Personally I wouldn't use aluminum carabiners for rigging or pulling.
Stig, thanks. point taken!
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Hi Robert, couple changes I would make. First, yes, steel biners for rigging. Second, and more importantly, I would have taken the pull line through the redirect block, and then joined onto it with the Maasdam rope. If you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed more pull, but the line couldn't go through a redirect, then you would be stuck. So whenever you are joining lines together, make sure they join on the side of the block that allows for more pull, rather than less. Hope that makes sense. I still need to email you my quote sheets that you asked about, don't let me forget... Peace.
Patrick
Patrick, thanks for taking another look and seeing my pull line was through the redirect block -- ha, I was getting confused
.... and thanks! ... yes, sir, I will remind you.... Actually I downloaded your quote sheet.... I was just wondering if you filled these out online (e.g. with editable PDF) or just print them off blank and fill them out by hand. Thanks!
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Sean,
You have been (I think) the most detailed and practical help to me on this site. (still haven't forgotten the white rattle cans to touch up my truck with).
And I know you have seen a lot so your warnings/advice make an impact.
People get excited about cutting, heart racing, frustration building if not hitting the face-cut right, etc, etc, and judgment goes out the window. Too often, people are hot on the throttle, and didn't bring the wood glue for when they overcut. They are in the heat of the moment trying to judge their hinge location and thickness, rather than working with some pre-planned marks.
That was me exactly here. And I started off intending to be very careful and methodical.
I'm going to print off this whole thread and keep it as a reminder... especially your comments/advice/warnings in this post and your later post.
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Kenny,
Thanks for taking the time to reply with all the detail.
I have always liked/loved/admired math and physics and the way they work together (Newtonian/mechanical physics?) ... so I feel like I almost begin to understand where you are coming from.
I've read through both your posts a couple of times, but plan to read/study them again along with the other posts people have been kind enough to post in this thread.
.... I have a question about the 2nd one I'll ask at the end if you see it later and have time to answer.
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Maasdam as it is has always pulled it's weight, no issues. I prefer screw shackles for rigging. At least 2 ton WLL is nice. I like simple, straight forward setups.
Thanks Peter, for your validation of Maasdam and screw shackles.
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I don't think there's a bit I can add to Sean's first post...very comprehensive, much in line with my own thinking, most especially his first paragraph.
My word, Robert...if you can't make a felling cut any better than that, you need to find another avenue for your energy. That one sucks the hairiest of moose lips, bro

. More to the point, you are on the cusp of breaking valuable infrastructure or hurting, maybe killing, someone or yourself.
Others have made valuable points for you to take to heart. But that stuff is all around the edges, frankly. I know I'm coming on pretty strongly, but you need to hear this, my friend. You are not up to this game in skills, yet. Not by a long shot. And I say this with only your welfare, and that of those around you, in mind.
It's been said many a time, by me and by others...the hinge directs the tree to the lay...nothing else, short of a rocket propelled skid steer ala Mr. Murphy

, can make a pull line direct a tree.
Mr. Burnham,
it is great for you to reply to my thread.
You have seen more than just about anyone here in The Treehouse, no doubt, so your words, especially of warning, should be, and are especially weighty.
So when I print out this thread, I will probably print your comments out by themselves and post them somewhere in my house and maybe in my shop and in my truck to be a reminder to me! Thanks a lot and best wishes, sir.
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Use the truck, why bother with a little hand winch?
Mick,
Well taken, My thoughts are: more precise control; in this case just trying to prove the concept; and there may be a situation where I can't use the truck.
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I agree with Sean, Burnham, and Mick. Always choose the simplest solution/option. Especially when you are still trying to learn. Your cutting and understanding of it are what you need the most work on. It is the foundation for all the rest.
Thanks DMc.
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Interesting to me to read at least two different, very comprehensive, approaches to the same situation and then other various suggestions too. The phrase, more than one way to skin a cat comes to mind.
And even the counsel to come up with another vise/pastime to kill yourself. Lots of ways to kill oneself.

Looks like your having fun Bob.
Thanks Merle
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Cutting a good face takes patience, judgment, and time. Cutting a good face-cut like its easy, making people think that there is nothing to it, takes skill and experience on top of judgment and patience.
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It was New Guy-YouTube video Tree Service 101, no offense intended.
Sean, you are exactly right .... "New Guy-YouTube video Tree Service" ... I was thinking I could cut a face cut like August Hunicke, making it look easy (although I really was trying to be slow and exact and precise).
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GP, great point... yeah I stopped watching those... but I do like watching Buckin' some. As I recall he is clean-mouthed... and August Hunicke likes him which starts me off liking him.
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I don't like very much the way which the carabiner holds the maasdam's boddy. The biner doesn't sit on the transversal pin like the original hook, but hangs between the recessed sides of the link. That tends to spread apart the sides with a huge force and that's never good.
The side lean of the tree isn't responsible of the target miss, but your tilted hinge is.
From the pics, the sidelean doesn't seem monstrous and your hinge appears correctly aimed (the middle of the log in front). If you did cut it well leveled, the tree would have fallen short off your target's right, by about the amount of the side lean. Here, you got much more than that because the rotational axis was tilted toward the wrong side, so the trajectory plan followed it to the right.
Try to visualize that by moving your head, miming the tree's path :
- head straight, look in front of you, move your head down like "yes". Now you see just between your feet. Like an usual tree fall.
- tilt your head sideway toward the left (like your jaw is your bad hinge). Then, the yes move, keeping your hears were they are. Now your sight is frankly toward the right. The tree followed that, regardless of its lean.
Actually, I use this to plane my cut if I have to fight a side lean or if I want to rotate an upward limb or a whole tree. For your tree, I would have tilted slightly the hinge the other way to get the tree on the log.
Marc-Antoine,
nice observation about the Maasdam carabiner twisting/not seating. I saw that too (either before or after) and decided to figure out something else for next time.
Thanks for your careful analysis of the notch and lean.
I tried your head tilt technique here in my office and I plan to test it out in the field. Thanks.
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Murphy,
Thanks for the post!
That is what I need to do is practice-practice-practice i.e. in "classroom" situation.
Will review your entire post after it is printed out.
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EVERYONE........Thank you for the WARNINGS, SCORN/CRITICISM and ENCOURAGEMENTS ..... they sort of balance out but more like a pyramid with warnings as the foundation.
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Kenny ===> if you see this, I have a question about your 2nd post, please -- the diagram. Thanks a lot for taking the time to create that.
Would you please explain where your get the "SWL" figure (Safe Working Load(?) .... 1/5 for rigging?) ... and what the "4k" means (4000?) and/or where it comes from? ..... with these explained I think I will 100% grasp what you are saying there. Thanks!
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next step to print out this entire thread (so far) and make multiple copies of Mr. Burnham's (and others'?) warnings.