Unlevel face cuts

[bg372]

sry bout the hahaha, i gess i dont understang why u would think cuting the hinge like in the pic would help you in any way. even though i wasnt there and dont know the lean or anything so ill say its got slight if any lean to it headed the felled direction. i would think u want a even hinge,level back cut, open face notch so it wont close all the way and 3 wedges to be safe one on each side and one at the back. cut notch,bore in, create back strap set wedges and relase. thats my opinion and im curios to see what other people would have done. see what some other teqnecs are out there.

[Bill E]

Interesting topic.

My two cents is that if the notch in Kevin's original diagram is open face and the hinge stays intact to the ground the way it should, the tree will fall to the left side in Kevin's diagram.

Bill

[Kevin]

Why is the back of this hinge angled?

This is usually an indication that either no saw dogs were on the saw or the dogs weren't anchored to the tree.
Normally seen with more of a rounded back, makes the hinge stronger than desired.

[rockenbman]

 What I usualy do is - look at the tree and others around it try to make my notch about 22" above the stump in the direction I hope the tree will go,then on the back side make my back cut inline with the bottom of the notch.This work most of the time for me and if not ill use my 4430 to pull them out if they get stuck.

[arojay]

In my experience, a lot depends on how open the face is.  On a normal day I will fell up to 60 trees, then skid for the rest of the day.  I get a few uneven face cuts from time to time for various reasons and if the face is open the tree is down before the effects of the uneven cut show up.  This would be more critical for arborists working around values.

[snowman]

Interesting discussion, lots of theorys to ponder. I think ill just do like I have always done, cu t the tree down, hope for the best and run like hell!

[bg372]

i hope when u say about 22 inches you mean like 6 or 8. 22" thats a high stump hight. anybody ever try any humbolt knotches. i personaly usually use conventinal

[rebocardo]

> Why is the back of this hinge angled?

Tree was about 40"+ across where I was cutting (with a 28" bar) and it had a lean. So, I took it from both sides making sure I left a lot more hinge on the upper side. Normally I would have made an upside down triangle type of wedge. But, cutting from both sides, I wanted to make sure the middle and upper side stayed thicker and the lower side thinner. I marked it out before hand on the tree how wide I wanted the final hinges. Then I gingerly cut while applying wedges and watching for lean.

I was leaving as much hinge as possible on the high side and cutting it as much as I dared on the lower side until I got it lifted enough with wedges where it would not fall sideways (on me and a house - had three cables on it though)  and was upright and the center of gravity (standing straight) was correct for a pull down with my 4x4 van.

I was going to cut more to make the hinge a bit more even, but, felt I had enough left to hold in the middle and enough removed from the lower side so I would not be ripping the trunk out of the ground.

I was going to cut some more when something inside just said " you cut enough hinge, pull it down", so I did 

My goal was not to rip the trunk from the stump, I wanted it to stay attached with the hinge until the tree hit the ground and I got it delimbed. It was maybe two feet from a deck, the last thing I wanted was for the tree to break free and kick back or roll. I did not cut the hinge until there was about 20 feet of trunk left.

I usually use a low open faced notch with a level even backcut, but, not always. I justy happened to have pictures of this one because I was turning the tree into lumber with a FF member.

[Kevin]

That was just a tidbit of information I was offering to anyone that was experiencing a problem when using wedges to lift a tree.

[rockenbman]

 Most of the time im workn in a fence row were farmers want clear cutting work done.I leave a 22" - 24" stump for the dozer to push out latter.Its usaly thick with under brush and slow to go work.

[Dale Hatfield]

hinge wood actually bends. Excess hinge  breaks to allow the hinge to bend.
Rule of thumb for hardwood hinge thickness is 10% of DBH. Anything thicker than that is running risk of splitting the log or Barber Chair .
Pulling A tree over with excess hinge wood ,could  lead to a barber chair, as top is falling faster than wood (hinge )can break or bend to keep up with falling top.
Dale

[Kevin]

At least one exception to that would be frozen wood Dale.
Frozen hinge wood doesn't co-operate at all.
It usually shears across limiting the mechanics of the hinge.