Tapered hinge comes through again... the 6 min takedown

[murphy4trees]

Got to this Job at 12:44 today..
Was supposed to meet the log loader at another job at 1 PM.. Customer's baby was due to take a nap at 1 PM as well.. so had to make it quick..

60' black cherry backed up the wires and boxed in by service lines to the house.. Only open window for landing zone was 35-40* from heavy lean tyowards the sevice lines...
Used a power pruner to remove lower limbs growing through the phone wires, set a pull line with throw ball, and started cutting...

No way would I have tried to drop this tree before I learned about the tapered hinge. Customer was anal... He asked me at least six times if i was sure it was gonna work... If it didn't it was gonna take out his vinyl siding when the service wires got pulled...
Tree was on the ground perfectly in LZ in 6 minutes.. (threaded the needle)
Brushed it out and stacked the brush for chipping and met the log loader at 1:05.
Here's a pic of the hinge... I wish I had this one in the article..
So once again thanks to Spidy for his persistence on this teaching in the face of many objectors... Never would have pulled it off without you Spidey... thanks..
Notice that the tree fell perfectly into the face cut, becasue the backcut was cut to steer the tree away from its lean.

 

[vharrison2]

sweeeeeeeeeeeet

 

[murphy4trees]

I think Spidey's theories as put forth in his hinge forensics thread are clearly shown here... short fibers along front of the hinge show compression and little holding ability. Longest fibers at right rear of hinge, show tensioned fibers, giving the greatest control, as they have the most movement.

 

[P_woozel]

I've been cutting for 18 years and i still dont screw with a wheel cut like that if there is exposure. You play a dangereous game Murphy. There are other alternatives in the facecut area than that, in the woods play that game all day long, and if you do you will see that technique is no where near a sure thing. :blob5:

 

[Ekka]

Murphy4trees

That technique is taught here in our Felling small Trees module ... std stuff. We call the tapered hinge a cake, leaving it fat on the side opposite the lean.

Another technique is to use the quarter cut and a wedge to straighten the lean. Once you have cut the scarf, do a back cut up to the hinge but only on 1/2 of the tree on the lean side, bang a wedge in to straighten the tree, back cut the other side with the tip of the bar coming just under the first backcut, leaving a cake on the side opposite the lean. The reason why the second back cut comes under the first is so if the tree goes over the chainsaw doesn't go with it.

But like woozel says, in real tight situations you're gonna get caught one day as occasionally things screw up ... mainly the hinge wood tearing out ... good for small trees only I reckon, just like the one in your picture.

 

[Treeman14]

Well, maybe its just the angle and foreshortening due to your lens selection, but that tree looks pretty wimpy to me. What is it about 10" - 12" DBH.

With a pull line installed, it would have gone even WITHOUT a hinge!

Course, maybe it was trickier than it looks.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yah, maybe.

 

[jason j ladue]

good stuff murph!

 

[clearance]

Good for you Murph, its fun to roll the dice once in a while. Looked at the picture, couldn't see anything wrong, backcut higher than the undercut, lots of holding wood. What is the big deal though, I thought "tapered wedge" was some kind of new falling wedge, kind of like the name double taper. Leaving lots of holding wood opposite the lean is a basic falling tecnique, or am I missing something here? Don't ever try that on a maple or a cottonwood.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I rarely have the luxury of playing the logger role.

 

[murphy4trees]

Lots of good points made here... I like this conversation as we all can learn from the hundreds of combined years of experience of the contributors here...

In response to clearance's statement "Leaving lots of holding wood opposite the lean is a basic falling tecnique, or am I missing something here?"

This is almost funny... I tried to make it clear in the magazine article that this technique has been understood and used regularly by loggers for generations.. One comment was.. "you might as well right article about where to put the gas and oil in a saw"... or "My Dad showed me that the first time I ever used a chainsaw"..
This is true in areas where logging is taking place... Becasue loggers become urban arborists and use what they know from the woods.... however... I do a good deal of stump grinding around the Philadelphia area... and few... VERY few of the arbos around here even understand the basic mechanics and importance of a clean face cut and standard hinge... Even $400/day contract climbers have no clue how to properly fall a tree... So I wrote this articel with "them" in mind... And "they" need it...

But even more interestingly, in response to the article, renouned logging instructor, Tim Ard, wrote a piece in his newsletter specifically arguing against the use of the tapered hinge and many here stated that it was no longer being taught in universities and loggers trainings. And Ken Palmer of Arbormaster assured me that his scientists friends in Germany had proven that the tapered hinge has no more holding power against side lean than the standard hinge, with an adjusted gun...

