When dropping a tree, what are you guys watching??
- Thread starter NYWoodsman
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
sand sock
ArboristSite Operative
I watch everything. I watch for branches wiggling. I watch for the kerf opening up. I watch for where my foot placement will be on my escape route. I watch for my planB escape route if something goes wrong. When it's definitely going to hit safely. I am watching where the canopy was and expect trash to be flying back at me, both from where it started and when it hits the ground. You may think that is paranoia, but I have seen it and expect it.
James Sawyer
ArboristSite Operative
Maintenance Supervisor story reminded me of the time when I was about 10 years old cutting alder on the river with my dad. On the weekends we worked these small logging jobs. He always ran Mac back then not sure if it was a 125 super pro accordioning to him... best saw of its day. He cut dutchmen sometimes to turn trees in to the lay. Doing so, the tree will sit down on your bar as it starts to turn for moment as its goes... it'll lift, freeing up your bar, and you got cut that hold wood off or it'll barber chair. Well, his clutch bell broke when the tree sat down. Dam tree started to barb chair. It was the end of the day his last tree and I was up the hill across the skid road on the other strip peeling some Chittum Bark. I heard the tree snap and looked up... just as the tree started breaking up. The saw was pinched and dam him instead of getting out of there, he kept trying to get his saw out. he got his saw and saved it from getting smashed but i think he was pretty lucky. 1st time, only time... I saw a real bad barber chair. Cutting Alder is high risk on barber chairing depending on the situation. As a kid that was a fun job because we blew those stumps hiding under the cat with fertilizer, diesel and dynamite but that another story.
I'm more curious why he didn't have a wedge on the far side as a backup, unless he misread the tree. Long/banana wedges driven sideways, not with the kerf, can act as supports for the main wedge(s) being driven, if not the main wedge.
I use the long wedges more often than the shorties. Shorties are good for a quick slip/hold, but I don't like using them unless needing a lot of lift quick.
Heavy wedge beater and a wedge with a good tip.
At the risk of trying to come across as high and mighty (I do not want to)… It’s best to avoid those situations, and in my experience trees sitting back hard are either in the wind or have too much lean or limb weight to overcome with wedges after you’re done a face and started your back cut. If it’s the wind, wait for it to change, wedge it over, and go home. Don’t take a chance on another. If it’s got a lot of back weight, you can put your back cut in first, wedge it straight, put your face in, and wedge it over.
Hatchville Homesteader
ArboristSite Member
I am constantly shifting my gaze from the cut to the canopy like crossing the street. You look left, you look right and then left again before crossing. Same with the back cut except I keep looking up and down until I see that she starts to move ...then I move away in the direction of my escape route.
first to prevent this, always and I mean always palm a wedge in as soon as there is room. that 1/4" of kerf translates to several feet at the top of a tree, and can be hell and a half to overcome.
you can use a nice pointy wedge and beat it into the existing kerf, but its a tough row to hoe.
If you have a spare saw handy (which you should at least have an extra bar and chain) then you can bore in just above or below the existing back cut, stuff a wedge in that kerf and beat it over with that, chances are the bar and chain will be perma pinched until the tree goes over, but I have stacked 5-6 wedges on one tree using this method... cottonwood too, took me the better part of 2 hours but it did eventually go the right way (i was called to bail out a home owner, one of them 24hr emergency service deals... was nearly full dark by the time I got packed up and headed home) FYI if its a BIG tree, this method is about useless. (also you have to have room to stagger the wedges if you intend to use multiples otherwise you just pinch the spar saw over the wedge... so use yer noodle a wee bit)
again if you have a spare saw/bar+chain, and a 20+ ton bottle jack (or 2) you can cut a jack seat out and use the jack to lift the tree over, do back it up with wedges though, and you will need an extra plate of steel to cover the narrow face of the jacks ram, otherwise it will just push into the wood, hell, might just push in with a plate too...
Trx250r180
Saw polisher
If cutting against the lean or into the wind I do the back cut first,set a wedge then face it, if the tree is set back on the bar,take the power head off the bar ,get another bar and cut the tree down again above the pinched bar,most of the time the bar lives
James Sawyer
ArboristSite Operative
Wedges 101 they do a lot...but there is limit and if it doesn't lift! Adding additional wedges if you have room sometime help but if you're in a situation where the top isn't moving at all you better have a plan especially if the top tied up. I've never been pinch on a setback always place a wedge earliest as I can. Sometimes you end up cutting a wedge, but I figure if in doubt my life is worth more than $12 for the wedge. But boy plates and a jack sure can do the work wedges can't... thou not as convenient to go get when we should have started with a jack. It's always good to made sure you have canopy movement before the hinge is all the way cut up. Timber jack are so nice to have but to expensive for me, my dad wife sold his jacks and grinder ASAP once he retired.
