A Felling Question

[hseII]

I was being sarcastic ,that is why i added the little whistle guy at the end ,the smiley guys on the forums inform readers that you are not serious in the reply .Sloped back cuts have no place in tree felling in my experience

 

[gomoto69]

Ha, missed the smiley guy, i feel like i miss the point on quite a few posts in this forum! Thanks

 

[Gypo Logger]

I've been in situations where I not only had to do a sloping undercut but had to do it above shoulder height.
Only problem is you wear most of the sawdust in the face. This is only required when one trunk of a double stem must be taken out or the tree has imbedded hardware from the stump up.
Once again, I'm not trying to convince anyone it's an accepted practice, nor should they try. It's much safer to just walk away.

 

[Chris-PA]

It's always safer to walk away. But you don't get much firewood that way.....

 

[HuskStihl]

God how I hate sarcastic posts

 

[Trx250r180]

God how I hate sarcastic posts

 

[Chris-PA]

God how I hate sarcastic posts

Give in to the dark side, Luke. Let youself be filled by the warm glow of cynicism and sarcasm.

 

[bnmc98]

Now sure, hammering a wedge into a horizontal cut will also tip the tree's falling direction but the tree can fall backwards on you and more importantly, a wedge into a horizontal cut actually LIFTS the trunk rather than tipping it.

Never had one come back on me with a wedge in it... its too hard for me to stand directly behind the tree under the lean and cut all the holding wood off through my wedge. I'm usually off to the side.
I have had plenty of trees try to come over on me, but never in the manner you described
Usually has to do with operator error

I tip trees horizontally with wedges all day long.

 

[treeslayer2003]

Never had one come back on me with a wedge in it... its too hard for me to stand directly behind the tree under the lean and cut all the holding wood off through my wedge. I'm usually off to the side.
I have had plenty of trees try to come over on me, but never in the manner you described
Usually has to do with operator error

I tip trees horizontally with wedges all day long.

really? ya must be kidding lol

 

[Bwildered]

Sloping back cuts won't do anything to swing a tree, if they did professionals would do it and they don't. Walk through any log block that has been hand felled, undercut 1/3 diameter of tree, whether standard or humbolt, i was taught humbolt because standard undercut wasted wood. Backcut maybe an inch above undercut, straight and level, 1 or 2" of holding wood,(or more the larger the tree gets) be sure all your undercuts line up clean, that's how it's done. tree can be swung maybe 45 degrees away from a lean if its not leaning too bad, but there's nothing you can do at the stump to make a tree fall against a lean, other than wedging a slight lean, without pulling or pushing it over mechanically.

That is correct, sloping back cuts are a sign of the self taught & if 3 or more are done when working for a professional organisation your down the track looking for another job. Wedging on a sloping back cut can be inefective because the wood can split away instead of taking the force of the wedge to push the bole in the desired direction.
Tansk

 

[pdqdl]

Interesting, but I'm having trouble visualizing what you're doing. Is your back cut sloping downward toward the face cut? And starting your back cut as high as you can reach with the saw and sloping downward.? I don't think I've ever seen that done. Sloping back cuts aren't usually accepted practice, at least not where I've worked.
Can you do a video for us to demonstrate this technique?

I think I know what he is suggesting: by putting a steep slope on the back cut he is gaining leverage on the hinge by widening the width of the overall cut. Yes, it would have give a wedge more power to lift a tree against a lean alright. It would also reduce the amount of travel imparted to the leaning top by the same proportion that it gains leverage, and it would also be attempting to put huge forces on relatively weak parts of the tree that are not structurally suitable for the compression delivered by a pounded-in wedge. Wood only tolerates much compression when the force is perpendicular to the grain.

I see several likely failures from using this technique:
1. Pound in the wedges and the feller discovers that he still has a leaning tree that is still going the wrong direction and he has run out of wedges to get enough lift to correct the problem. That and big stacks of wedges have a nasty tendency to pop out, dropping the tree in a very undesirable manner.
2. Like Bwildered mentioned in the previous post, pound in the wedges and the stump can split out in the back (a reverse barber chair?), dropping the tree further into the lean and capturing the bar of the saw in the process. This would leave you with a probability that the tree will go the wrong way while your saw is trapped and might precipitate a barber-chair as well when the back cut closes and the tree falls hard on it.

I don't think I like that technique.

 

[pdqdl]

I was being sarcastic ,that is why i added the little whistle guy at the end ,the smiley guys on the forums inform readers that you are not serious in the reply .Sloped back cuts have no place in tree felling in my experience

Not quite true: they reduce the tendency of a tree to jump backwards off the stump. But then, so does a humbolt.

 

[Deets066]

Not quite true: they reduce the tendency of a tree to jump backwards off the stump. But then, so does a humbolt.

Also not true, a 12" high slopeing back cut won't save you anymore than a straight horizontal back cut if it isn't wedged properly.

 

[pdqdl]

I always thought that "wedging properly" excluded the use of a sloping cut. Not sure what you mean.

 

[Deets066]

The little yellow wedge that you beat in the back cut, if not done "properly" a slopeing back cut won't save you. Some people think that you don't need a felling wedge if you use a slopeing back cut.

 

[bnmc98]

Not quite true: they reduce the tendency of a tree to jump backwards off the stump. But then, so does a humbolt.

Trees do not have a tendency to jump backwards... Unless you're cutting them wrong.


The only time i get them jumping backwards is when they hit something on the way down.
And usually you're gone by that point and watching it go down.

Sloping back-cuts are for paranoid people
If you are paranoid or fearful cutting trees then you will do weird stuff...

 

[Gypo Logger]

It's always safer to walk away. But you don't get much firewood that way.....

Thank God there is no shortage of trees!

 

[Gypo Logger]

There is definitely some confusion here about sloping cuts. A sloping back cut with a flat undercut is plain stupid.
I'm suggesting an angled undercut with the same angled back cut in rare situations.
Those bloody trees and saws always jumping at you! What an outrage! Lol

 

[Gypo Logger]

I so hate it when they just jump off the stump and come after you!

 

[Gypo Logger]

Good thing Dad was there! Lol