Need to cut a lodged tree...questions

[dancan]

It's a shame Gypo Logger hasn't been around lately , I'm sure he has a how to video .
Here's one of his that I could find .

[video=youtube;Z1cyp2OaV74]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cyp2OaV74&feature=player_profilepage[/video]

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

[video=youtube_share;72_8qGlQd6c]http://youtu.be/72_8qGlQd6c[/video]

 

[Stihls]

I'm an amateur tree farmer/firewood dude so I'm sure many 'ole timers and "experts" will try and convince you I'm wrong (and maybe I am). But I've dealt with many hung up trees just like that, and most of them quite a bit bigger than the overgrown sapling shown in that first video. Instead of the complex wedge cut, plunge cut and then hinge cut, all I would do is to cut directly under the tree at chest height to allow the tree to fold under its own weight and collapse down from where I cut it. The main safety item is to know what's up in the tree and if any widowmakers are likely to come down on your head. A rotten core that can break on you in unexpected ways as you cut into the tree is another wild card. But then you'll almost always detect that as you're cutting through the tree (but you still have to watch for the rotten core in the big branches overhead). If the tree is canted at a sufficient lean angle, then usually this makes the widowmaker issue less risky (because few to no branches are directly overhead).

And another advantage of not doing the wedge cut and plunge cut before making your hinge cut is that as you proceed through the tree with the simple hinge cut, the tree will move more slowly and give you more time to observe cues as to when the tree wants to move and which way it's gonna go. You just have to ensure your hinge cut is aligned properly so that the tree folds the way you want it to. I just did a medium sized oak this way that was blown over by Irene. Its stump was pryed up out of the ground and the tree was laying on another big oak. After cutting the tree and winching it off its stump, I had to make 4 consecutive hinge cuts (as I described previously) before she would finally break loose from her sister tree holdin' her up. Each hinge cut was predictable and the tree moved slowly as she started telling me when she was ready to move (and not cutting in a big hurry either) - giving me plenty of time to step out of the way before each felling step. Still don't completely eliminate the widowmaker branch scenario, but a vigilant eye, a clear escape path and a good sense of your own mortality will usually keep you above ground.

My $0.02 anyway, don't spend it all in one place.

 

[Sport Faller]

OK, I'm kindof drunk right now (bad day at work= savage thirst) but I watched 1:57 of the OP's video and what I saw was this:

A contestant on American Gladiators (not many other folks dress like that, Canadians excluded) decided to see how many small peices of firewood he could make within a 75' radius of a leaning tree, then did a cardio, over the shoulder tiny log toss

 

[Somesawguy]

It's a shame Gypo Logger hasn't been around lately , I'm sure he has a how to video .
Here's one of his that I could find .

[video=youtube;Z1cyp2OaV74]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cyp2OaV74&feature=player_profilepage[/video]

the sawing motion helps out when the chain is dull as a hammer.

 

[Stihls]

[video=youtube_share;72_8qGlQd6c]http://youtu.be/72_8qGlQd6c[/video]

My gawd, over 6 minutes of "instructional wisdom" on how to down a friggin' sapling? I hate to sound like just another dumb American/throw caution to wind tree "feller", but that guy takes the cake when it come to the whole Mr Safety schtick.

 

[Sport Faller]

My gawd, over 6 minutes of "instructional wisdom" on how to down a friggin' sapling? I hate to sound like just another dumb American/throw caution to wind tree "feller", but that guy takes the cake when it come to the whole Mr Safety schtick.

that guy gets -462 credability points for wearing an entire getup that looks like it might still have price tags on it

 

[Somesawguy]

That and the inch deep notch he put in the front to begin with. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Chris-PA]

My gawd, over 6 minutes of "instructional wisdom" on how to down a friggin' sapling? I hate to sound like just another dumb American/throw caution to wind tree "feller", but that guy takes the cake when it come to the whole Mr Safety schtick.

I think it's the suspenders.

 

[Sport Faller]

That and the inch deep notch he put in the front to begin with. :hmm3grin2orange:

Yep, If I'm going to watch an instructional video the guy, or gal, better look like mtsamloggit,randymac, gologit,metals406, or slowp, not some d-bag who has a Lawrence of Arabia neck shield on the back of his Robocop helmet

 

[LoggingEngineer]

A mature Roosevelt elk woulda had that pecker pole on the ground rubbing the velvet off his eye guards faster than captain safety did it!

 

[rwoods]

I'm just a self taught firewood hack. Due to lack of instruction and general ineptness I have done quite a bit of "fence posting" in the last thirty years (although I didn't know that is what it is called). I am not about to advise anyone to do this muchless give instructions beyond to say it is a good way to kill yourself and I don't routinely do it anymore. I don't hang trees as often as I used to do and when I do I just cut enough so I can yank it out with my truck if possible - I carry 200 plus feet of chain and 1" rope and no longer cut in inaccessible spots. I must add I never leave a cut tree hanging so sometimes you have to get creative/do what you have to do to neutralize the hazard you created, including getting help no matter how embarrassing or inconvenient it be. Ron

 

[Slamm]

A few photos down in this thread, I have photos of some situations that happen and then got "unhappened", LOL.

http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/147985-32.htm

Sam

 

[Birdhunter1]

About 3:30 into that first video is where I would have hooked a tractor to it and pulled it down/apart/out etc. If i couldn't get my tractor near enough to do it that way I would leave it to nature as around my place it would be in a very steep hard to get to place or deep in the woods and not in danger of falling into something it would hurt.

Around here we don't have any flat timber ground. If it is flat, or at least semi flat, or what we call tillable acres it was long ago cleared and farmed. Timber ground around here is hills.

 

[Chris-PA]

I must add I never leave a cut tree hanging so sometimes you have to get creative/do what you have to do to neutralize the hazard you created, including getting help no matter how embarrassing or inconvenient it be. Ron

Well, any hazards I create are in my own woods, and I notice mother nature's usually been at work creating a few too. I see no problem letting a dangerous one work itself out the same way she does. If it falls before it rots I'll burn it then, but in the mean time nobody said the woods were totally safe. On somebody else's land it would be different story, but I don't do that.

 

[056kid]

I want to see the instructional video for the teeter totter stuck way up between a double with no escape routes. Situations where you have a tree lodged up like that can be exhilarating!

 

[chilly460]

Took a look at it last night, quite a mess. The tree is leaning at a 10-15* angle and not really hung up yet, so trying to cut it conventionally would just hang it....trying to cut it off the stump to drag it down its still vertical enough to easily roll as it falls due to a big imbalance in limbs. House is easily in reach if it rolls off the other tree. Finally, don't think I want to try a 28" hardwood as my first hung up tree.

 

[derwoodii]

Escape route planned? or dont get in harms way.

[video=youtube;bRwkL7Nd9ys]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRwkL7Nd9ys&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[Marky Mark]

Yep the good old Gypo Logger, he's doing well prospecting for gold. He certainly knew how to flip a buck with minimal dollar out of pocket. At the end of the day he's one helluva faller. Just ask Tommy Fales and Dennis Cahoon. opcorn:

 

[pioneerguy600]

Yep the good old Gypo Logger, he's doing well prospecting for gold. He certainly knew how to flip a buck with minimal dollar out of pocket. At the end of the day he's one helluva faller. Just ask Tommy Fales and Dennis Cahoon. opcorn:

I didn`t get to meet up with Gypo on my trip out his way but I did get to inspect some of his work just outside Haines Junction where he was felling black spruce in a selective cut situation. The site was very tidy and the stumps showed me someone, that knew what they were doing was working there.