Plunge cut...revisited

[beastmaster]

Getting ready to start a new job here in a few days. Before i can start i have to take a safety class. Thats a first for me. The class is part of whoever these guys are contracting for, not the company im working for. Anyway im told all trunk cuts have to be a specific type of plunge cut. These are upwards of 200 ft conifers, why would they require use of a plunge cut. Most im sure are pretty straight up and down. If i have to make 10 or 15 cuts on a tree ,plus bore each one thats time and energy. Dont make no sence. Is this some new safety thing or is it just this outfits rule? Makes you wonder what else they'll have.

 

[ATH]

Probably a safety thing. There are circumstances where that is hands down the safest way to fell a tree. I can't think of circumstances where it increases the danger...not that it is necessary or improves safety in all circumstances... I guess maybe it is kinda "can't go wrong" sorta thing??? I know loggers here who use nothing but - however we don't have many 200' straight as an arrow trees in Ohio!

 

[137cc]

Anyway im told all trunk cuts have to be a specific type of plunge cut.

If it's a group called NATS doing the training I feel sorry for you.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I think it's just trendy right now, kind of like GOL was.

On a brighter note, I hear plaid's making a comeback...

 

[ATH]

GOL is what made plunge cutting "trendy" isn't it? I don't think it is a trend that is going away though.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Just like everything, another tool for the toolbox, but to require it on every tree seems silly, and putting the Beast through a class he should probably be better off teaching...

 

[ATH]

I agree it is not necessary on every tree. Safety training to get everybody on the same page is a hassle but to be expected with large corporate contracts.

 

[CanopyGorilla]

Let us know the reason they give you after the class. I bore cut my face most times on trees larger than my bar, but almost never the back cut unless I'm really worried about a chair.

 

[beastmaster]

Well things didn't go to well with my training. I couldn't take the saw test because i didn't have kalvar gloves, chaps that went to my ankles and a e rated helmet. Screw em anyway.
The required cut was invented by them and found to be safer and more effective then the " traditional " falling cut. (Their words). It start with a 70 % face cut. Which ends up about1/5 of the trunk back, then you come in at 90% and you have your pie. Seemed kind if shallow to me. Then you plunge cut it leaving 5 to 10% Holding wood flush with your face cut. No step. Then you walk the saw back and leave a strap. You insert a wedge on each side of strap then when your sure everything's right and safe. You cut the strap to release the tree. Which of course has to have a tipping line in it no matter what. This procedure is used on any tree 12 inch or bigger.
i asked how would you do this 100 ft up on a 50 inch section. He said hes never been in a tree that big that high up and wasnt sure. Failure to use this cut will result in termination.

 

[Zale]

GOL is what made plunge cutting "trendy" isn't it? I don't think it is a trend that is going away though.

What is "GOL"?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Game Of Logging

 

[peakbagger]

I had to get National Park Service certification to run a saw while doing boundary maintenance on the AT a few years back. The plunge cut described above sounds very familiar.

 

[beastmaster]

It advantage they say is the strap holds the tree in place tell your100% sure everything is ready and a superviser can sign off if need be. The 70 to 100 degree facecut is so it stays on the stump longer, giving more control longer. The shallow facecut is so your hinge is in newer wood they'll conceivably have more elasticity

 

[BC WetCoast]

You should ask for a demonstration of this cut, while the guy is on spurs way up there with a big saw.

 

[ATH]

....
The required cut was invented by them ....

Who is 'them'? I leaned that at least 20 years ago in Virginia as a Game of Logging "summary" or short course - and it wasn't 'new' then. I took GOL level one about 17-18 years ago from a guy who learned directly from Soren Eriksson. I am not saying Soren "invented" it (not sure who did), but he was the one who made it popular in the east.

Ohio Forestry Association now teaches similar technique in a program they call Chainsaw Safety Awareness That Works (CSAW). It is a good class taught by experienced loggers (still logging full time) - I'd highly recommend it to anybody. Maybe it is better because they are less....'stuck up'? (They'd lend you a pair of chaps if that is what was needed to get you through the course!)

 

[TheJollyLogger]

The more I think about this, and as I reread the original post, WTF? I like a borecut in certain situations, on the ground, but I'm trying to remember ever using it while climbing. Are they wanting you to use it while blocking the spar down? I don't like that at all. The kickback risk is huge.

 

[ATH]

And there is no need while chunking the spar down...little-to-no risk of barber chair, and directional control is easy. It is a tree felling technique, not a piecing-down technique.

 

[beastmaster]

Yeah im finding out its not needed for climbing cuts.Nice thing about being a climber is every cut is a gray area. I think they like to pretend were not there. No escape routes no way to police us, its do it right or die.
But entel you've watched a big section of tree go over and hit the face cut and fly off into space, all at eye leval and only inches from your face, seemly in slow motion, you haven't climbed.

 

[JeffGu]

...cut was invented by them...

Was this before or after they invented the internet?

 

[hi-fi]

Did Al Gore invent the plunge cut too?