Barber Chair Prevention Question

[Henry Finley]

In cutting down oak trees, leaning or not, the idea of having a barber chair frightens me to death. This is only my second year of heating with firewood from my own hands and wits, I've done my due diligence on watching the internet safety and procedure videos. I only cut the medium size trees as big as people's waists or hips. So what about my idea of putting a big chain around the tree, nice and tight, a foot or 2 above my cut to ward off barber chair killing me?

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum

Nothing wrong with that approach.
However, I wouldn't use it in place of a good wedge cut, followed by a plunge cut to establish the 1" hinge and then saw out to leave the holding wood (at the back of the backcut).
Then release the tree by cutting the holding wood when all are clear and your exit path is clear as well.

[Ianab]

Yes, a heavy duty chain and load binder to cinch it up tight is an accepted way to reduce the risk. You really only need to worry about it on leaning trees there the log is under stress. That stress can lead to the log cracking when you are 1/2 way though your back cut, and then things get exciting really quickly.

But a better way is to use a different cut technique. In this case you make your notch as normal, then use a bore cut to form your hinge first. Now cut back from the hinge until there is just a strap of wood at the back holding the tree. This strap is under a bit of tension. You take the saw out, and simply cut this strap from the back to release the tree. It will let go with a snap and fall normally.

There is some info and pics in this thread.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,22582.msg320938.html#msg320938
The tree here was 1.3 metres across, and had a significant lean, but we got it down safely.

Ian

[coxy]

ya make it a  good chain in my days of learning I broke a 3/8 chain (chepo ) on a ash that was leaning bad let my gard down all most got me after that changed my way of thinking and cutting    please be safe it only takes a second to get hurt

[John Mc]

Henry - Welcome to the Forestry Forum!

John Vander started a good thread here with felling diagrams that shows what folks are talking about with the bore cut and the "holding wood" or "holding strap" folks are talking about here.

Take a look at the Felling Diagrams thread, and look at replies #2, 7, & 10.  Forward leaners are the ones most likely to barberchair on you, but you can use this technique on other trees as well. If it's not a forward leaner, the holding wood serves to keep the tree from settling back on your saw. You just remove the saw, tap in a plastic wedge from the back, then cut off the holding wood.  If the tree doesn't fall, drive the wedge in to tip the tree over.

If you haven't done much bore cutting, let us know, and we'll describe that procedure for you. Done right, it's quite safe, but done wrong can cause kickback.

What part of the country are you in?  If there is anyone teaching Game Of Logging classes near you, that might be worth your looking into.  They teach the bore cutting technique, and successive classes deal with progressively more difficult situations.

[BradMarks]

Used to cut a lot of alder out of plantations and rehab units when they were "trash trees" and not valuable as they are now. Times have indeed changed. Alder barber chairs very easily. One method we used as we were not concerned with recovery, was make the face cut and before making the back cut to fell the tree, make a relief back cut higher up the stem, maybe 15-18", not too deep. Then proceed with your normal back cut. As I recall, seemed to work pretty well. Still alive!

[beenthere]

Bradmarks
Doesn't sound good to me, as it seems it would just move the barberchair break further up the stem and closer to face height.
But may not be getting the right picture from your description.

Best to do the plunge cut after the notch (IMO) to establish the hinge as the Game of Logging teaches quite well. Very little risk of the barberchair-catastrophe potential.

[treeslayer2003]

uh, well, GOL, just not my ball of wax. not knockin it but I do a bit different. on a head leaner I would make as good a face as possible with out pinching, make sure your cuts line up, then bore into the face to remove most of the heart leaving 2-3 inches of hinge on both sides. back cut needs to be quick and accurate. NO TREE  is worth your life, so if it makes you nervous leave it alone. your not getting paid, just getting wood so stay safe and take any thing you read online for what it is......including what I said. we ain't there.

[JDeere]

Henry Finley,  Knowing that the risk exists is half the battle. There is a lot of good advice given above. Learning to bore cut is a very worth while effort, not just for oaks but all kinds of trees. One word of advice, if you cut ash trees be very careful especially limbing. The lack of tensile strength makes an ash under pressure very dangerous.

[beenthere]

The lack of tensile strength makes an ash under pressure very dangerous.

Puzzled what this means, or implies. Any explanation?

[treeslayer2003]

not sure what deere means but I can tell you that ash here is much different than what most of you are used to. our ash grows in SMZs, has no heart and is super splitty and very chair prone.

[thenorthman]

ok so there are several good ways to prevent a chair, wrapping a chain is simple and easy, although sometimes they will still split a little bit, but nothing like a violent near death experience chair, it helps to have a binder on hand to really cinch em down but its not strictly necessary, just make sure you hook a full link and not just poking the hook through the hole...

The method described sorta above is called the GOL cut or swedish stump dance... while I'm personally not fond of it, it does give you plenty of time to make the proper cuts safely. 

The other method is called the Coos bay, here you make your face in the usual way (undercut) you are making undercuts right?, then you saw a bit off the far side and the front side of you're back cut (felling cut), either making a triangle or a T out of the remaining uncut wood, then simply dog in and cut as fast as you can, the side cuts relieve much of the pressure and allow the saw to cut through the remaining wood as quickly as possible.

While the Coos is not as "safe" as the GOL, it is faster.  And the GOL can  be difficult to execute, especially since it involves boring, and sometimes blind cutting from opposite sides of a tree, the other down side of the GOL is its relatively easy to over cut the hold/hinge wood and have a big fat tree sit down hard on your saw.

A forth option is to fall the leaner sideways to the lean.  Unfortunately its not always possible to do so.

enjoy.

[beenthere]

All good points thenorthman. IMO

[thenorthman]

needs pictures, but I don't have any...

[JakeG]

needs pictures, but I don't have any...

http://tnvalleywoodclub.org/articles/PDFs/Tree_Felling_Presentation.pdf

Starting around page 30-35 there should be some pics for the OP 

[John Woodworth]

There is nothing in the world wrong with using a chain when in doubt, what I do is put in the undercut then come in on both sides the width of the bar and sometimes on bigger trees notch it, The biggest thing is have a saw with enough power to make the cut without bogging down and you will stay ahead of a barber chair.

[thecfarm]

John,I cut on both sides of the tree on just about every tree I cut. I do it the same way you do.