jomoco
Tree Freak
Hey guys,
I just want to make certain that my understanding of boxcuts and their purpose jives with yours.
My first exposure to this technique was watching a veteran pro screw one up big time and crush a nearby high value oak into the ground, at which point I said screw boxcut felling cuts period.
But then I was working in Lake Arrowhead and responsible for getting a giant coulter pine covered in ivy leaning over a 3 story mansion on the lake's shoreline safely landed on the beach with a big tracked bobcat.
I put two big bull lines in the two outer upper leaders ran them to the bobcat then began clearing the ivy from the base only to discover the damn thing was hollow to the point that I could actually walk inside the tree and raise my elbows. Hmmmmm.......
As a independent sub working for a 3rd generation logger, I decided to give the old boy a ring and get his input on the situation since it was his company's reputation and mine on the two bull lines.
He said no problem jomoco, just use a boxcut with bout 4 or 5 inches of good healthy hinge on each side of that hollow old dog, gun it for the beach and let the bobcat do the rest.
With memories of my first observation of a felling boxcut foremost in my mind I pussed out and politely asked him to come show me how and why a boxcut was appropriate for this 5 ft dbh monster with bout 8 inches of good wood on each side, the walk through cavity faced the mansion side.
The face of his boxcut was bout 8 vertical inches tall bout a 3rd of the way into the hollow tree made with his 88 with a 3 ft bar. His felling cut was exactly opposite the top of the 8 inch boxcut's vertical face, he went to within bout 5 inches of hinge on each side, yanked his saw out, grinned at me across from him watching intently, yelled run for your life jomoco! while signaling the bobcat to go.
He had told me that an 8 inch apex allowed the hinge to bend over 90 degrees and hold onto the stump much more tenaciously until the tree actually hits the ground, and that's exactly what it did that day before eventually tearing off the huge stump and sliding down hill towards the beach.
So tell me guys, did matt know the true proper utililization of the mysterious boxcut felling technique?
Thanks.
jomoco
I just want to make certain that my understanding of boxcuts and their purpose jives with yours.
My first exposure to this technique was watching a veteran pro screw one up big time and crush a nearby high value oak into the ground, at which point I said screw boxcut felling cuts period.
But then I was working in Lake Arrowhead and responsible for getting a giant coulter pine covered in ivy leaning over a 3 story mansion on the lake's shoreline safely landed on the beach with a big tracked bobcat.
I put two big bull lines in the two outer upper leaders ran them to the bobcat then began clearing the ivy from the base only to discover the damn thing was hollow to the point that I could actually walk inside the tree and raise my elbows. Hmmmmm.......
As a independent sub working for a 3rd generation logger, I decided to give the old boy a ring and get his input on the situation since it was his company's reputation and mine on the two bull lines.
He said no problem jomoco, just use a boxcut with bout 4 or 5 inches of good healthy hinge on each side of that hollow old dog, gun it for the beach and let the bobcat do the rest.
With memories of my first observation of a felling boxcut foremost in my mind I pussed out and politely asked him to come show me how and why a boxcut was appropriate for this 5 ft dbh monster with bout 8 inches of good wood on each side, the walk through cavity faced the mansion side.
The face of his boxcut was bout 8 vertical inches tall bout a 3rd of the way into the hollow tree made with his 88 with a 3 ft bar. His felling cut was exactly opposite the top of the 8 inch boxcut's vertical face, he went to within bout 5 inches of hinge on each side, yanked his saw out, grinned at me across from him watching intently, yelled run for your life jomoco! while signaling the bobcat to go.
He had told me that an 8 inch apex allowed the hinge to bend over 90 degrees and hold onto the stump much more tenaciously until the tree actually hits the ground, and that's exactly what it did that day before eventually tearing off the huge stump and sliding down hill towards the beach.
So tell me guys, did matt know the true proper utililization of the mysterious boxcut felling technique?
Thanks.
jomoco