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Felling Trees, Costa Rican style

Started by crtreedude, May 11, 2007, 02:24:10 PM

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crtreedude

We had to remove a large Laurel to widen the entrance to our home. Being as there were various other trees around it - AND some prized plants of my wife - I didn't just let people go at it. I have noticed that the average Tico cuts a tree this way.

1. Start chainsaw.
2. Apply to tree
3. keep cutting till tree falls over.
4. Hope tree didn't fall on you.

Not good enough. Under pain of death, no one was allowed to cut the tree till I showed them how to drop it using a notch and then hinge approach. I have dropped probably a thousand trees that way and I have gotten pretty accurate.

Well, it worked again and everyone was impressed.  8) I am amazed that people don't know how to drop a tree down here but I have yet to see anyone do anything other than what I listed above.

So, I am looking for materials to use in a class on how to drop a tree - any sources? If it would be in Spanish, that would be wonderful, but it really isn't necessary.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

leweee

Fred......here is a LINK to a website with the basics :)
.... and another from down under. ;D
LINK
and another LINK to one in oregon. ;)
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Tom

Jeff used to have a chainsaw course on the Timberbuyers.net that included sawing technique.  Maybe he could roust that up.

Ianab

I like the NZ OSH one that Leewee posted. It has some more advanced info than most, dealing with big and leaning trees, bore cutting and winching etc. I'm guessing that big and leaning tees would be common up your way too? Start with the basics of course, but if you dont know about the other hazards and how to get around them you can still get into trouble.

Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

SwampDonkey

The province of BC has one to, and I would think similar to the NZ one. It's linked on my website. I have printed it off and inserted it into plans where woodlot owners have the notion to become loggers all the sudden. ;) Never seen one for NB, other than one page bulletins, funny they don't in a forestry oriented province so concerned with forest safety. They seem to leave it with the community college and ranger school.
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limbrat

 I wrote a long peice on how i was taught to lay trees. The pulp wooders that taught me called it match sawing. Then i thought someone who has never done it or seen it done might try it and kill themselves. So this is all i left.
ben

rebocardo

I have to disagree with the Oregon Univ. link I just viewed.

They basically say when you have a hung tree to cut it off the stump and dump another tree into it to make it fall. So .. if it fails to knock the tree out of the other tree you now have a "jackpot" with three trees hung up on each other and a much deadlier situation.

Shouldn't the advice be to take it down with heavy equipment?

Dan_Shade

what do you do when you don't have heavy equipment?

I read an accident report once, where a logger fell a bunch of trees and they all got hung up on one tree, making a "teepee".

he went and cut down the one holding them up, hence the accident (fatality) report...
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

jim king

crtreedude:
I know what you mean.  This is the suicidal method  used here and you cannot tell them any different.


thecfarm

Must be a foreign way to cut trees.I can't look.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

logger

Quote from: jim king on May 12, 2007, 07:42:54 PM
crtreedude:
I know what you mean.  This is the suicidal method  used here and you cannot tell them any different.



Talk about having no clue what you're doing!  CRAZY!
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WH_Conley

Jim, I'll bet you don't any OLD timber cutters there.

Scares me just to look at that.
Bill

leweee

just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

rebocardo

> what do you do when you don't have heavy equipment?

Don't make it worse  ;)

I haven't come across a snag yet I couldn't pull down using my chainsaw, pole saw, cable, pulley block, and truck. Though after seeing a video here of someone using a log arch, I might get one just for that.


Dan_Shade

hah, your definition of "heavy equipment" is different from mine!

Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Jeff

Quote from: Tom on May 11, 2007, 04:27:38 PM
Jeff used to have a chainsaw course on the Timberbuyers.net that included sawing technique.  Maybe he could roust that up.

Its still there.  Carl Smith's basic Chainsaw course.
http://timberbuyer.net/chainsaws/start.htm
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crtreedude

Jim,

I might not recognize the guy, but I sure recognize the CUT! Honestly, I think the reason they can get away with it is that a 120 foot tall tree takes a long time to fall. It starts to go and you pick your route...

Not for me! And I can tell them different. After I fire someone, everyone else tends to listen a little closer...  >:(
So, how did I end up here anyway?

rebocardo

> of "heavy equipment" is different from mine!

