Falling pics 11/25/09

[Gologit]

Ooooh, I think I know of one. The GOL guy would rap you with his axe handle for your thumb position. Or is that the camera angle?

No that's an arthritic thumb that's been broken twice. Another one of God's little door-prizes for loggers.

 

[madhatte]

You can fall a hundred trees perfectly and that 101st will absolutely humble you for days afterwards. And it should.

That's the kind of advice that pays for itself forever. If it saves so much as a single mistake, all this blow-hardery was worth it.

 

[Hddnis]

I said two things, dammit. But you're pretty close. The face was okay but it could have been a little wider. The main thing I see wrong is not sawing it up a little more. And not sawing faster. It wasn't going for a saw log but that's no excuse for sloppy work.

Notice how it stalled out? Too much hinge. But it was starting to go, and it was really talking,and I was thinking it might 'chair and I still couldn't catch the hinge so I just bailed out. That's how you get to be 65 years old in this business.

It's very seldom that I fall a tree and think that everything went perfectly. Some times close enough is good enough but I always try to get it right. As you get more experience you'll be better able to critique your own work. Every tree is a school. And, since I'm in my Old Fart Lecture mode anyway, I'll throw in one more little piece of advice. You can fall a hundred trees perfectly and that 101st will absolutely humble you for days afterwards. And it should.

Very true.

When I was high climbing and also taking down Doug firs in town I never broke anything or hurt anyone, but I would lay awake at night sometimes thinking about how I didn't set stuff up just right. It is easy to get pushed to meet a deadline or even just some personal goal. I had some close calls that everyone watching thought was a perfect job, but I knew better and was cursing myself inside swearing I would never do it that way again.

Sure, there were the times when I got it perfect and I knew it, I smiled a little inside and then made an effort to do it that way again.


One I clearly remember was a Doug fir trunk I dropped alongside an apartment. It was around 40' tall and pushing 48" at the base, it had been limbed the day before and then I chunked it down that far in the morning. Boss was not happy that the tree was taking two days so he wanted it on the ground where we could put three saws on it and the skid steer could start moving it out. I put a really good face in, aimed her perfect, then started the backcut and got some wedges in. It was leaning back just a little and so I finished the backcut and started pounding wedges. It tipped over and landed perfect, right smack on the stake I was aiming for, everyone was cheering and high-fiving and telling me how good I was. I was looking at the hinge and realized that on one side it was fine for two inches, and then I had cut in too far with the tip and the hinge was about an inch thick. With the lean going towards the apartment I was just lucky it held, a full tree on top and it would not have. My next ten hinges were too thick as I over-compensated.


Anyway, enough of my rambling, wise words, just really struck me for some reason.



Mr. HE

 

[Sport Faller]

I said two things, dammit. But you're pretty close. The face was okay but it could have been a little wider. The main thing I see wrong is not sawing it up a little more. And not sawing faster. It wasn't going for a saw log but that's no excuse for sloppy work.

Notice how it stalled out? Too much hinge. But it was starting to go, and it was really talking,and I was thinking it might 'chair and I still couldn't catch the hinge so I just bailed out. That's how you get to be 65 years old in this business.

It's very seldom that I fall a tree and think that everything went perfectly. Some times close enough is good enough but I always try to get it right. As you get more experience you'll be better able to critique your own work. Every tree is a school.

And, since I'm in my Old Fart Lecture mode anyway, I'll throw in one more little piece of advice. You can fall a hundred trees perfectly and that 101st will absolutely humble you for days afterwards. And it should.

Thank you sir, I'll take every bit of advice you wanna throw my way

 

[RandyMac]

Jake, are you a fiber puller?

 

[Sport Faller]

Jake, are you a fiber puller?

Usually not unless it's leaning real bad, then it seems like she'll go before I'm done with the backcut

 

[Gologit]

diagram courtesy of GAS71




Jake, try this on a leaner. Either style is good. The triangle seems easier for me to match up my cuts. Practice on the smaller trees first.

 

[paccity]

View attachment 201688 well it's not a complete tree , chunked down to 35' tall . the tree monkey limbed it and chunked it down to where it's now. tomarrow i a'm going to tipp 20' of for the carver then block the remaining 6' to a 5' square so he can carve a grizzly bear out of it. no room hardly to do it ,but trying to save the 20 footer for another big carving.will take as many pic's as i can . oh yea , i think i'll break out the 890 and see how it does.

 

[paccity]

Jake, are you a fiber puller?

HA! you said fiber puller.:msp_ohmy:

 

[Gologit]

Another slopping back cut...

Found this in the Homeowner Helper threads.



http://www.arboristsite.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=3195372

 

[056kid]

I wonder over there occasionally Bob. I always get that urge that I cannot fulfill with the web. so I just forget it. . Man, talk about falling though, the rain was hard at it today!

 

[paccity]

View attachment 201793View attachment 201794View attachment 201795View attachment 201792heres the rest "almost camphone died" of the pic's to day on the sequoia. had to use a conventional on it for the carver. it.s ugly but worked,where is randy when ya need him.

 

[Sport Faller]

View attachment 201793View attachment 201794View attachment 201795View attachment 201792heres the rest "almost camphone died" of the pic's to day on the sequoia. had to use a conventional on it for the carver. it.s ugly but worked,where is randy when ya need him.

Nice, dat's a helluva pickle, I'm guessing it took some handy dremel work to get the bar on your 2100 to fit right

 

[paccity]

thanks, on the bar i new someone would notice. just a couple of 5mm thick rings and two new oil holes works great. i guess i could have painted it.

 

[056kid]

Nice, dat's a helluva pickle, I'm guessing it took some handy dremel work to get the bar on your 2100 to fit right

It's much faster if you do it by hand with a good file. But that is husky to stihl I am thinking of..

 

[madhatte]

What is the deal with chainsaw carvers and bears?

 

[Metals406]

What is the deal with chainsaw carvers and bears?

Not sure? It's how Jeff Fleming started out next door to my grandparent's place though. I used to site upstairs and watch him thru the window carve in his back yard. Now his stuff is known world wide, and the dude takes September off to bowhunt (must be nice). . . Y'all should see his hunting board -- ridiculous.

Original Bearfoots and Big Sky Bears Signed by the Artist Jeff Fleming

 

[slowp]

Here is the only tree I have used the boring/plunge/poke cut on. I didn't like the direction of my undercut, so I put a wedge in on that side. It swung the tree a bit more than planned, but the tree hit the ground in my second choice of areas, and it hit the ground. Today I only dumped four trees, and only one hung up.
I usually shout the F bomb when they hang up, but nobody heard that today. :msp_rolleyes:

View attachment 201896View attachment 201897
I'm wondering if I leave my hinges too thick? The trees seldom break off. When the tree starts to go, I pull out the saw and skedaddle. This is good ground for skeddaddling on.

I brought home a little load of green wood for next winter.

The trees are about 25 years old.

 

[lfnh]

Looks like it was good weather for working.
Did the hanger come down ok?

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[slowp]

Yes. PP logging uses a Kubota tractor and chain. I manage to get the trees mostly down, and we hook a chain to them and the other P pulls them out. Today we whacked the trees up into firewood sizes for me. We are trying to not get the area all jackstrawed.