Has anyone cut logs after they were sheared instaead of Sawed

[just_sawing]

I have a lot of Ceder and I am thinking of using a tree shear. I am worried about the shear tearing the butt cut.

[ellmoe]

   You will have some butt damage, how much will be effected by the quality of the shear. With pine we usually trim off about 4" with a chain saw and we're "good to go".
Mark

[WDH]

Most large commercial pine mills in the South quit taking shear cut wood 15 or more years ago.

[Cedarman]

I sheared a lot of trees this winter.  We used a tree terminator which has a grapple so we could carry the tree and lay it down exactly where we wanted it.  This allowed us to get the butts fairly close together to make it easy to pull several together.
We did find that we needed to cut about 3 to 4 inches off the butt to make them flat so our end dogging system would have a flat place to engage. That also eliminated 95 per cent of the fracturing.
Since I cut close to the ground there was more butt flare which we cut off.
The shear worked very well on trees about 14" to 15" or less at base and did not fracture the wood more than a few inches up the stem.  Once in a while it would go a few inches further.  But since you are cutting closer to the ground, you lose very little.
The bigger the tree the more the fracturing went up the tree.  When I cut some 18 to 20 inchers, I had more fracturing.
For small 6" to 8" trees at butt, you cant beat it for getting the trees down.
Leaners are no problem.  Even trees with grape vines become manageable.
With the grapple you can make the tree go down.
I used a Cat 287 skid steer with rubber tracks.

[Magicman]

Fellers will also tear and fracture Cedar.  Just plan on chainsawing the butt when bucking to remove the fracture, butt swell, as well as other butt imperfections.

[WDH]

The loggers complained about having to change to sawheads, but once they saw how much faster that they cut, it was serendipity because they got a productivity boost.  Everybody came out better.

[bandmiller2]

What you don't want is trees that were pulled down with a large excavator,I had some given to me, most ended up firewood. Frank C.

[Cedarman]

WDH, what is the maximum diameter at point of cutting will the saw handle?

[Jeff]

The first mill I sawed at, I was sent to Emergency after starting into the butt of a sheared beech log and having it explode, sending a chunk of wood through the supposedly bullet proof glass and hitting me in the head. I ended up with two black eyes and a concussion. I came back from the hospital and sawed until I had that days load finished, and then was off for two days because by then my eyes had swelled shut. 

After that event our mill refused to buy sheared wood, and I got actual safety glass in the saw cab. By the time I went to work for the next mill in 1984, they had already quit buying sheared wood as well.

You rarely if ever see a shear head any more in these parts.

[Ron Wenrich]

We tried a shear head on a Bell last year for firewood.  They used it about a day and parked it.  It was quicker to cut with a chainsaw and more cost effective.

[WDH]

Cedarman, if I remember, about 24". 

[SwampDonkey]

Same story here on the shears, mills refused to buy it years ago. I'm surprised you could even buy one used. 24" sounds about right to me with a hotsaw, our average wood size would be about half that, although some crown hardwood is up to 46 inches, not much of it. Some red spruce and pine can be 36", I saw were some big old softwood were cut off the last thinning block. Looked like they had to use chainsaws on them, seen the wood wedge near by. But the block would have been processor cut overall and probably grapple skidder. Slash was left in the woods on the trails.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I have learned something in this thread.

[just_sawing]

Not trying to be political but since an IRS audit that the auditor tried to disallow all wages that I paid employees I have fired everyone working for me and I am looking to do what I can by my self.
Since I own a large tracked skidsteer using a Shear on the Red Ceder that I am clearing allows me to not have the extra help. I can clear so much then trim and load then take the forestry Mulcher head and mulch the tops to build my soil.
The larger 15" trees I will saw as in the past, however cutting the smaller ones that will go to the chip mill is where the time consuming part is.

[ellmoe]

The larger 15" trees I will saw as in the past, however cutting the smaller ones that will go to the chip mill is where the time consuming part is.

  The chip mill will probably not care if the trees are sheared, but, obviously, you should  ask. The mulch and shavings mills here all take sheared wood.
Mark