i would only be inline with the axis of the hinge (behind), when i'm sure it is good wood and it is going the other way. i guess i top diffrent than i cut trees down, the top is younger and more 'elastic' to me (thinking mostly of pines). And some stuff size and lean wise i can have total control over. i know i'm not no hot shot, tree jockey, getting 'cheap' thrills (Oxymoronic usage?) that i don't want any more pull twanging crossways across the top of the spar as possible, so i try to release with minimum force at the strongest point (to me) of the spar (down into it rather than across).
i try to get the top to release early, forced by its own balance, pulling line, sometimes pushing to the target. i cut a hinge in almost 1/2 way then eliminate wood from the sides of the backcut, but before i make the finishing backcut, just leaving a narrower block of fibre leading from the back of the tree to the center of the hinge(all the way back to the most leveraged position agianst the hinge, providing most security from top falling into hinge.). Then i want my 020 for most of them, i look at the combination of the speed of the saw, and the reduced fibre to cut in the final, releasing back cut as setting myself up with as high a speed coming thru as possible. i can always make the cut go slower by backing off the trigger, now i have set up the conditions for the most wideband control of speed possible, by tweaking the ceiling of the speed end of the band. So i take that into the backcut, right in line with the 2 pre-backcuts on the sides
Then, if i can i try to get the top to launch and seperate @1:00 or so, i think that the resultant kick goes down through the pillar strength of the spar at that point, rather than the spar seperating as it flows through angles that would push, pull (from 2:00 - 4:00) with their 'opposite and opposing reactions' across the most leveraged point against the tree's anchoring. i don't have to deal with Rog.'s anti spinning efforts to save lumber though.
Also, i feel that when it launches early it has minimum force, than after it has traveled on hinge some, gathering momentum. On the ground, when i make a tree hang on a hinge longer it depends more on the stump for anchoring. So i wouldn't try to 3:1 leverage a tree really slowly over that had a weakened root structure. Also in rigging the more i use the holding wood of the hinge for manipulation and control of the load, the farther out i come from my final finishing cut (on trims) so that the deeper disturbed fibre doesn't flow ito the parent connection (at finishing cut). So, to me it would follow,that the more you use a hinge, the more it pulls etc. on it's anchor, as it ushers the load. So if i'm standing on said anchor, i try to think of it like that.
So i try to tip the top over to where i know it is committed as i start the final backcut, and then fly threw cut, with the fastest saw, going through the least amount of fibre possible, getting a clean seperation. Thinking of balanced tops, from side to side across the hinge.
i think at that point i am at minimum force, delivered down the srongest axis of the spar (down rather than across). All situations don't fit that, but that is what i try to draw to. At any rate, IMAO having the backcut set with minumum fibre for release and fast saw, should give you most speed control to release the top as you see fit, and play with all these theories, finding what yu have a feel and understanding for.
i try to take that minimimized force, and any 'recoil', and try to 'hang in the air' seperately from the spar with my body (any body at rest.........), and slow down, or dampen any kick in the spar with my arm(s) and puny body. When i get this all going right, that is about nil (the 'recoil'!).
Sometimes on tops i will use a kerf facecut/notch, or kerf with slight lip cut off at the end (to allow a definite amount of easier tipping to face), and with enough of it's own or our provided pull, make my pre-backcuts from the side and fly through the final backcut when i'm ready to make the kerf slam shut and the top to jump out farther, maybe over flowers, or over a fence and down hill to the truck! In some situations (keep ground guys out of the way, help there pull etc.), when everything is right i will help push from behind. In this 'hopping' procedure, sometimes the more force the better (Don't let'em flex the spar over near you), so i might help with behind push for max. jump.
I've down it Brian's way too, kinda like a timing of catching the kickback and setting it against the recoil, quite a touch sometimes! But, i seem to find the minimum recoil in the sizes i deal with from tipping it forward what i have to, and flying thru the wood immediately, for that total clean release,with no "kickback' , like that you get when you drop a branch or log straight,flat down with an immediate, timed release, flying through the cut.
i try to get the top to release early, forced by its own balance, pulling line, sometimes pushing to the target. i cut a hinge in almost 1/2 way then eliminate wood from the sides of the backcut, but before i make the finishing backcut, just leaving a narrower block of fibre leading from the back of the tree to the center of the hinge(all the way back to the most leveraged position agianst the hinge, providing most security from top falling into hinge.). Then i want my 020 for most of them, i look at the combination of the speed of the saw, and the reduced fibre to cut in the final, releasing back cut as setting myself up with as high a speed coming thru as possible. i can always make the cut go slower by backing off the trigger, now i have set up the conditions for the most wideband control of speed possible, by tweaking the ceiling of the speed end of the band. So i take that into the backcut, right in line with the 2 pre-backcuts on the sides
Then, if i can i try to get the top to launch and seperate @1:00 or so, i think that the resultant kick goes down through the pillar strength of the spar at that point, rather than the spar seperating as it flows through angles that would push, pull (from 2:00 - 4:00) with their 'opposite and opposing reactions' across the most leveraged point against the tree's anchoring. i don't have to deal with Rog.'s anti spinning efforts to save lumber though.
Also, i feel that when it launches early it has minimum force, than after it has traveled on hinge some, gathering momentum. On the ground, when i make a tree hang on a hinge longer it depends more on the stump for anchoring. So i wouldn't try to 3:1 leverage a tree really slowly over that had a weakened root structure. Also in rigging the more i use the holding wood of the hinge for manipulation and control of the load, the farther out i come from my final finishing cut (on trims) so that the deeper disturbed fibre doesn't flow ito the parent connection (at finishing cut). So, to me it would follow,that the more you use a hinge, the more it pulls etc. on it's anchor, as it ushers the load. So if i'm standing on said anchor, i try to think of it like that.
So i try to tip the top over to where i know it is committed as i start the final backcut, and then fly threw cut, with the fastest saw, going through the least amount of fibre possible, getting a clean seperation. Thinking of balanced tops, from side to side across the hinge.
i think at that point i am at minimum force, delivered down the srongest axis of the spar (down rather than across). All situations don't fit that, but that is what i try to draw to. At any rate, IMAO having the backcut set with minumum fibre for release and fast saw, should give you most speed control to release the top as you see fit, and play with all these theories, finding what yu have a feel and understanding for.
i try to take that minimimized force, and any 'recoil', and try to 'hang in the air' seperately from the spar with my body (any body at rest.........), and slow down, or dampen any kick in the spar with my arm(s) and puny body. When i get this all going right, that is about nil (the 'recoil'!).
Sometimes on tops i will use a kerf facecut/notch, or kerf with slight lip cut off at the end (to allow a definite amount of easier tipping to face), and with enough of it's own or our provided pull, make my pre-backcuts from the side and fly through the final backcut when i'm ready to make the kerf slam shut and the top to jump out farther, maybe over flowers, or over a fence and down hill to the truck! In some situations (keep ground guys out of the way, help there pull etc.), when everything is right i will help push from behind. In this 'hopping' procedure, sometimes the more force the better (Don't let'em flex the spar over near you), so i might help with behind push for max. jump.
I've down it Brian's way too, kinda like a timing of catching the kickback and setting it against the recoil, quite a touch sometimes! But, i seem to find the minimum recoil in the sizes i deal with from tipping it forward what i have to, and flying thru the wood immediately, for that total clean release,with no "kickback' , like that you get when you drop a branch or log straight,flat down with an immediate, timed release, flying through the cut.
