Technique to cut up huge log full on ground (no space under)

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
This stuff is maybe second nature to you guys, but for a hobbyist, this has turned out to be one of the best threads i've been a part of in my life. I can't believe all the awesome, creative and effective techniques everyone has suggested. And all in one place. Regarding using a second saw...as just a homeowner, i only have a small spare. I've been calling my dealer every couple days to ask about the part. Yesterday they said they received the part in a plastic bag marked "damaged", so they had to order another one. Ugh! Sorry to have not posted yet the outcome. By early next week at the latest. Thanks again to all.
ah the interwebs, where you can learn ANYTHING and still be ridiculed by the ignorant...
Anyway, barring a spare saw (pun not? intended) at the very least get a spare bar and chain, think of it as a spare tire
And a couple of plastic wedges so when the cut starts to close up you can tap one in and not have to rescue your saw. (I don't know about using them to "lift" the log via cuts... seems like a lot more work then just rolling the damned thing, but it does sound plausible)
 
This stuff is maybe second nature to you guys, but for a hobbyist, this has turned out to be one of the best threads i've been a part of in my life. I can't believe all the awesome, creative and effective techniques everyone has suggested. And all in one place. Regarding using a second saw...as just a homeowner, i only have a small spare. I've been calling my dealer every couple days to ask about the part. Yesterday they said they received the part in a plastic bag marked "damaged", so they had to order another one. Ugh! Sorry to have not posted yet the outcome. By early next week at the latest. Thanks again to all.

This is actually a good thread, with a lot of good ideas and information, and all meant to help. I read back through the whole thread , and realized that a lot of what I posted was maybe a little short, and used some terms that aren't necessarily in everyone's lexicon... one of which may be the difference between compression and tension wood... had a couple beers and nothing better to do, so let me try to ramble my through an explanation, lol.

All wood is either in a state of compression or tension... look at a floor joist, for example. Let's take a standard 2x10... the top half or so, the fibers are being compressed by the weight of the load... floor, walls built above it, etc, while the fibers of the lower half are under tension, being stretched. Meanwhile, we have the bonds between the fibers counteracting those forces. If we continue to load that joist, eventually the stress on the fibers under tension will overwhelm the forces holding those fibers, and the forces holding the joist laterally, and the joist will break. It will fail from the bottom up, as those lower bonds fail, and eventually the balance between compression wood and tension wood moves upward, until all of the joist is under tension, and... snap! This may seem instant, but the failure is caused by the wood under tension failing, and moving the balance between compression wood and tension wood progressing upward through the joist until it all fails.

Now let's look at a standing tree. All of the wood in a tree is also either under compression or tension. In a perfectly straight tree, perfectly balanced canopy, of course all of the wood in the trunk would be under compression. Of course that tree doesn't exist, so there will always be some under compression, and some under tension. As long as the difference in forces between the compression wood and the tension wood are less than the structural strength of the wood, not a problem. If, however, due to lean or canopy weight, we have notched the tree , relieving pressure on the compression side, and then we make our backcut, relieving pressure on the tension side, and the imbalance is greater than the bonds between the fibers of the wood, we end up with... the dreaded barber chair...

But luckily, that didn't happen this time, and now we have a 15' by 28" log laying on the ground. All of that log is still either in a state of compression or tension, because even if we can't see it, the log isn't perfectly straight, and the ground isn't perfectly flat. If we had a milled beam sitting on a perfectly flat table, then yes, all the wood would be under compression, aside from inherent twisting forces in the wood itself.

So now that we know all this, let's look at our log and start identifying sections that are either under tension or compression. If we spot a bow in the log, we can assume that the top of the log is under tension, and the bottom is under compression, so if we make a cut from the top at that point, the cut should spread as we cut down. However, as we cut down, the balance between compression and tension will shift downward, and the kerf may start to close back up, so a wedge in the top is a good idea. Usually though, as we cut down the wood under compression will gradually shift to tension wood and even rise up to finish the cut.

Conversely, if the wood on top of the log is under compression we can either start a kerf and follow with a wedge, or just bore through, leaving a strap on top, and then cut down, until into the tension wood. At a certain point, the tension will spread at a greater force than the woods lateral bonds, and then we can just pop the strap on top.

Long and the short of it, if you understand the difference between compression and tension wood, it's a lot less digging and winching and peaveys and such... think I'll go to bed now, lol
 
If you can get your atv in there, wrap the winch cable over the top and around the log 2-3 times, hooking it back on itself on the last loop. The winch should easily roll a log that size. i use this regularly to position large trees for the chainsaw mill. Most of my trees are in places I can't get to with my tractor, so I mill them in the bush. Keeps my wife happy too, no sawdust piles up by the house. You may have to dig a bit to pass the cable under the log.
 
Well, tree is now cut up. I got my spare part yesterday. My sprocket cover had split (issue wasn't a bar or chain) and the nuts would vibrate off. Thanks to all. I feel a little guilty, as there were some small spots with space under the length of the section that i didn't notice before. In fact, i didn't even have to use my cant hook. Just wedges. It was on a slope which helped to roll it. But i'm saving all your fantastic tips for future use. Maybe these tips have been said a lot before, but if not, this thread should help a lot of people in the future. I'm very grateful for your help.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top