Oklahoma,AR,MO,KS,TX GTG (Next GTG 08/27/2016 ) Fort Scott, KS
- Thread starter Work Saw Collector
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otstir:
andydodgegeek
The stool maker
Well? What did you get?
Do tell.
Freehand:
Now that you showed me the easy way to make some good boards, I am finally going to get some for the beavertail on my heavy haul trailer.
Pine from the lumber store just doesn't stand up, and I haven't had any logs milled for a long time. Thanks to your demo, I'll just knock off a few short boards.
Now that you showed me the easy way to make some good boards, I am finally going to get some for the beavertail on my heavy haul trailer.
Pine from the lumber store just doesn't stand up, and I haven't had any logs milled for a long time. Thanks to your demo, I'll just knock off a few short boards.
WKEND LUMBERJAK
Addicted to ArboristSite
CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
It is a 338xpt.
CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
I am becoming black and blue this evening as the bruises show up after a hickory decided it did not want to go the way we had it leaning, changed directions by somewhere around 45 degrees and wound up coming to rest almost 180 degrees off o the lean. Thank God Dan saw it and yelled I made it most of the way into the basket on the bucket truck before it hit me. Any way I learned a good lesson about hickory's.
RVALUE
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'd use honey locust or osage orange.
Just saying.
WAIT! Will you be using a planer?
:yikes:
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Elm is the very best wood for truck planks. Many semi-truck floors are done with elm. It almost never splits, and it recovers nicely from thousands of nails being pulled out.
Besides, I don't get that many Osage orange big enough or straight enough to turn into lumber.
Planers are ok with me. I could give safety lessons on their proper use.
Post up some pics of the results.
Sure. It might take a while, though.
I'll have to save some logs. I have been giving them away, and I don't have any big tree removal sold right now. I do have a week's worth of scrub brush and fenceline to clear.
I lost a $2300 oak removal yesterday. The guy said he was unhappy and couldn't get his tree done. It was over the primaries and the house. Really, it was a piece of cake except for the primaries.
I called KCPL, they inspected and scheduled a "make safe" in just two days...when I called the guy to make sure he returned the permission slip, he told me the tree service was there with the crane removing the tree. DAMN!
They had been on the job for about 4 1/2 hours, and they still weren't done with it. Shucks! We did a crane job at least twice as big (& difficult) in 5 1/2 hours, including hauling all the wood off. This tree didn't deserve a crane; it wasn't even as big as the one I cut down for the gtg. It was a lot bushier, though.
Hedgerow
HACK
It's all about physics Mark... Just be glad it's not chemistry...:msp_wink:
CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
It might be better for me if it were chemistry, since that is my area of vocation. I will try to set up and describe what happened. Dan if you saw it different from the ground feel free to tell. We started out
On a hickory that was approximately 65 feet tall 18-20 at the base. Went up and cut the top out of the tree and limbed it clean. Started out chucking it up at five-six foot lengths, go down and was going to make the next to last cut about eight feet off of the ground. The tree was naturally leaning SSE at about 7 degrees. I'm positioned on the nw corner in the basket. Making notch cuts and then back cutting about an inch higher than the point of the notch. The amount I'm cutting off this time is and I'm a little fuzzy right now but I'm going to say 15 feet. I cut the notch to about the half way point, no movement in the tree the base is slightly graded down hill with the top
Of the notch at about 40 degrees to the bottom. I start the back cut and he to with in about an inch and a half of the notch and the tree starts to move we take the bucket to the top and I push with no movement. We are trying to miss several things. So we go back down and I cut to within half an inch and I more
Movement. Go back to the top and push and the tree starts falling and stops on the notch. Bucket back to the top and will not move. I tried wedges earlier and come back down and install two with no luck. We are looking at it trying to decide the next move we had a helper of another crew we were waiting on to move. I'm still in the bucket the trees is leaning SSE and I'm on the nw side when it gives up the west side of about the size of my pinky holds on and the tree pivots on that
One piece . The top of the log lands on the bucket truck arm which is ramped directly at me and thus I'm in the way. I duck and get my headd down but the log hit my right shoulder an drive my left into the top bar of the basket and my elbow into my thigh. The log took out the fence we were trying to protect. I'll tell what I learned in my next post.
On a hickory that was approximately 65 feet tall 18-20 at the base. Went up and cut the top out of the tree and limbed it clean. Started out chucking it up at five-six foot lengths, go down and was going to make the next to last cut about eight feet off of the ground. The tree was naturally leaning SSE at about 7 degrees. I'm positioned on the nw corner in the basket. Making notch cuts and then back cutting about an inch higher than the point of the notch. The amount I'm cutting off this time is and I'm a little fuzzy right now but I'm going to say 15 feet. I cut the notch to about the half way point, no movement in the tree the base is slightly graded down hill with the top
Of the notch at about 40 degrees to the bottom. I start the back cut and he to with in about an inch and a half of the notch and the tree starts to move we take the bucket to the top and I push with no movement. We are trying to miss several things. So we go back down and I cut to within half an inch and I more
Movement. Go back to the top and push and the tree starts falling and stops on the notch. Bucket back to the top and will not move. I tried wedges earlier and come back down and install two with no luck. We are looking at it trying to decide the next move we had a helper of another crew we were waiting on to move. I'm still in the bucket the trees is leaning SSE and I'm on the nw side when it gives up the west side of about the size of my pinky holds on and the tree pivots on that
One piece . The top of the log lands on the bucket truck arm which is ramped directly at me and thus I'm in the way. I duck and get my headd down but the log hit my right shoulder an drive my left into the top bar of the basket and my elbow into my thigh. The log took out the fence we were trying to protect. I'll tell what I learned in my next post.
