Another training/recert with D. Douglas Dent

[Burnham]

Hard to believe it's been two years since I started that other thread sharing pics from my last recert under Dent....time flies when you're growing old .

The weather was not ideal, drizzle all day, pretty cool too, in the upper 40's. Not the best for picture-taking.

I'm seeing a changing of the guard...in the last two years several of the most highly skilled sawyers on my Forest have retired. There were quite a few new, younger faces this time around, felling before Dent for the first time. Lordy, I can clearly recall how intimidating that can be. Anyway, I was disappointed in the overall quality of the cutting. Several are going to have bring their A game today or tomorrow to get passed.

I did pretty well, no requirement for multiple falls for him to evaluate, so I'm done, good to go for another 2 years.

One quick story y'all will enjoy, I hope, then some pics.

When Doug Dent drove into the parking lot Monday for the classroom segment in his jacked up 4x4 Suburban a bunch of us where standing around drinking coffee and waiting on him to arrive. He jumps down out of his rig and starts making the rounds, greeting those of us he's trained for years.

Shortly he works around to me...sees me in a knot of guys and says to the crowd in general, "Here's the goddamn guy I've been hearing about when I was back in Colorado! They tell me there's this hots..t FS cutter out in Oregon who really knows his stuff. Then they showed me his picture off that internet thing and I''ll be f..ked if I don't know that guy. It's you, Burnham!"

Turns out somebody he knows came across the TreeHouse, followed some threads and showed him some of my posts about felling and such. Man, I was worried...I figured he was really going to pour the challenge to me, either verbally all through the class, but at least give me a mother of a tree to fall later on. That would not have been out of character .

So I made an attempt at pre-empting that by telling him that I learned all I know from him, that if I was any good at it it was due to his skill at teaching me, and that I really only looked smart in comparison the the bulk of the general population of tree guys because only 3 out of 10 understand the basic physics of timber falling, how hinges work, etc., etc.

He took that all in and sorta nodded his head like he was thinking about it and might agree...and didn't hound me at all. But I did end up with a beeotch of a badly decayed snag to fall. I'll share more on that later.

This first batch is my friend Floyd. He got a straightforward tree, and did a decent, workmanlike job on it.

 

[Burnham]

Another set.

 

[wiley_p]

I thought you said the man had mellowed. Yeah the young guys had better bring the best they got, or they won't get a go.

 

[wiley_p]

By the by Burnham, I would like to incorporate somehow old D into our falling module since I'm basing it on the "c" faller cert from S-212. Any bone you could throw in that regard would be good.

 

[Burnham]

This was a pretty good sized tree, a moderate head leaner of about 50 inches. Double cut the face, bore from the face to set up the offside hinge and then gut that side out, finish with a normal dogged in swinging back cut and let her fly. Made a good thump.

 

[Burnham]

By the by Burnham, I would like to incorporate somehow old D into our falling module since I'm basing it on the "c" faller cert from S-212. Any bone you could throw in that regard would be good.

Drop me a pm, Dave. Let me know what you're looking for.

 

[Blinky]

Thanks B, those are great shots.

 

[stig]

What is the idea with those wide open facecuts?
Normally I rarely go for more than a 45 degree angle on the upper face cut. The more you cut along the fibers, the longer it takes.
Is it to prevent splitting the end of the log?

 

[Burnham]

Another nice sized Doug fir. This young fella thought he was going to show some chops, but y'all know about best laid plans and all that...he's back today cutting again. He didn't do a bad job, just rough.

 

[Burnham]

What is the idea with those wide open facecuts?
Normally I rarely go for more than a 45 degree angle on the upper face cut. The more you cut along the fibers, the longer it takes.
Is it to prevent splitting the end of the log?

To keep the hinge functioning longer, so the tree is closer to the ground as directed to the lay by the hinge before the hinge breaks. The more momentum the tree has built before the hinge breaks, the less likely brushing another tree crown is to divert it from the intended direction of fall.

 

[stig]

Since your trees are about 30 to 50% taller than what I usually work with, that makes perfect sense.
Normally I'd only do a face like that if I was trying to swing a tree perpendicular to the lean, for that same reason, to keep the hinge working as long as possible.
Reason I asked was, sometimes things are done in a certain way out of regional tradition, without anybody thinking about why.
So I was wondering if you did all trees like that, or just the tricky ones. Now I know, thanks.
Stuff like that has interested me a lot, since I started travelling and finding out about local logging practises.