So apparently there is some debate within the halls of power about where to put the gas and oil in a saw. I still smile when I think of Eric's statement about the above thinking.. "it's like wiping your a$$ before youtake dump... it makes no sense"

The only thing I can make of it is that the practice may not be used in logging operations becasue it causes fiber pull in the log as you can clearly see in the picture.. We arbos have to be careful not to follow the loggers in lockstep. Our objectives are far different, though many of the techniques we use crossover.

I'd like to Gypos take on the subject.. Is he around these days?

For those interested in the archived discussions of the subject, an AS search of "tapered" will give you plenty of reading to catch up on.

 

[treesurgeon]

started using the tapered cut last year. works great when your dealing with any tree on a lean.
also that book by douglas dent is a great book to use to test out the properties and dynamics of holding wood.

 

[clearance]

Murph-thanks for the explanation. I am not a logger (faller) but I have cut down lot of trees that went on a logging truck. I find the term "tapered hinge" confusing, hinge is a term used elsewhere, like hinge is what the holding wood does. What we are talking about here is the backcut. This method is explained and illustrated in the book by the workers compensation board called "fallers and buckers guidebook". It is an excepted falling method here, dutchman is not (but is used). Ken Palmer is wrong, thousands of fallers are right. As far as your statement that very few "arbos" in your area can properly fall a tree, disturbing indeed. What about falling the butt log, do you guys piece it down to the ground? I do not like to be called an arborist, would hate to be called an arbo, I like the term treeman. Cut down hundreds of Doug. fir and hemlocks 60-120' beside the powerlines and I always leave lots of holding wood on the other side of the line, crazy to do otherwise. Anyways, Murph good for you having some balls when the pressure is on.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Does anyone else think there is a lot of wood left in the hinge? It must have been a hard leaner to break with that much wood and no rope pulling.

 

[P_woozel]

Hah, Ekka you made my day, i think in dealing with side lean, the quarter cut is the best way to go. One oof my favorite cuts works very, compared to a wheel cut, cake, or tapered hinge whatever you wanna call it. Ekka you know what a Post is?

 

[Ekka]

Crikey Treespyder

I'm gonna have to get a translater for your posts! Phew, I got a headache now.

With the quarter cut wedging technique I was on about, the scarf is lined to target and yes you bang the wedge in on the first backcut on lean side of the tree, which also happens to be to target.

Similar to your pic, just imagine you had a wedge in on the LH (thin) side, as you bang it in it directs the tree to target as well as assisting in the lean.

 

[P_woozel]

TS you can rant on an on with inane chatter it wont change the facts, most of us arent bright enough to keep up with your thoughts. Just grab a saw, and try to cut some wood in the feild, stop comparing falling timbere to moving a ******* reefer on a dolly. The quarter cut has been in use as long as Murphys tapered hinge, odd how both cuts have been around for at least 60 years and Murph aint looking that old even with that gray mullet. So like I said grab a saw and cut some wood. I'll be putting on a Fundamentals of Saw Use in the middle of July, why dont some of you east coast boys pony up? :blob5:

 

[clearance]

Spyder-are you a lawyer? Fallers were using backcuts like this over 100 years ago in B.C., some of the best fallers couldn't read or write, but they could fall huge trees by hand. Look, there is no need to complicate this basic way of falling, it is like learning to tie up your boots with a "loggers tie" or to sharpen your saw. If your boots stay on tight and your saw cuts good, you have done it right. If the trees go where you want them to you are have done it right. Even if you are an "arbo" and you rarely do removals cause its bad, how do you fall the butt log? If I have to strip and chunk a big tree because there is no room to fall it, I fall the biggest butt log I can. I sometimes use this so called tapered hinge to make it happen because it works.

 

[Ekka]

Crikey TS

My headache has become a migrane!

What the heck are you on about?

I'm not even going to tell you how we slew branches away from obsticles, turn them, invert them, get them to land butt first, get them to land flat, get them to land tip first, invert them, spear them, tear them, snap them, release/strap cut them, speed line them, winch them, etc etc etc because after you finished with your interpretation of that I'd need a neurosurgeon! LOL

 

[Jim1NZ]

hahahaha i reckon!
Good on you though TS!!! Although hard to understand its very interesting bro.