I'd have just ripped through the split after making the face cut to make sure it would separate and then angle a cut toward the face cut (the hinge) and let it drop. Wastes a little more wood and takes a bit more time, but that would pretty well ensure that half of the tree will cleanly split away from the other half.

Also, since it's oak with a heavy lean, if it were large enough to justify I would make a bore cut after the face cut and then rip down into the back side of that... to prevent it from pulling a bunch of wood out the middle and possibly twirling it to the side as it fell. Maybe none of this is making much sense, but it seems to in my mind and I haven't had any trees REALLY surprise me yet. :)


that coos bay cut is common around here on a leaner to prevent chairing ,that tree being split already ,isn't going to work as you said ,i think he was making a joke to one of the experienced cutters ,not being serious as you can see in cut 4 :msp_wink:
 
that coos bay cut is common around here on a leaner to prevent chairing ,that tree being split already ,isn't going to work as you said ,i think he was making a joke to one of the experienced cutters ,not being serious as you can see in cut 4 :msp_wink:

Bob likes pictures...

And I wanted to prove I was listening once...

I also noted the saw being used to haul ass was a Dolmar to further spice the subject...
:big_smile:
 
that coos bay cut is common around here on a leaner to prevent chairing ,that tree being split already ,isn't going to work as you said ,i think he was making a joke to one of the experienced cutters ,not being serious as you can see in cut 4 :msp_wink:

:redface: I should have known it was a joke. I knew the "Dolmar" was. And now, looking at his post count, I can see he wasn't serious.
 
:redface: I should have known it was a joke. I knew the "Dolmar" was. And now, looking at his post count, I can see he wasn't serious.

that cut is a good cut on a leaning tree though if you ever need to prevent a barber chair ,that's not already split ,i use it a lot on alders but with a stihl :msp_rolleyes:
 
:redface: I should have known it was a joke. I knew the "Dolmar" was. And now, looking at his post count, I can see he wasn't serious.

Bingo...
Bob runs Stihls...

Also, your explanation makes sense to me...
I would have just put the loader to it myself, but it's always nice to squirrel away little bits of info in case I find myself alone...
Without my heavy's...

The haul ass part was a joke, but not really...
I waste NO time on back cuts... I clear fence rows. Everything I cut is leaning...
I probably should just use a dozer...
:amazed:
 
:redface: I should have known it was a joke. I knew the "Dolmar" was. And now, looking at his post count, I can see he wasn't serious.

If you get a chance try either of these cuts on a leaner. I usually use the triangle because I have better luck matching my cuts but either version, if done correctly, seems to work pretty well.

I'm not saying that the bore cut is wrong in every case but it's good to have an alternative.


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And the "haul ass" comment was no joke. Stay light on your feet and ready to move.

Many thanks to GAS071 for the diagram.
 
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I used the "haul ass" method on the back cut once on a leaner only to find out the entire middle was hollow and have it blow out. Luckily it was only an 18" chestnut oak and I was able to duck out of the way as it went. Later inspection showed my face cut had just penetrated the void in the middle.
 
I used the "haul ass" method on the back cut once on a leaner only to find out the entire middle was hollow and have it blow out. Luckily it was only an 18" chestnut oak and I was able to duck out of the way as it went. Later inspection showed my face cut had just penetrated the void in the middle.

Those just suck...
And they don't have to be dead to be hollow...
:msp_thumbdn:
 

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