Felling Critique

[KGNC]

I got to cut a couple of nice size trees this weekend. This one is about at 32" white pine.  There will be some real nice lumber coming out of this. The other was a poplar tree that was even bigger.

I don't get many opportunities to cut trees this size. So let me know what you think, did I cut my notch to shallow?



My helpers are not standing as close as it appears. My sister took the photo with a long zoom and it makes everything look closer together.
She took the photo just as it started to fall. You can see the wedges are slipping out.

[beenthere]

KGNC
If you didn't get any splinter pull up into the butt log from felling, I'd say you did good. Good pic.

I'm guessin you are hangin onto the chainsaw at this picture moment.   ;D ;D

[okie]

If you're doing something wrong, then so am I

[stonebroke]

you ever try more of a open face notch?

Stonebroke

[KGNC]

KGNC

I'm guessin you are hangin onto the chainsaw at this picture moment.   ;D ;D

This was right at the "I'm getting out of here moment"  ;)

[blaze83]

looks good to me....i would have used a humbolt notch and perhaps a little bit deeper, but that's just my personal preference having learned my felling techniques on the west coast. As long as it fell where you wanted it and no stump pull, none of us could have done it any better i think.

good job,

Steve

[Frickman]

It looks darn near perfect to me. When do you want to come to work?

[KGNC]

It looks darn near perfect to me. When do you want to come to work?

I'm too slow, (and old) you couldn't afford to pay me by the hour and I'd starve on piece rate.

[KGNC]

The same tree about 1 sec later.

[metalspinner]

WATCH OUT FOR THAT TRUCK!!!

:D :D

[Frickman]

The fellow in blue is in a danger zone. Sometimes when a tree falls the butt flies sideways when the top hits. Escape paths should be to a forty five degree angle away from the fall path of the tree and to each side, at least fifteen feet long.  Even though you were cutting in a cleared area you should use the same procedures that you use in the woods.

[Jeff]

Why did the tree have to come down? It looks like it was in a picturesque location.

[Kevin]

Looks pretty good.
The back cut is slanted a little.
If the tree was leaning towards the lay the depth of the notch is ok.
I would have opted for a humboldt on a tree like that as well cutting the face a little closer to the ground and saving a liitle more wood.
I like the idea of blocking the road with the truck but the others should be a couple of tree lengths away, there's no reason they should be there.

[KGNC]

Why did the tree have to come down? It looks like it was in a picturesque location.

Jeff, The short answer is the tree really didn't have to come down.
It's was at the edge of my parents yard. For the last couple of years I've been helping them push the woods back from around the house, the trees were starting to reclaim the place. I thought I had convinced them to leave the white pine but this winter the wind took the top out of a similar tree and damaged their church. So my mother was determined not to have the same thing happen to her house.
The pine had gotten big over the last 50 years and was blocking a lot of sun, you could tell the difference right away. If I didn't cut it for them my father would have so I went ahead and took it down.

My sister had a another photo of the tree falling. you can see now the shadow has move off the yard.

[KGNC]

Looks pretty good.
The back cut is slanted a little.
If the tree was leaning towards the lay the depth of the notch is ok.
I would have opted for a humboldt on a tree like that as well cutting the face a little closer to the ground and saving a liitle more wood.
I like the idea of blocking the road with the truck but the others should be a couple of tree lengths away, there's no reason they should be there.

There was no way I was going to get them a couple of tree lengths away, but yeah your right they should have been farther away.
I stayed as high as I did because that is the point I could cut through with the 32" bar I had. The lower side had considerable more flare. I wasted some wood to not have to cut from both sides.

Thanks for the responses

[RSteiner]

Looks like you did a good job of getting the tree to fall where you wanted it.  The butt of that tree looks like it could have bounced upward if it fell so the top missed the little rise on the other side of the road.  If the top hit the rise then it looks like it might have broke at that point.

Randy

[Jim_Rogers]

I don't get to this section much at all any more, if ever, as I don't do much felling any more.

But from time to time someone asks me about felling trees.

I usually tell them all of the above mentioned safety precautions, and agree the fellows are standing way to close to the butt.

To minimize danger of the butt of the tree from breaking loose from the stump on the way down you could try and learn the open faced notch system that keeps the butt attached to the stump.
I've seen it work very well.

