Are you kidding me ??? Definately what NOT to do !!

[Gologit]

Anyone who has logged knows that a tree will go where it wants to. All we do is manipulate how it gets there.

No so. Anyone who has logged knows that a tree can made to go in just about any direction the faller wants.
There are exceptions, sure, but a good faller can do some amazing things with re-directing the direction of fall.
The place to see falling skills is on a select cut where you're trying not to damage re-prod.
Wedges, jacks, a variety of special cuts...these are all used by fallers who know, through actual experience, that the attitude of "a tree will go where it wants to" is usually the excuse of a rookie.
LOL...if we just let the trees go where they wanted to go we'd have a mess on the ground, poor production numbers, damaged timber, grumpy skidder operators, an even grumpier side rod, and probably no job the next day.

 

[cuttinties]

No so. Anyone who has logged knows that a tree can made to go in just about any direction the faller wants.
There are exceptions, sure, but a good faller can do some amazing things with re-directing the direction of fall.
The place to see falling skills is on a select cut where you're trying not to damage re-prod.
Wedges, jacks, a variety of special cuts...these are all used by fallers who know, through actual experience, that the attitude of "a tree will go where it wants to" is usually the excuse of a rookie.
LOL...if we just let the trees go where they wanted to go we'd have a mess on the ground, poor production numbers, damaged timber, grumpy skidder operators, an even grumpier side rod, and probably no job the next day.

You can most certainly make trees fall how ever you want. Just because a tree wants to naturally fall in a specific place does not mean that it's where you're putting it. But not everyone has gaffs, bull rope or hydraulic tree jacks.

 

[HuskStihl]

The guy may be confident, that's one thing. But he post his video on internet, and this could be a very bad exemple for someone who want to try this.

Just imagine a guy who want to put down a tree and who watch a few falling vids. The guy could think it's difficult to make all theses face cuts, plunge cuts, etc. And then, he watch this video, with a "pro" who's just turning around the tree with his saw. The tree fall correctly in this video, and it looks so easy to do... he give this way a try. And he kill himself. End of story.

It's not about making publicity to my YT channel, but if I post a video on YT, I don't want to show something dangerous or stupid.

Nice chain Guillaume.

So while Bitz, capitaine, Gologit, RandyMac are production fallers and should be listened to, I am not. That being said, in addition to not having a hinge you can control, (you misjudge the lean or get a wind gust and it's not going where you thought) and spending a bunch of time right under the lean(not a good long-term survival strategy), it is kinda slow. This guys fallen thousands of trees, and I've fallen a couple hundred, but on a tree that size I could put in a face, maybe bore if I was worried about fiber pull, and put in a back cut with a wedge to help prevent sitting back, all from the "safe" side of the tree without doing a head-down circle dance, in less time. Sorry for the run-on sentence

 

[Moparmyway]

cuttinties,
Post #61 ..............
Whats the difference between the "swing jump cut" video (and by the way ..... what is "swinging" ?) and the "hillside jump cut" video ?

I cant see a single difference, except which way the tree fell, of which he had absolutely NO controll over.
Going by dumb luck and praying for no wind as you dont look up while making a flat cut at the base - on 2 different trees, then calling it 2 different "techniques" is just playing monday morning quarterback. Look in the background of his videos, the other trees that are on the ground are in NO WAY oriented for the skidder to grab easily. A guided felling cut with a hinge and he could have lined them up for a few multi-grabs in one run.

NOPE ............ lets video a dangerous practice, post up an assenine way of sharpening a chain, and tell everyone else how you are the one doing it right and how tough you are by inviting anyone who disagrees with you to be a baker in a bakery.

I havent agreed with Philbert on everything, IIRC it was on one subject of heating up cutters, but he has hit the nail on the head here, as have Randymac and Gologit ......................We used to use asbestos to insulate, do we still do it now ??
No we dont, due to its inherantly dangerous reprecussions ................
This guys "techinques" and explanations are just wrong, wrong, wrong

I expect a long worded reply, no doubt..............but please include a detailed description of the difference between the 2 different videos and what he did differently so I can fully understand the "swing jump cut" and the "hillside jump cut" .............. then I will eat whatever humble pie you put in the rest of your answer

 

[Gologit]

........ lets video a dangerous practice, post up an assenine way of sharpening a chain, and tell everyone else how you are the one doing it right and how tough you are by inviting anyone who disagrees with you to be a baker in a bakery.

