When is it appropriate to NOT use a felling notch?

[tramp bushler]

but it can increase your pay getting paid by the piece in small timber by upwards of a third to "hack"off trees 16"and smaller that are obviously headed in a certain direction.first your saw must be cutting fast second once you commit you must not stop for anything,i even will check my fuel level before attempting this,it is not safe,i certainly do not condone it.but for a poor starving scab it has made the difference in a good paying day,and just another day in trash many times,mind you these are small trees on anything bigger my cuts match everytime if possible,calculated risk for me,but one cutting near things of value?no way! i would notch a 3"if it were near a home etc.

. For just gun and run , a kerf face isn,t bad , if you have your poop in one sock .... Let the tree start to fall into the kerf then rip the back off ,,,,, .. Yes it is fast , problem is some guys do it with too big a ttree and it kills them .. And there is a tendency to stop looking up ... Thatll get ya killed pretty quick too ......

.... A sloping back cut is never a good thing .. However as has been stated , get your riggin good and tight , actually begin lifting the tree , then put in the face ,, no more than 1/3 rd the dia of the tree . pull a little more , then put in the back cut with 4 or more inches of stump shot .. If you start pulling early , and pull as you cut , you should be able to lift ther tree , before it is ready to take off from the stump ...

 

[Humptulips]

Yea, I've done it and seen it done. There are times when it is waranted, not many but rare occasions. I'll catch it for this I know. To begin with when you are doing this you're not worried about control. You have already decided the tree is going straight down the hill no matter what you do. Think totally rotten on the lower side and straight up and down hillside with a heavy lean. Stick a bar in an inch and it's pinched. So side notch the hell out of it and saw the back up. Better have a fast saw and a good runway. Species is important.

I've seen guys try to knock these things over but I'm not a great fan of it as I've seen a few teepees made and then you are screwed.

As for the diagram just uproot it or break it off if you have the power and you're that scared of it. If it won't break put some tension on it and get in there and cripple it a little but use a small undrcut. Then get out of the way and break it the rest of the way off with your drum.

 

[Brushwacker]

:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop:

Man, this sounds scary! You need to post some pics. I have never cut a eucalyptus but I am guessing that could easily barber chair. Cutting a tree without using an undercut is never a good practice, an with a large tree can be very deadly. These are the best pics I could find showing a barber chair:

Be safe pardner!

I had about an 25" oak leaning hard into a wind that I thought I could get away without a notch and I just undercut it about 1/3 through then just got into the back cut and it barberchaired backwards. Had the saw pinched , I let go,stepped back and most of a few to several thousand pound tree trunk climbed up about 12 feet of the wood holding and slammed down onto the ground where I originally was cutting in about 1 second, just missed me,thank God, caught the big old tough Homelite enough to bend the bar and if I remember right cracked the clutch cover. Ya be careful , most of the barber chairs I remember seeing were bigger trees then in the picture and the trunks weren't held up, they just split or cracked off the wood holding and slammed back down like in 1 second.

 

[bullbuck]

I had about an 25" oak leaning hard into a wind that I thought I could get away without a notch and I just undercut it about 1/3 through then just got into the back cut and it barberchaired backwards. Had the saw pinched , I let go,stepped back and most of a few to several thousand pound tree trunk climbed up about 12 feet of the wood holding and slammed down onto the ground where I originally was cutting in about 1 second, just missed me,thank God, caught the big old tough Homelite enough to bend the bar and if I remember right cracked the clutch cover. Ya be careful , most of the barber chairs I remember seeing were bigger trees then in the picture and the trunks weren't held up, they just split or cracked off the wood holding and slammed back down like in 1 second.

reminds me of a story,easily an 90'white fir i was wedging off the fence on a more than likely?too windy day to be cutting?50 plus m.p.h.,anyways had the tree in motion headed due west,in my mind had this one down.no,not the case,i shirt you not that tree was blown by the wind from a 20degree tilt back the other wayslabbed out of the facecut backwards up 20 feet or so?kicked off the chair hit the tree i had basically fallen below,for it was the only thing big enough to get behind in such an unforseen panic.whew that was a good one!my notch was clean thought i had it dialed,that was my first mistake

 

[yooper]

:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop:

Man, this sounds scary! You need to post some pics. I have never cut a eucalyptus but I am guessing that could easily barber chair. Cutting a tree without using an undercut is never a good practice, an with a large tree can be very deadly. These are the best pics I could find showing a barber chair:

Be safe pardner!

I bet thats recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists

 

[matt9923]

I bet thats recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists

good canidate for a face transplant.

 

[bullbuck]

. For just gun and run , a kerf face isn,t bad , if you have your poop in one sock .... Let the tree start to fall into the kerf then rip the back off ,,,,, .. Yes it is fast , problem is some guys do it with too big a ttree and it kills them .. And there is a tendency to stop looking up ... Thatll get ya killed pretty quick too ......