Also, when harvesting for lumber/timber you should try and reduce the chances of "root tear" by making a couple of cuts into the sides of the log so that the "root tear" doesn't happen.

And if you're not familiar with this term I can understand that. I didn't learn about it until I read a book about felling, some years ago.

I'm sure you've seen it but didn't know it had a name:



This is called a "root tear". It is caused by the outside of the tree being still connected to the stump at the point between the felling cut and the back cut.
A "root tear" can pull on the tree and make it change direction as it falls, and sometimes this can be a bad thing.
To insure that a tree will fall towards it's intended landing location the procedure is to make two little cut to prevent the "root tear" from happening.
I read about this many years ago in a tree felling book, and I've used it every time I fell a tree, since.
What you do is make two little cuts, one on either side of the tree at the elevation of the bottom of your felling wedge cuts.
This is called "corner nipping" as you are nipping the corners of the cuts.

Here is a drawing made many years ago where I show how to make the cuts necessary to prevent root tear.



The above photo was an old drawing I created once to show someone how to do a plunge cut with hold wood for a leaning tree.

Jim Rogers

[OneWithWood]

I think KG did a fairly good job.
A couple of suggestions:
From the pic it looks like you have the saw into the cut as the tree is beginning to fall.  I surmise you made the face cut and then proceeded in from the back, placing the wedges when you had clearance.  You might look into the plunge cutting method, leaving a strap of holding wood.  This would allow you to get everyone away from the tree (they always creep up for a closer looksee).  The holding wood will do just what it says, holding the tree while you place your wedges and look around one last time before sending the tree.  The other nice thing is that when you make the final cut your bar is not up against the hinge.  Fiber pull from the center of the stump is also eliminated.

Those ear muffs offer a lot better protection if you put them over your ears  :D

[Reddog]

KGNC
If you didn't get any splinter pull up into the butt log from felling, I'd say you did good. Good pic.

That sums up my thoughts.
Nice job.

[KGNC]

I think KG did a fairly good job.
A couple of suggestions:
From the pic it looks like you have the saw into the cut as the tree is beginning to fall.  I surmise you made the face cut and then proceeded in from the back, placing the wedges when you had clearance.  You might look into the plunge cutting method, leaving a strap of holding wood.  This would allow you to get everyone away from the tree (they always creep up for a closer looksee).  The holding wood will do just what it says, holding the tree while you place your wedges and look around one last time before sending the tree.  The other nice thing is that when you make the final cut your bar is not up against the hinge.  Fiber pull from the center of the stump is also eliminated.

Those ear muffs offer a lot better protection if you put them over your ears  :D

Wood;
I knew someone would mention the earmuffs.  ;D  I prefer the earplugs you can't really see them but I had those in. I typically just use the hardhat when I taking down the trees. The earplugs and glasses are on anytime I run the saw.

I read about the variations of how to take down a tree as you and Jim mentioned. The problem is getting a chance to learn the details. What I do works fine for the 10-18" dia. trees I deal with most of the time, it's tough to try something new on a 80' white pine in the front yard.

[Frickman]

Those corner cuts Jim mentioned are called wing cuts around here. I was going to mention using them but the rest of the procedure looked real good so everything was under control. There isn't as much danger of root pull in softwoods as there is in hardwoods, especially that hickory Jim has pictured.

[Tombstone]

    It looks good, when it goes good its good, when its bad its bad. You all know the drill, I was cutting last summer, it had been a long day. I said aahhhh one more for the day and I'll call it. Thats the one that pulled the barber chair......it was a leaner, I wasnt paying close enough attention, could have been real bad. Your cuts look good, you look aware and in control. Nice job!

[shinnlinger]

Good for you for being willing to take some criticism.  It obviously worked well enough , but you wanted to perfect your technique a bit and anyone who reads this might do a better, safer job in the future.

Thanks!

[apollard]

I would have cut the the wedge about 6 inches deeper into the tree... but I don't cut much pine that size.  Also, note that dead wood/branches will bounce and in that environment (a lot of open ground) there is even more potential for danger.

Albert
www.lumbersmith..com

[nhlogga]

looks good to me. I agree with the others, people are too close. I also swear by the plunge or as I call it the bore cut.