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split stick

Started by Kevin, April 17, 2007, 08:18:03 PM

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Kevin

This was posted on the Tree Buzz, a tree that was dropped into a clear opening.
It split on impact, jumped the light post and came to rest several feet away.
This is why you should vacate the area as the tree goes over and don't let anyone else stand near the cutting location.


metalspinner

Do you know the species?  Is it a hickory?
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Dale Hatfield

I wish i could see better pics. Some of the stump ,split, the top . Plus pics  before it was felled.
I thinking that  the whole story isnt told here. It looks as it was felled into the crotch. By the amount of unsplit wood above. It looks as it had a fair amount of limb wood above the crotch. By it being felled on the edge of the V  the results most always will have this type of outcome. If they had turned felling path  to lay crotch down flat wouldnt have split. If they had removed one lead from the the V no split.
It looks as if it was felled  as a pole as well ( top removed).A tree with  top removed doesnt fall very easy . Usually takes alot of outside force. Wedges to lift,usually the slower harder way. A pull rope in the top would be normal.
Things like this dont  happen without a reason.Every stump/log tells a story .
Dale
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

Kevin

QuoteSycamore Maple. The trunk was 24' long with two 10' leaders above the trunk

The tip didn't hit anything solid but there was a curve in the spar as well a fork on the the end with the two leaders.

Dale Hatfield

Thats what caused it to split.   The 2 leads sticking out. When  a forked tree is felled onto the fork one lead comes up from hitting the ground and the other goes down. That compresses the 2 together. The fork being  the weak point it splits the log apart.  To fell a forked tree the felling direction has to be that the fork lands flat( like a V on the ground) .any other way and its toothpicks/lampposts or people.
Im by no means saying that its safe to stand around a falling tree.
Im saying that with a little training and planning things like this dont have to  happen.
By looking at the pic they had no other choice for a felling path. Best thing that happened here is nobody was hurt and no property damage. But if the front lead had been removed the tree wouldnt have split and leap frogged the lamppost.
Dale
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

Kevin

Dale;
I'll buy that with the split but the reaction for that side to jump up like that must have really been forceful.

Dale Hatfield

Kevin
I think that the curve in the tree helped it jump. We have felling contest with GOL where we plant pine pole back in the ground and  re fell them for contest. I have seen them jump over a bale of straw plus a few feet on the bounce. A pole  falls and hits harder because of the lack of crown.
Hitting on a limb that stuck 10 feet out from the crotch would also give it the spring that it needed to clear the lamp post. Think about how far a small piece of firewood goes when it splits with a good strike of the maul,then times that by 24 feet.
Dale
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

Tom

I think it was just "winged elm".  :D

Dale Hatfield

or pre split firewood
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

rebocardo

Which is why on my contract it says I get the option of fixing any minor damage to a house before a contractor is called. Sometimes acorns and pinecones or branches can really bounce and take out stuff. Never had a tree split like that though. Might not have happened if the trunk was wrapped in chain.

Personally when I drop a forked tree I wrapped both sides together with cable at the lowest and highest points and try to drop them flat like a V.

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