Is this what’s called a barber’s chair?

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I have seen a couple or more barber chairs with green heavy logs. Happened i believe much faster then that rotten old evergreeen. That one split up more and came down hard , but at least 1 i remember climbed a ways up and slammed back down to the ground in little over 1 second . I believe it could of easily killed an elephant instantly or just about.
 
Yes that’s a barber chair, now a question for you what can you do to prevent them?


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Looks to me his back cut was going below the notch, pinched the saw blade leaving excessive holding wood which broke off above rather then being able to get it cut through in time. If the back cut was a bit above the notch that is the norm on a farmers notch.
Lots of illustrations of proper cutting techniques on the internet , figure from there whats best for you. I am not a professional logger myself. I use the farmers notch most the time , works for taking hardwood and other trees down here and i am used to it. Most what i cut down is used for firewood or trashed.
 
Looks to me his back cut was going below the notch, pinched the saw blade leaving excessive holding wood which broke off above rather then being able to get it cut through in time. If the back cut was a bit above the notch that is the norm on a farmers notch.
Lots of illustrations of proper cutting techniques on the internet , figure from there whats best for you. I am not a professional logger myself. I use the farmers notch most the time , works for taking hardwood and other trees down here and i am used to it. Most what i cut down is used for firewood or trashed.

The back cut looks pretty much level with the face, the undercut or humboldt face is very common on steep ground it keeps the butt from coming back at you. The bar got pinch from most likely the weight setting back when the chair started, if the tree had been sound you wouldn’t of seen a chair. The back cut being above the stump is needed on a conventional to keep the butt from coming back at you.


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this is a better example of an actual barber chaired tree
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RE Ford tractor hanging from tree. - Yesterday's Tractors
 
Looks like he tried to push the tree over with a tractor, with face cut poorly done ( it closed). That would have been a great video.

Tractor operator O.K.? He's lucky tractor did not fall on him.

That’d be the other way, more likely a miss judgment of the lean because it’s got a lovely sloping back cut as well.


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I'll wrap leaning trunks to help prevent barber chairs, or a back cut. Looks to me that tractor had a close shave, lol, while at the barber's chair.
 
The only thing suspect to me is the snow adjacent to the tree is not disturbed by the tractor tires traction or by the moving of the tractor by the action of the chairing itself
 
There is no one answer to prevent barber chairs. Wrapping can help, but only if you know it is a dangerous tree. Same thing with a bore cut, you only use it when you expect trouble. In the first video the tree is very rotten right where he is cutting. I just cut a maple with a similar problem last week. It was nowhere near the size of that tree but was leaning the wrong way. I put a rope up in it and had my son give it a pull at the right time, but my key strategy was to cut well above the rot were the holding wood was solid. Any time the tree is rotten, it is hard to control. Around the farm I have pulled over rotten trees with a winch or tractor to avoid getting under it. I have never been a fan of pushing one with the tractor like the second picture. It puts the operator in harms way. Sure, having the tree pick up the tractor is not a common problem, but I have seen the top break out and come back on the tractor before.
The safest advice on barber chairs is if you don't know how to prevent it, you better leave the felling to someone more experienced.
 
11-S-14: Barber-Chair Tree Kills Logger
by Rick Meyer

"In this incident, the timber cutter (deceased) used a common felling method in which the undercut notch was less than 45 degrees, and he completed the backcut from the outside of the tree working inward toward the hinge. The problem with this technique is that the small-angle notch closes up before the tree has fallen even halfway to the ground. This puts stress on the hinge and causes fiber pull, sometimes splitting the butt log or creating a dangerous barberchair. This common method also requires the timber cutter to continue standing at the tree and sawing through more of the hinge as the tree begins its fall, to keep the tree from rocking backward or stopping short of breaking.

A safer method of felling is to create an open-faced undercut notch, 70 to 90 degrees; and then to bore through the tree to create the hinge first, working backward toward the outside of the tree from the direction of the hinge to complete the cut, using wedges if necessary. Using this open-faced method, as taught in The Game of Logging training program, would have prevented the tree from barber chairing; and even if the saw had run out of fuel, the uncut part of the tree would have held the tree in place and not caused it to fall prematurely."

https://forestresources.org/digital-magazine/item/203-barber-chair-tree-kills-logger
 

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