I would call a Hough front end loader, heavy equipment.

I was just pointing out I haven't needed heavy equipment to remove a snag.  I do not consider a snag that big of a deal, unless next to a house, which is where I usually remove them.

Though, imo, dropping a tree into a snag to dislodge it stands a good chance of making the situation far worse and endangers your life.


isawlogs

Though, imo, dropping a tree into a snag to dislodge it stands a good chance of making the situation far worse and endangers your life.


   Rebocardo
   
I am of same thought , I have had a cousin that killed himself doing that very thing , sending a tree into a snag , that sure aint the way to bring a snag down .  :'(
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Tillaway

I will try to explain why the cutters in Oregon, Washington, California and probably coastal BC knock hanging trees out with others... we can't get heavy equipment to the trees.  The ground is way too steep and leaving one "soaking" is a bit dangerous in and of itself.  That's why they are paid the big bucks.  I am not even going to explain some of the techniques some cutters use to fell leaning alder. You guys would have a cow... I run for cover.

I do see the occasional tee pee though. but not often.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Onthesauk

Thanks Tillaway!  I was going to say it must be something about access or different kind of timber out here in the West but it's probably the most common way of bringing down a hanging tree out here.
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Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

Gary_C

It is so easy to sit in front of the keyboard and know exactly how to fell trees the right way. I've had the training and cut my share of trees and believe I know right from wrong. For the most part, I cut from the cab of a machine and am relatively safe and can get the best of all but the biggest trees with power, knowledge, and skill. However, sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. Many times it is absolutely not safe, smart, nor the right thing to do, but it has to be done.

A few years ago I was cutting with a feller buncher with a bar saw head. I was cutting a 18-20 inch Aspen tree that was 60-70 feet tall. Much to my dismay when I was about two thirds thru that tree, that 3/4 pitch chain broke in two and flew off the bar. I could not force the tree over nor get my bar out of the cut. The only other option was to get the chain saw, finish the cut while still holding the tree with the feller buncher. When I finished the cut from the front with the chain saw,the tree started to go over sideways, fortunately away from me, and stopped with the wheels on the left side of the machine about 6 inches off the ground. I carefully got back in the cab and slowly started to lift that tree and the wheels came back down. I quickly forced the tree over forward and took a deep breath.  :) :)


The other problem is when it comes to big trees, there is no such thing as heavy machinery.  ;D

I am not saying you should not use proper felling techniques. I am saying that it's not just in California, Oregon, and Washington that foolish things are done sometimes. If you cut trees and survive the experience, you are knowledgable, skilled, and just plain lucky sometimes.   ;D ;D
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Greenedive

Quote
Quote from: Gary_C on May 20, 2007, 01:00:33 AM
It is so easy to sit in front of the keyboard and know exactly how to fell trees the right way. I've had the training and cut my share of trees and believe I know right from wrong. However, sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. Many times it is absolutely not safe, smart, nor the right thing to do, but it has to be done.

Hear Hear, Gary!!

Seems like every job has at least one or two really 'challenging' trees. Often I will leave them to the very last and driving by them every skid try and think of the best way to bring them down. Yes, it would be far safer to leave a situation like that, but that is so poor professionally. Not only is it often a high-value tree, but it looks terrible to leave a mess like that and it can be a very real danger to anyone walking in the woods. Usually if you give it enough thought and take what precautions you can, you can work yourself out of most situations.

It is almost always a last resort, but I have fallen trees in other ones to bring them down, but you can bet when that tree hits the other one this little boy will be behind the biggest nearby tree he can hide behind. The new style open faced cut has really helped in many bad situations in that you can cut the notch and then do the backcut and leave just enough for it to still hold then either push it over with a machine or ummm use some other safe method to put weight on the crown to bring it down.

We often forget how incredibly dangerous felling trees can be, not only from tensions in the wood and limbs falling and trees kicking back, but also from running a high power saw held in your hands and careless co-workers and wind and slippery conditions and.....well...yeah.

Quote
Quote from: Gary_C on May 20, 2007, 01:00:33 AM
If you cut trees and survive the experience, you are knowledgable, skilled, and just plain lucky sometimes.

How true that is....

Ron Scott

I've seem some of the same things done here, "tricks of the trade". ;)
~Ron

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