There's a lot of that on YouTube, isn't there? The guy's attitude about what he's doing tells the whole story. I doubt if he'd be agreeable to learning anything new or different.
Most of the really good fallers I know are fairly quiet, even humble, men and they're always open to learning something new.

LOL...and for what it's worth, there were times when I really wished I was working in a bakery...or anyplace warm and dry and flat...instead of beating my brains out in the woods.

 

[slowp]

We call this directional falling. Trees need to be felled in a certain direction so they can be yarded without scarring up the residual or leave trees. Scars on trees are places where decay can start and make the logs less valuable when the next logging entry is made. I loved working with these two fallers. And no, not every tree could be made to go in the preferred direction. And fallers around here do not pack ropes or cables or tractors around with them. In fact this piece of ground, although flattish, had to be logged with a skyline yarder or helicopter. No wheeled equipment was allowed off the landing or road. That was a court order.

If I were in charge, I would have preferred a bit more of an angle going uphill, but this yarding crew liked it this way, was used to working with logs going across the hill, and most importantly could yard them with very little damage to the leave trees. So this is how the falling was done. These two guys could easily have adjusted their lay to angle trees better. They are fallers, not hacks.

A little more logging education--the big picture. Before any falling started, the skyline corridors (straight paths about 12 feet wide going uphill to the landing) were flagged in. I walked every corridor and marked with tree paint, leave trees to be cut for that corridor. Then falling could start and the fallers knew where those corridors were and could fall towards them. The same goes for skidder units--before falling started, the skid trails are flagged in, and I'd do the same thing.

 

[Philip Wheelock]

I'm not a faller, but I worked for a good one (skilled, humble, hard-working) for awhile and even I can see reasons why the guy posting these videos is a bonehead, albeit a professional bonehead. Here are some:
1. Didn't look up. Takes skill to look up and still know where the saw is in the cut.
2. Didn't clear brush around the tree or create escape paths.
3. Clearing a bound chain by hand with the motor running. Plain stupid.
4. No hinge = no control over the tree. Makes for a big mess and a lot of hung trees, or worse: tree smashes into another tree on the way down and the top comes flying back at the faller. Also, without control, there's no way to drop trees lined up facing the logging road so the skidder can grab several at a time. No money in that.
5. No hinge means the tree spins and jumps in any direction off the stump; the bar's gonna get pinched and the saw crushed sooner or later, or worse.
6. Circling the tree counter-clockwise takes too much physical energy and is inefficient over the course of a day. Also, much greater chance that the chain's gonna bind and drive the saw back at the faller. Ignorant.
7. Running that Timber Jack skidder at full throttle (in another video) is reducing the motor's service life. No money in that.
8. Bragging in the truck about how no one should do this at home: ignorant. The good ones have a feel for tools and machinery. This guy doesn't.

 

[lone wolf]

I'm not a faller, but I worked for a good one (skilled, humble, hard-working) for awhile and even I can see reasons why the guy posting these videos is a bonehead, albeit a professional bonehead. Here are some:
1. Didn't look up. Takes skill to look up and still know where the saw is in the cut.
2. Didn't clear brush around the tree or create escape paths.
3. Clearing a bound chain by hand with the motor running. Plain stupid.
4. No hinge = no control over the tree. There's gonna be a lot of hung trees, or worse: tree smashes into another tree on the way down and the top comes flying back at the faller. Also, without control, there's no way to drop trees lined up facing the logging road so the skidder can grab several at a time. No money in that.
5. No hinge means the tree spins and jumps in any direction off the stump; the bar's gonna get pinched and saw crushed sooner or later, or worse.
6. Circling the tree counter-clockwise takes too much physical energy and is inefficient over the course of a day. Also, much greater chance that the chain's gonna bind and drive the saw back at the faller. Ignorant.
7. Running that Timber Jack skidder at full throttle (in another video) is reducing the motor's service life. No money in that.
8. Bragging in the truck about how no one should do this at home: ignorant.

Anyone on this forum who thinks this guy know what he's doing should stick to polishing shelf queens.