 

[Burnham]

The tree I ended up with was not large...a snag, badly deteriorated, and I mean BADLY.

It's really my fault I ended up with it...Doug assigned me a different tree, dead but with sound wood. A simple tree. But I pointed out the bad snag in the stand, within strike distance of the first tree's base. I offered the opinion that I should look at the snag to see if it seemed sound enough not to be dislodged by the fall of the larger one.

Well, it was badly rotten, just punk, over 50 percent of the diameter was just crumbs. So I had to fall it first.

I faced it up about 30 degrees away from the head lean, which was not heavy, because that's where the worst wood was. If I'd faced it directly to the lean one end of the hinge would have been in much sounder wood than the other. I suspected that then would swing the tree into a couple of nearby large Dougs, causing the snag to break apart and send chunks all over.

So I told Dent all that, then faced it...and ended up with such rotten wood in the hinge area that I knew there was no way it would function at all. So I told him when I back cut it the hinge was going to fail and the tree go off directly to the head lean...but not pull into the standing green trees. Exit route was set in a good place for all this, and I warned all that that the hinge was likely to fail and the tree go "right there".

That's exactly what happened.

And he was pleased with the job I did, notwithstanding the tree fell sideways to the face. I was pleased too, because everything I foresaw and called ahead of time came to pass. I looked pretty smart, for a "f..king internet expert". When I asked him if he wanted me to fall the first tree now, he grinned and said that I ought to let one of the younger guys have a go at it .

No one takes pics of the photographer , but here's the stump.

 

[SkwerI]

What's with the sloping back cut? I thought you could only do that with a Poulan Wild Thang.


F..king internet experts. :roll:

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool beans, B. It appears ya'll passed a good time!

 

[Burnham]

Since your trees are about 30 to 50% taller than what I usually work with, that makes perfect sense.
Normally I'd only do a face like that if I was trying to swing a tree perpendicular to the lean, for that same reason, to keep the hinge working as long as possible.
Reason I asked was, sometimes things are done in a certain way out of regional tradition, without anybody thinking about why.
So I was wondering if you did all trees like that, or just the tricky ones. Now I know, thanks.
Stuff like that has interested me a lot, since I started travelling and finding out about local logging practises.

I always try to have a reason to do something with the saw. If nothing else, it makes the work so much more interesting to analyze what, how, when, for these things.

 

[Burnham]

What's with the sloping back cut? I thought you could only do that with a Poulan Wild Thang.


F..king internet experts. :roll:

Uhhh...camera angle?

 

[GASoline71]

Always enjoy these threads Burnham ol' buddy...

I really miss cuttin'. I have only had one decent cuttin' job since my back injury. Prolly a good thing... but I do miss it.

Gary

 

[Gord]

Cool pics Burnham. What's the Mr.Dent word on undercut depth? Most of those look deeper than what I'd expect.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Burnham, would you advise that a low to even back cut, enhances the tree falling faster to drive through another trees limbs, or would it tend to defeat the purpose of the wider face? Thanks.

Much enjoy your pics and descriptions.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Wonderful pics Burnam... These threads of yours are always top notch. Thanks!

 

[squisher]

That's cool Burnham thanks for taking the time.

Gord I beleive Dent is down with the 1/3rd rule, but yah they look like a good 1/3 to me.

 

[Stumper]

I pulled that same stunt with a boxelder on the bluff on Monday. I faced it to throw it side hill looked at the lean and thought "stinking boxelder is gonna break into the downhill lean.... and it did but in that vine enshrouded jungle too steep to stand in without my descent line from the top to hold me up I really didn't care-. As a matter of curiosity can a student bypass a cut or some other faux pas in making the face and still salvage their grade/certification by taking the time to trim it out/square things up/ eliminate a dutchman etc? I ask because I wind up dressing a LOT of my faces.

 

[lumberjack]

...I wind up dressing a LOT of my faces.

Couldn't tell from the looks of ya.

 

[Stumper]

Duh. You can't see the mangy fur coat?

 

[sotc]

3rd pic shows some correction