Bore - wedges - rotten tree

Alex (my son) hasn't climbed since Katrina..he recently bought a house to rent out and found this tree that needed to come down...he decided to climb this one :what:. We checked for good wood and found plenty. We also guyed it with a 9/16 Stable braid. (yes, it was starting to get dark...runs in the family)

Once he limbed it and left the spar (about 45 feet) I had to decide how to keep it out of the street and primaries.

I decided to make a small face cut to maximize my hinge wood (I also set a pull rope with a tightening system - some call it a Z-drag). I then bore cut from the street side where the most wood was, to establish a hinge. I got a wedge into the street side of the bore cut and started cutting towards the back - away from the hinge. When able, I put in a second wedge, my thinking was to prevent a tendency to sit toward the street.

I slowly made the cut to trip the back cut and got a "pop" which told me I had tripped the back holding strap. I pounded the wedges but the hinge was still plenty strong. I took out the front wedge and inserted the saw and slowly cut into the hinge, parallel to the hinge.

Once the spar started a slow lean into my pull rope, I pounded a few more times and went and tightened the pull rope. I pulled more and the tree committed to the fall I wanted.

Now that it is all done, any ideas on another way to have done it?

Any comments on using wedges along with a bore cut?

My bore cut was a few inches above the base of the face cut...I figured that might make a stronger hinge....true?

Not enough pics!!! I can't tell nothing!

I don't quite get why you used wedges, when you had a rope to pull on?
Were you unsure about being able to hold the tree with the rope.
Apart from that, I would have done it the same way. Borecut and wedges is pretty much SOP for me and so is making the backcut over the face.
The thing about thinning the hinge from behind works really good, when you are pulling a spar by hand. Just have the groundies pull, and just before they give up and yell: "we can't move it" you start cutting hingewood away till the spar moves.
Gives you the absolute max hingestrenght for the job.

IMO a tag line set high enough will provide you with way more leverage than wedges, especially if the hinge wood is as dodgy as that one. Your notch is fine but I think I would have skipped all the fancy back cutting technique mumbo jumbo and just made a quick back cut and gotten away from the stump, then pulled it over with the tag line. All that extra time messing with the cut meant that you were underneath a rotten tree cut most of the way through for far too long.

Yep, you don't need em if you're using a rope.

I agree, while wedges won't hurt, they're of little need when you have a 3-1 (or was it 5-1) mechanical advantage. Same goes for the bore cut. I've never used it for back leaners, fail to see a reason for it. (Though this one prolly didn't lean back.)

I don't think there's any benefit to having a high backcut. however, it will result in a thinner hinge, laterally speaking, which, if there was decay in that plane, might be an advantage.

Looks find to me .The hinge held all the way to the ground thus directing the fall .

Everyone is pretty much right on. Too much fartin around at the stump. Face it up, cut it up and get out of there. Besides if one really needs the wedges a high backcut wrecks some of the lift by said wedges.

i only disagree with the small face cut as a general rule. looked like thats what had to be done with all the porcupine damage. id still use a wedge but depend on that pull rope more if it was a good one

Sometimes when I have guys on a rope pulling over a tree I slip a wedge in to keep from settling back as it is opening up. No pounding, I just slide it in as it is opening and I hardly stop cutting.

thats what i meant to, darin just says it better

I'm noticing a consistent pattern in all of your jobs, Gary. And I'm not picking on you, believe me. But it seems that you don't trust any of your gear or your abilities and create backup upon backup, paralyzing yourself from actually getting the job done in a reasonable timeframe. In this case you used three separate methods/approaches combined on one tree with minimal targets.

Next time you set a tag line in a tree, pull on the rope a few times and see just how much leverage you have. Pay attention to how far you can get the tree over with just one man pulling on the rope. If you can get the top of the tree over past the center of balance, that's all you need. Gravity works, use it. You had that tree rigged for a 20 degree back lean, in spite of the fact it was a spar with no brush left on it. You don't need to apply the most complicated, advanced techniques to the most basic trees. If the tree was already topped out and you only had a spar left, it should have been a 5 minute deal to flop it.

I hope I'm not out of line posting this. I'm honestly not sure whether to hit the 'submit reply' or 'delete' button. Hopefully you will see this in the spirit in which it is intended.

+1 what Brian said.

And I too want to emphasize that this is not a personal assault. You obviously have the abilities and knowhow, just learn to trust and believe in those abilities. You'll save yourself a lot of time and make more money too.