He may be on to something there when he said no one should do this at home! Look at the way he did it.

 

[slowp]

Here's a picture showing the rigging crew starting to string haywire down a skyline corridor. Falling is complete and it is a royal pain to walk through the brush, but it has to be done.

 

[slowp]

A real production faller. He hesitates while making the face cut because his cutting partner is falling a tree. This was towards the end of the day. Nothing special about this tree except it is leaning a bit.

 

[CapitaineHaddoc]

I take a few pictures this afternoon, to explain what is (for me) a good way to have a really low stump, with a good hinge. The wood is frozen black spruce, of course this method is not necessary to cut this kind of tree, but it's all I could find today.
A small "reverse notch". The mark over the hinge is the lowest level for the back cut.



After that, I made a "heart bore cut", lower than the back cut. This is only necessary with hardwood, to protect them from breaking. This is also a good way to cut a big tree with a small bar



For a tree who really lean, I finish my back cut at the rear of the stump.



Is this not a better way to cut veneer?

 

[CapitaineHaddoc]

There's a lot of that on YouTube, isn't there? The guy's attitude about what he's doing tells the whole story. I doubt if he'd be agreeable to learning anything new or different.
Most of the really good fallers I know are fairly quiet, even humble, men and they're always open to learning something new.

LOL...and for what it's worth, there were times when I really wished I was working in a bakery...or anyplace warm and dry and flat...instead of beating my brains out in the woods.

About learning new things, I really want to learn a little more about the techniques used in the west coast of the USA. I already use some of them successfully, but is there any book or document about that?

To be honest, my biggest dream is to cut one of these giant cedar, douglas or sequoia you have on the west coast, but there's no travel agency who propose this kind of thing

 

[Gologit]

About learning new things, I really want to learn a little more about the techniques used in the west coast of the USA. I already use some of them successfully, but is there any book or document about that?

To be honest, my biggest dream is to cut one of these giant cedar, douglas or sequoia you have on the west coast, but there's no travel agency who propose this kind of thing

There are a couple of pretty good books...one by D. Douglas Dent and another by Jerry Beranek...that give some excellent insight into falling the kind of timber we have here. Follow their advice and you won't go wrong. Both of those guys are the real deal and they know what they're talking about. Dent is deceased but Beranek is still around.

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-General-Tree-Jerry-Beranek/dp/0965416712

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Timber-Falling-Book-Douglas/dp/B00455VB4A

 

[CapitaineHaddoc]

There are a couple of pretty good books...one by D. Douglas Dent and another by Jerry Beranek...that give some excellent insight into falling the kind of timber we have here. Follow their advice and you won't go wrong. Both of those guys are the real deal and they know what they're talking about. Dent is deceased but Beranek is still around.

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-General-Tree-Jerry-Beranek/dp/0965416712

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Timber-Falling-Book-Douglas/dp/B00455VB4A

Thank you, I'll try one of 'em. If my english is good enough

 

[HuskStihl]

About learning new things, I really want to learn a little more about the techniques used in the west coast of the USA. I already use some of them successfully, but is there any book or document about that?

Professional timber falling by Douglas Dent is short, full of good information, and pretty easy to read

Edit: not only did Gologit beat me to the reply, but included links for purchase.

 

[Gologit]

Professional timber falling by Douglas Dent is short, full of good information, and pretty easy to read

Edit: not only did Gologit beat me to the reply, but included links for purchase.

Not bad for typing with just one thumb and pinkie finger, no?

 

[Cedar Row]

There are a couple of pretty good books...one by D. Douglas Dent and another by Jerry Beranek...that give some excellent insight into falling the kind of timber we have here. Follow their advice and you won't go wrong. Both of those guys are the real deal and they know what they're talking about. Dent is deceased but Beranek is still around.

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-General-Tree-Jerry-Beranek/dp/0965416712

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Timber-Falling-Book-Douglas/dp/B00455VB4A

These both are good books, well worth purchasing and reading.

 

[RandyMac]

Did I mention I miss sport falling?

 

[Gologit]

Did I mention I miss sport falling?

I know just the place. I walked part of the Headwaters trail yesterday. That place would benefit from a little sport falling.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

That guy was either really good at it or really bad, can't figure it out. It's not the way I would do it but I'm no expert..