Why do west coast loggers fell timber the way the do?

[RandyMac]

The Sierras were rough on spikes, lots of hard rocks, used vibrams a lot.

 

[bitzer]

Someone once told me you can put a #### ton more wood on the ground pickin yer stump up a little than ya can diggin and doin the swedish dipsy doodle poke around here and poke over there. By God he was right. Someone should get the message to the walnut guys especially. All those board inches you think you're saving you're pissin away in board feet that could be on the ground. Time, time, time. No ones payin me to dawdle.


There is a HELL of a lot more you can do with a tree on a higher stump.

 

[RandyMac]

Someone once told me you can put a #### ton more wood on the ground pickin yer stump up a little than ya can diggin and doin the swedish dipsy doodle poke around here and poke over there. By God he was right. Someone should get the message to the walnut guys especially. All those board inches you think you're saving you're pissin away in board feet that could be on the ground. Time, time, time. No ones payin me to dawdle.


There is a HELL of a lot more you can do with a tree on a higher stump.

Anything else?

 

[northmanlogging]

For many years I thought that the humboldt was the "standard undercut" and the top down was just some farmer being lazy... Didn't learn the difference until one day I was talking to the self loader guy who's not a faller and he was describing a humboldt... I didn't say anything just made a mental note :redface: as said before in previous post my ma and uncle taught me how to run saw and that's just how they did things never needed names for it ya just did it. Besides the old top down "standard" is a hold over from the days of misery whips and double bit axes, who wants to swing an axe uphill for 6-8 hours a day?

 

[GASoline71]

LMAO... the only face cut I knew for eons was a Humboldt as well. Wasn't until I saw some arbo guy in town make a conventinal face cut and thought it was weird looking. What was even weirder is that he made the angled top cut first. I thought, "how do you gun your lay with an angled top cut?"

I think I've used a conventional face cut about 3 times in my life.

Gary

 

[northmanlogging]

Even when I lived in Wyoming I thought the conventional cut was weird I was ten? when moved out here to Warshington... we went hunting in eastern warshington and I saw some massive sloping back cut (like 75 deg.) and that bothered me for weeks couldn't figure out why they would want to do that, if memory serves they also did some weird v cut thing with no chunk removed just two v's and pray I guess?:msp_unsure:

 

[slowp]

A west coastie on this forum told me I should switch from my poor humboldts to the other way when in my thinning for firewood project. It seems odd and scary because I've only seen humboldts done in the real world. I have been doing the east coastie undercut but it still seems odd.

 

[rwoods]

Dent devotes only a mere page to the conventional vs. Humboldt face cuts. He says both have their place. He seems to suggest the Humboldt for uneven terrain. Apparently these cuts were the subject of debate at the time of his writing (1974).

Of course loggers and arborists have different objectives upon which their livelihoods depend. A firewood hack's life is much easier than either - just put it on the ground in the safest way and direction possible. Generally a FH doesn't have to worry about time spent, production, flush stumps, high stumps, busted logs, maintaining a lay, avoiding houses and groundies, etc. Best of all, it is easier for a FH to just walk away from a questionable tree and tell the owner to call a pro. :msp_wink:

Let the debate continue.

Ron

 

[bitzer]

Anything else?

Chicks dig a man with a tall stump.

 

[GASoline71]

Even when I lived in Wyoming I thought the conventional cut was weird I was ten? when moved out here to Warshington... we went hunting in eastern warshington and I saw some massive sloping back cut (like 75 deg.) and that bothered me for weeks couldn't figure out why they would want to do that, if memory serves they also did some weird v cut thing with no chunk removed just two v's and pray I guess?:msp_unsure:

You must hunt the same GMU's I hunt. Because it is littered with crazy sloped back cut stumps.

Gary

 

[Oldtimer]

LMAO... the only face cut I knew for eons was a Humboldt as well. Wasn't until I saw some arbo guy in town make a conventinal face cut and thought it was weird looking. What was even weirder is that he made the angled top cut first. I thought, "how do you gun your lay with an angled top cut?"

I think I've used a conventional face cut about 3 times in my life.

Gary

You "gun your lay" the same way..and if you do the top of the notch first you can match the bottom to it a lot easier. Stops a lot of tail pulling- people tend to make the bottom cut deeper than the top cut, makes the tree lift off the stump. Which you know, I know.

 

[GASoline71]

Always... straight cut first. Then angled cut second. Whether on top or bottom. makes no sense to gun with an angled cut.

Can of worms now open...

Gary

 

[Trx250r180]

when you guys say gun ,are you talking about the sight on my stihl ,the black line across the top and starter cover ? what ever way that is facing is the direction the tree will go ?

 

[GASoline71]

when you guys say gun ,are you talking about the sight on my stihl ,the black line across the top and starter cover ? what ever way that is facing is the direction the tree will go ?

Yes... and before there were black lines on the saws... you used the straight part of the front handle.

Gary

 

[paccity]

opcorn:

 

[Trx250r180]

Yes... and before there were black lines on the saws... you used the straight part of the front handle.

Gary

wonder if lot in here knew what those lines were there for ,or even noticed they are there

 

[GASoline71]

Prolly not.

Gary

 

[RandyMac]

Yes... and before there were black lines on the saws... you used the straight part of the front handle.

Gary

the "sight" lines were often cast on the casings.

 

[Gologit]

when you guys say gun ,are you talking about the sight on my stihl ,the black line across the top and starter cover ? what ever way that is facing is the direction the tree will go ?

I think I just came up with a new excuse for missing the lead...."my gunning sights must be crooked"...or maybe "the magic marker that I touched them up with is all faded and..."

Thanks! :msp_biggrin:

 

[slowp]

I'm thinking that when you crush the boss's pickup you should look at your saw and declare that the sight must've got bumped and must be off a bit.

Or put on a "sighting in the saw" demonstration for a newbie sometime. That could be entertaining. I'll bring popcorn.

Perhaps a thread on adjusting sights on saws could be started on the chainsaw forum???