Felling notch I.D.

[twochains]

Hey, so I was doing a clean up sweep along a fence. There was a tall slick RO with a 2ft butt. It was leaning towards a fence...I don't fix fence for free :msp_smile:. So I was gonna put a notch in it and have the skidder push it. Well the skidder op (who has logged all his life) said let me have a shot at it. I was like "No prob here".

So the wind was swirling at about 20+ mph. The guy made his first cut dropping a conventional in the left corner then dropped a humboldt below it on the right corner. He started the back cut slightly sloped, cutting left hinge. The wind about got his bar so he paused, then set back in. The tree hit the conventional then SWUNG into the humbolt with a "POP" and left a slight fiber pull on the right corner of the hinge.

I was in awe and still am as I type this! I asked the dude what he called that set up...he was like "What? I don't reckon it's called anything". SO if any of you guys know what this is called or even if there is a name for it... I would like to know PLEASE! Thanks in advance! I'm not planning on using it, but I still would like to know. Thanks!

 

[timberland ts]

Sounds like a bi-derectional cut as we called it. Used a lot jacking trees off wires. Notch away from wires when starts to come over cut otherside then it will go down the row.

 

[twochains]

I was pretty impressed. It worked very well, the wind was sketchy. Thanks!

 

[madhatte]

Sounds an awful lot like a variation on the "Sizwell" or "Siswheel". Great tool, discussed elsewhere hereabouts.

 

[4x4American]

Can you draw a picture and put it up?

 

[bitzer]

Sounds like a dutchman with a snipe to me. He cut the left side or the right side off? If he cut the left that would negate the overhand sinpe and just swing it into the humboldt to the right. Which way did it come off the stump?

 

[twochains]

The tree was on a sloping hill, the fence was below and to the left. The tree had a wind swept top toward the fence. He cut the left hinge which allowed the tree to settle into the conventional then the tree swept to the right, dropping into the humbolt, away from the fence. The very right hinge was basically uncut and left a slight fiber pull in the sap wood. I would sometime like to experiment with it...but only if there is no fence and zero wind. :msp_biggrin:

I made a cut once when two trees were grown almost together. They were different species and of course I wanted the one behind. I was on a fairly steep draw so I threw in a very sloped humbolt notch. I sloped the notch almost 5 inches and the tree unwrapped itself from the other, falling right down the hill. It followed the notch very well.

Those types of cuts kinda booger me on large trees and I am comfortable with being a one trick pony of sorts.

Thanks guys for the input. Around here the older men who have been logging all their life don't know any of the names of notches. I didn't either until I got on this forum. When I first got on this forum I actually had to look up names of notches on You Tube just to see what you all were talking about. I never knew that I had always done humbolt notches....they were just referred to as upward notches as opposed to downward or "conventional". I really enjoy learning from this site. I have applied some techniques I have seen on some of these threads. Mainly the humbolt with a blocker stuck in one corner...that always seems to work for me. Actually I used the said method twice earlier this week, pretty nifty for sure.

There is a generation of men here that all went out West logging I think sometime in either the mid 50's or early 60's. It seems they are all around the same age. They are unfortunately leaving us at a fairly good pace...actually I have attended 5 of their funerals. It's a shame, those men always seemed to like me and would tell their story. When I used to log with a Belgian horse some of them would come out to the site and watch me skid ERC...they got kick out of it.

Thanks!

 

[4x4American]

did the level cut parts of the humboldt and conventional line up? did he have to bore to cut the wedge out? definitely need some sort of a visual...but i already know what im going to go play with today haha

 

[northmanlogging]

I have applied some techniques I have seen on some of these threads. Mainly the humbolt with a blocker stuck in one corner...that always seems to work for me. Actually I used the said method twice earlier this week, pretty nifty for sure.

There is a generation of men here that all went out West logging I think sometime in either the mid 50's or early 60's. It seems they are all around the same age. They are unfortunately leaving us at a fairly good pace...actually I have attended 5 of their funerals. It's a shame, those men always seemed to like me and would tell their story. When I used to log with a Belgian horse some of them would come out to the site and watch me skid ERC...they got kick out of it.

Thanks!

I believe its called a dutchmen block,

and old guys have the best stories, mostly cause they lived through it.

 

[OlympicYJ]

Twochains. My great uncle would have been one of those guys. He did some logging out here and then went back to AR and cut "pupwood." I really liked uncle Bob. He passed a year or two ago.