Skwerl said:

I'm noticing a consistent pattern in all of your jobs, Gary. And I'm not picking on you, believe me. But it seems that you don't trust any of your gear or your abilities and create backup upon backup, paralyzing yourself from actually getting the job done in a reasonable timeframe. In this case you used three separate methods/approaches combined on one tree with minimal targets.

Next time you set a tag line in a tree, pull on the rope a few times and see just how much leverage you have. Pay attention to how far you can get the tree over with just one man pulling on the rope. If you can get the top of the tree over past the center of balance, that's all you need. Gravity works, use it. You had that tree rigged for a 20 degree back lean, in spite of the fact it was a spar with no brush left on it. You don't need to apply the most complicated, advanced techniques to the most basic trees. If the tree was already topped out and you only had a spar left, it should have been a 5 minute deal to flop it.

I hope I'm not out of line posting this. I'm honestly not sure whether to hit the 'submit reply' or 'delete' button. Hopefully you will see this in the spirit in which it is intended.

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Excellent post. Good critique.

sotc said:

thats what i meant to, darin just says it better

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Darin's good at saying stuff.

Skwerl said:

I'm noticing a consistent pattern in all of your jobs, Gary. And I'm not picking on you, believe me. But it seems that you don't trust any of your gear or your abilities and create backup upon backup, paralyzing yourself from actually getting the job done in a reasonable timeframe. In this case you used three separate methods/approaches combined on one tree with minimal targets. .........

I hope I'm not out of line posting this. I'm honestly not sure whether to hit the 'submit reply' or 'delete' button. Hopefully you will see this in the spirit in which it is intended.

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First, Stig...yes, the wedge was because I wanted to be sure I had maximum control to prevent the tree from leaning towards the street..the rot was away from the street and I was a bit leery of it.

Skwerl....I don't consider it picking..if it is, that's OK, it's good info. You are very right...I am learning to trust my gear and skills. They develop slowly because I don't cut trees all the time like a lot of guys.

I don't know about minimal targets on this one...the 3 big high voltage wires had my attention mostly..if the rot was worse than I thought and the tree went 90 degrees from my intended lay I would have made a big mess.

The other part of this equation is that I did the spar on my lonesome. I was the cutter and the rope puller, too.

I do sometimes over-rig situations...it is partly a matter of learning to trust skills as they develop...it is also practicing techniques. Sometimes I will bore cut a tree that does not need it because I need the practice.

I appreciate y'all's feedback...there is good experience out there sharing it my way. It's all good.

If there were still targets, then why did your son stop cutting when he was up there instead of making 3-4 more cuts and bringing it down to where it would clear the wires?

Not trying to second guess, just asking the obvious questions I would ask myself before descending from the top of the tree.

pantheraba said:

The other part of this equation is that I did the spar on my lonesome. I was the cutter and the rope puller, too.

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Wait, where was Alex?

I noticed on that picture with the two wedged from the side angle, the hinge has cracked open just a bit.

you a good at working after dark Gary...nice

Mr. Sir said:

Wait, where was Alex?

I noticed on that picture with the two wedged from the side angle, the hinge has cracked open just a bit.

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Ha, I was wishing he was there....he cleaned the spar on a Monday and ran out of light, so left a pull rope in it.

I went back on Saturday as the rain moved in and worked on the spar. He was going to come help with the spar but had to do son-duty instead...three year olds can demand a lot of attention.

On the hinge opening...the pull rope was helping there I think...it was a 3:1. As it started working over I went and re-tightened the pull rope, wedged/cut some more and then did the final falling by pulling the spar over by hand...I Darin's notorious rope pulling ground crew.

No_Bivy said:

you a good at working after dark Gary...nice

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Hahaha...me and headlights are good friends.

John, what IS that avatar?

a "skep" from 1956, in the netherlands. A skep is the "old school" bee hive. The dude is turning it over looking at the comb and bees.....wild?

Hardto see well from the photo's but could you have felled it lower and used the buttress roots to extend any hinge that you can in a rotten tree? Not good in production felling because of fibre tearing but to get a tree over in different circumstances?

Husky D said:

Hardto see well from the photo's but could you have felled it lower and used the buttress roots to extend any hinge that you can in a rotten tree? Not good in production felling because of fibre tearing but to get a tree over in different circumstances?

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And that is why I like this forum...great question...I had not even thought of doing that...but I will next time. Thanks.

Or go higher to get into more solid wood. But it looked like that decay went up pretty high. Kind of a sketchy looking tree to climb, eh?