Unbolt the saw from the bar . Or if your life is in danger at this point run.
When in the woods, I usually just buck them off of the stump backwards & suffer the unsightly consequences.
That's what short logs are for right?
Or just get the machine to handle things..
That's what short logs are for right?
Or just get the machine to handle things..
I have yet to have it happen (knock on wood). Been precatious with the wedges. Just curious how others get the log on the ground at that point. Can't always get a machine to the spots and our crew has just had a discussion on investing in a jack. We are small fish atm
regular old bottle jacks work I have a pair of 25ton jacks, from Lowes, only needed both of em once. piece of 1/2" plat with a piece of pipe that slips over the ram and poof you have tree jacks that don't break the bank, annnnd will lift a dozer if you need it too.
As I mentioned before, don't mess with anything under 20 ton, even the 25 tons have been pushed over the limit more then once... if yer doing chin ups on the handle and its not moving...
my life would have been much simpler if I had discovered wedges many years ago, I always use one now and if I am not totally sure about the lean I use a bullrope and a comealong to make sure where it is going. I don't log for a living and I intend to keep on living.
fishdrivel
ArboristSite Operative
This is a very fun thread!
Memories. I was knocking down a 300 ft. Eucalyptus Globulus in California for a freind on a Saturday.
I brought an inexperienced friend to watch the (private ranch) rioad and make sure nobody drove in. The tree was in the clear and well higher than anything else around. Beautiful summer day with blue skies and no breeze. By the time I precision cut the notch and started on the back-cut, A breeze came up. I had a wedge in place and it was tight. Wind going the wrong way! I packed in some more wedges - I was committed! I cut verrrry carefully and continued to pound on tight wedges. I think I had 8 of them in by now. There came a point when I could cut no more. I could not wedge any more and I stepped back to watch the top and feel my a$$hole pucker. I watched and prayed and tried to look calm. My friend watching the road kept backing up until he was a 1/4 mile away!
While watching, the wind eased. The top stopped stirrind and I stepped to the trunk and pounded the center wedge a couple of times.The back-cut started to open up very slowly while I continued to pound wedges, fearing the breeze would come back. Tree started to fall and I stepped back to watch the monster die! When it hit, it was like a massive expolsion! Limbs flying everywhere and thankfully the top was 300 feet away! I celebrated, packed my gear and went home and consumed large amounts of beer. My friend never went to work with me again.....
Memories. I was knocking down a 300 ft. Eucalyptus Globulus in California for a freind on a Saturday.
I brought an inexperienced friend to watch the (private ranch) rioad and make sure nobody drove in. The tree was in the clear and well higher than anything else around. Beautiful summer day with blue skies and no breeze. By the time I precision cut the notch and started on the back-cut, A breeze came up. I had a wedge in place and it was tight. Wind going the wrong way! I packed in some more wedges - I was committed! I cut verrrry carefully and continued to pound on tight wedges. I think I had 8 of them in by now. There came a point when I could cut no more. I could not wedge any more and I stepped back to watch the top and feel my a$$hole pucker. I watched and prayed and tried to look calm. My friend watching the road kept backing up until he was a 1/4 mile away!
While watching, the wind eased. The top stopped stirrind and I stepped to the trunk and pounded the center wedge a couple of times.The back-cut started to open up very slowly while I continued to pound wedges, fearing the breeze would come back. Tree started to fall and I stepped back to watch the monster die! When it hit, it was like a massive expolsion! Limbs flying everywhere and thankfully the top was 300 feet away! I celebrated, packed my gear and went home and consumed large amounts of beer. My friend never went to work with me again.....
300' euc?
fishdrivel
ArboristSite Operative
Oh, yes!
Maybe small feet?
fishdrivel
ArboristSite Operative
I recognize that loggers cut the biggest trees and no arborist can have experience in big trees.
My apologies for posting on your board.
Ill leave you to feeling superior to gardeners, maintenance men, homeowners and firewood cutters.
I have already quit coming to this board. Please forgive me for entering your empire!