.... A sloping back cut is never a good thing .. However as has been stated , get your riggin good and tight , actually begin lifting the tree , then put in the face ,, no more than 1/3 rd the dia of the tree . pull a little more , then put in the back cut with 4 or more inches of stump shot .. If you start pulling early , and pull as you cut , you should be able to lift ther tree , before it is ready to take off from the stump ...

i agree,its not a good idea to gun and run,and it has filled up both of my socks more than once cutting that way!bad practice...its funny but i have had trees slab more with a match cut(two cuts)because of the sudden jerk when the kerf closes,when i one cut trees typically peel of the stump no sudden stop,and i got to where i can control them just a bit by cutting either one side or the other of the minislab,i really should quit doing that,not rel safe

 

[056kid]

i agree,its not a good idea to gun and run,and it has filled up both of my socks more than once cutting that way!bad practice...its funny but i have had trees slab more with a match cut(two cuts)because of the sudden jerk when the kerf closes,when i one cut trees typically peel of the stump no sudden stop,and i got to where i can control them just a bit by cutting either one side or the other of the minislab,i really should quit doing that,not rel safe

Not safe, bur quick and affective, there are ways to really steer small hardwoods with such techniques, You can almost eliminate wood pull by match cutting off the lean, Lots of old timers around my home parts use such techniques...\

not something that would really seem to pay off in conifer country, but pretty affective for thoes pesky whiteoaks...

Mabe I can draw something up for the heck of it..

Say the specimen tree has no real lean besides some head lean, you could steer the tree by keeping the same amount of wood on each side, then as the kirf closes,(widen the kirf as needed) you can cut one side or the other once the kirf has closed and get the tree to go left or right pretty dramaticly.. keep in mind that where the wood is & how much is there is key to not killing yourself!!!

 

[hammerlogging]

Thats the side band swarp notch!!!!!.

Incerdible diagram.


DO NOT FALL TIMBER THIS WAY.

But it cracks me up, and secretly I'm quite humored by it. Some of our fallers play with it some, I am NOT partaking in the side band swarp notch club. I love swinging them, but the side band swarp notch tree top can actually pull all the way spinning on that remaining holding wood making the crown have an uphill lean- yes it swings on through to the intended lay, but it can break off as its coming around and fall on the cutter. I do not want to be crushed this way. That bypass over the face cut is absurd, say on a 20" dbh stem the face is 3 inches deep and the kerf face goes in a full 8 inches.

Makes me laugh, wish they wouldn't do it, but hell, we aren't working in the woods because we like being told what to do, there's a balance somewhere. Its not that different from dutchmans except they have more of a real hinge and the bypass design is differnt, but somewhere in there is some remarkable similarity considering we're talking old school deep woods Appalachia with modern PNW falling

 

[056kid]

I figured you had herd of such practices. I fool around with it some, really because i have seen it done so naturally I wanted to experiment...

 

[056kid]

I figured you had herd of such practices. I fool around with it some, really because i have seen it done so naturally I wanted to experiment...



Is that really what it's called?

the side band swarp notch?

 

[stihl sawing]

I didn't think there ever was a time not to use a felling notch. I will cut a small notch on little pecker poles.

 

[slowp]

I didn't think there ever was a time not to use a felling notch. I will cut a small notch on little pecker poles.

When pruning rose bushes and cutting blackberries and such. A humboldt would be hard to do on the smaller blackberries and rose bushes.
I think that the double notched side swarping siwash cut would do for most roses.

 

[2dogs]

When pruning rose bushes and cutting blackberries and such. A humboldt would be hard to do on the smaller blackberries and rose bushes.
I think that the double notched side swarping siwash cut would do for most roses.

True but don't forget your axe and wedges.

 

[slowp]

True but don't forget your axe and wedges.

The wedges must not clash with the color of the roses.

 

[stihl sawing]

When pruning rose bushes and cutting blackberries and such. A humboldt would be hard to do on the smaller blackberries and rose bushes.
I think that the double notched side swarping siwash cut would do for most roses.

That's what the hedge trimmer is for.lol

 

[bullbuck]

i sideswarp my roses with a double swishel sideswap on the lowside,until the hedge trimmers get hung up,then i exit using the patented flying dutchman technique:greenchainsaw:

 

[2dogs]

i sideswarp my roses with a double swishel sideswap on the lowside,until the hedge trimmers get hung up,then i exit using the patented flying dutchman technique:greenchainsaw:

Show off. Let's see it on youtube.

 

[bullbuck]

Show off. Let's see it on youtube.

i would if i could get this damn rose bush off of me!

 

[056kid]

Seems like you fellers are pokin a bit of fun at the east coast timber faller's dialog..