Big bucks...I mean really big bucks

woodworkingboy

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Some pictures posted of extremely large trees being bucked, it has me wondering on the method(s), so as to not get the bar stuck. Those huge trees sitting directly on the ground, a little settling and it seems that you could be stuck good. Wedge on top...half and half?

Jerry...Burnham...new dood?


Thanks.
 
Yes to wedges I would say.

When I am bucking large wood I always have some within reach.

To cut I usually will start on top and cut about 1/3 to 1/2 deep, then draw the bar out at full speed just before the tip exits the cut, I will angle the bar downward and plunge all the way thru leaving a strip of holding wood in the center, then cut all the way to the bottom. Once thru the bottom, bring the bar back up and cut thru the holding strap left in the center.

It sounds like a lot of work and maybe unnecessary, but it works really well. With some practice you'll hardly ever get the bar stuck. I use the technique almost anytime I buck logs larger than 30".
 
Depending on whether and how it's bound, I go in at the top, bar parallel with the ground and drive the tip down till it's pretty much vertical and I'm halfway through. Sometimes I set a wedge up top at the point. Then i come back up and start down with the gut of the bar till I'm almost through the remaining half. Then i trigger it from the bottom.

Straight out of Gerry's book pretty much. Rarely ever get stuck.
 
I ream to prevent binding, and damage to the log.

edit: I'm only working with maybe 4' wood at the most, so not huge, but reaming has worked well for me.
 
With large diameter stuff you're helped out a little because there's more room to work so to speak. As in even if the cut binds at the top it might not be pinched a little ways below.

Here's a cool bucking cut:


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Gord, I just took the arbormaster chainsaw course with Thor, he showed a cut he called the hollywood square, intentionally leaving the center as the holding wood, is that the idea that the guys in the vid had or was it just happenstance that it worked out that way?
 
That's a standard bucking cut as I know it Paul, minimizing fiber pull and the possibility of slabbing.
 
It probably wouldn't have worked too well in that vid, but would reaming from the bottom up be a viable option in big timber?
 
You saw the bar back and forth, widening the kerf as much as possible. Just like it sounds, you "ream it out."
 
Just as Butch said. Say you have a log that is supported on both ends and you want to buck in the middle. As you saw down through, the top of the kerf will start to close, you withdraw the bar almost completely, and plunge it back in. Eventually, the top of the kerf will close, and the risk of binding the saw will be eliminated. You can then saw through the bottom of the log without slabbing or damaging it.
 
I do that all the time but have never had a name for it. I am not sure I want start telling people how to "ream logs."

What I do on really big logs, 3' diameter plus, is to climb on top and make all of the off side cuts first. That is I cut the far third of the log, so that when I make the release cut I do no have the full bar in the piece and can stand at a safe distance.
 
Reaming seems like more work than a regular bucking cut. Once you're used to making them they're second nature and you feel out where the tension is as you're making the cut and adjust how you finish accordingly. Here's a video, the faller is just finishing the cut (starting at 0:35) and cutting according to the kerf pinching on a log that would be hard to guess exactly where the tension is.

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My diagram sucks but with a log supported at both ends, this is an end view of how i would buck it. With my saw on top, I would reach over and buck the far side (red) first. Then i would cut about 1/3 of the way down from the top (blue). then i would pull the tip of my bar back and cut down (yellow) to around the halfway point where i would plunge back through into the red and finish cutting down through the rest of the green. Last thing to do would be to back bar the white area up untill it releases
 

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