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CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
Sorry about misspelling and freaking IPhone auto corrects.
It sounds like you were trying to do a snap cut on a piece being pushed over with the bucket. I can sure tell you several ways to avoid those problems. If you were not doing a snap cut, then just cut your hinge thin enough to let if fall, once the face cut has closed.
1. When you are within reach of a bucket truck, and you are in tight quarters: just cut pieces the size you can toss (or push) to a safe zone. Snap cuts are great for man-sized pieces; they are terribly unpredictable on larger pieces.
2. You should NEVER use your bucket/crane to push a section over. If is does not "want" to fall the direction you are attempting to push it, then you have already put yourself at huge risk of getting crushed in the bucket when you were lower down making the cut. If it really needs a push, then tie a rope to it and pull it over. Doing it that way prevents it from "setting back" when you are lower.
Safety note: You really don't want to push a trunk over when you are not even wearing a harness. You see, the bucket really isn't made to take the force the hydraulic boom can put on it. By using it as a pushing device, you can easily damage the bucket. Sometimes this makes critical element fail with you in the bucket.
3. If you have a mostly vertical trunk with a good landing zone below: salami cuts! No tossing logs is required. It ruins the firewood, but it gets the tree to the ground rather quick & safe. Start on one side with a steep downward slope, don't quit till it falls away from you. Some folks prefer to pull out at the last moment and finish the cut from the outside.
4. I think that wedges are not very useful for short trunk sections that don't have much brush still on them. By the time you get enough lift to actually cause the log to fall from "over-center", you will have wasted too much time getting it to move. Undercut with a deep notch, then back-cut and send it where you want.
1. When you are within reach of a bucket truck, and you are in tight quarters: just cut pieces the size you can toss (or push) to a safe zone. Snap cuts are great for man-sized pieces; they are terribly unpredictable on larger pieces.
2. You should NEVER use your bucket/crane to push a section over. If is does not "want" to fall the direction you are attempting to push it, then you have already put yourself at huge risk of getting crushed in the bucket when you were lower down making the cut. If it really needs a push, then tie a rope to it and pull it over. Doing it that way prevents it from "setting back" when you are lower.
Safety note: You really don't want to push a trunk over when you are not even wearing a harness. You see, the bucket really isn't made to take the force the hydraulic boom can put on it. By using it as a pushing device, you can easily damage the bucket. Sometimes this makes critical element fail with you in the bucket.
3. If you have a mostly vertical trunk with a good landing zone below: salami cuts! No tossing logs is required. It ruins the firewood, but it gets the tree to the ground rather quick & safe. Start on one side with a steep downward slope, don't quit till it falls away from you. Some folks prefer to pull out at the last moment and finish the cut from the outside.
4. I think that wedges are not very useful for short trunk sections that don't have much brush still on them. By the time you get enough lift to actually cause the log to fall from "over-center", you will have wasted too much time getting it to move. Undercut with a deep notch, then back-cut and send it where you want.
CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
I agree with part of what you are saying and disagree with parts. I do want to make one thing clear we were not using the bucket and truck to push with. I was the one exerting the force. There are several other reasons for choices made.
CMNRallye79
ArboristSite Member
What I was going to say I learned is, after cutting multiple hickories they will hold and spin with as little as you pinky being the problem, second of all you notch needs the top at about 45 degrees and the bottom at negative twenty or more. Talked to a logger friend he said they consider them death trees when small like we cut. He said the are never predictable. Any way thats my two cents for what it's worth.
That's good. I wasn't making any accusations, I just thought that was what you said you were doing. Even if you were, it is a very common trick to pull with a bucket truck. I have seen lots of guys do it, and I have done it myself. That doesn't make it the smart way to get the tree on the ground.
Even if you are going back up to the top and pushing it only by hand, the problem is still the same: you have made cuts at the base and are making the top unstable enough to push over. Until you have successfully pushed it over, it is unstable and capable of falling the wrong way. You wouldn't make notches in a tree, then climb it to push it over would you?
You should be making every cut so that it falls the direction required without raising your bucket to push.
I like hickory myself. It has strong wood fibers and makes a strong hinge.
Cottonwood? It doesn't hinge worth a hoot. I think that is the wood that is downright scary.
Cottonwood? It doesn't hinge worth a hoot. I think that is the wood that is downright scary.
