That Coos Bay felling cut again!

[Burnham]

During my day in the snow felling trees to widen the X-C ski trail I took out this little bowed over silver fir.

It was too small to bore the back cut, and was so heavily loaded up with snow that I knew I'd be unlikely to get a face cut in it without pinching my bar.

So I didn't put in my version of the Coos Bay, but rather followed the Mike Davis/Jerry Beranek method.

A third the diameter kerf on one side with the bar parallel with the lean, then the same on the other side. Then go hell for leather from the back side. You can bet your azz I commited the minimum amount of bar neccessary for the back cut, keeping as far away as I could.

I only got a couple-three inches into the back cut when she popped like a cap gun...launched forward several feet, but no barberchair.

It worked like a charm. Thanks, Jer.

A few pictures, not the best. First one is the tree itself, second I'm putting in the first side cut, third is the stump, taken from the back side.

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[gf beranek]

Boy, judging by the lean and all that snow I'd say that twig was under some tension!!! Brutal work conditions, Burnam. Too cold for me. Guess you're used to it.

Well, glad it worked out for you.

 

[squisher]

Great pic of the stump Burnham, thanks for sharing as usual. That's really helped me put this cut together in my head.

Ahh winter in the bush, for me wintertime brought some of the worst as well as the best working conditions. Heh no bugs!

 

[gf beranek]

No bugs sounds good

 

[Burnham]

Boy, judging by the lean and all that snow I'd say that twig was under some tension!!! Brutal work conditions, Burnam. Too cold for me. Guess you're used to it.

Well, glad it worked out for you.

You got it, Jerry. Huge compression on the lean side. It was LOUD when it popped.

I've worked outside in cold weather for nearly 30 years...too many, perhaps. My hands have gotten frost nipped enough times that now they are awfully suseptible to the cold. I'm used to wearing the right clothing and outers for working in that kind of weather, but it's very hard to manage for my hands any more. I ought to get a saw with heated handles.

 

[gf beranek]

It was a perfect candidate for it. Too small to back bore and attempting an undercut would have been a lesson in who's faster.... you pulling the saw out or the tree setting down.

I often wonder how the cold affects the wood. It never gets that cold here. Does the wood ever actually freeze? Is it more brittle when it's that cold?

Don't mean to derail here. Maybe I should ask by starting a new thread.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Burnham or anyone, have ya'll tried out these gloves? You blow into them? They seem like a good idea to me.

 

[squisher]

Dang not to derail Burnham, but once you get heated handles there's no going back. My hands suffered lots in the bush, that's the weaklink for sure. I always strived to keep an extra set of gloves tucked up in my armpits or down my pants , that way you always have a warm pair if the hands reach condition critical.

Like I said some of the best but also some of the worst.

Next chance I get I'm gonna be trying this cut out. Thanks again for the pics. From the looks of what broke off that stump no doubt she must have been loud.

 

[Burnham]

It was a perfect candidate for it. Too small to back bore and attempting an undercut would have been a lesson in who's faster.... you pulling the saw out or the tree setting down.

I often wonder how the cold affects the wood. It never gets that cold here. Does the wood ever actually freeze? Is it more brittle when it's that cold?

Don't mean to derail here. Maybe I should ask by starting a new thread.

Jerry, I have heard that trees can freeze, but I don't really know. It doesn't seem likely that the moisture in a live tree could actually be completely ice...but I don't live in Siberia or central BC, so maybe???

For certain though, wood is more brittle when it is very cold. It doesn't hinge quite as well, and is more prone to splitting, ala barberchairing.

Burnham or anyone, have ya'll tried out these gloves? You blow into them? They seem like a good idea to me.

Never seen them before...might be a good thing, spendy, but warm hands would be worth a pretty penny. I do wonder if introducing moisture (from your breath) inside your gloves might be counter-productive over the longer term.

 

[GASoline71]

Sweet job Burnham... I bet that sounded like a gun going off when it popped. Lots of weight on that baby due to the snow.

Gary

 

[JIML]

You know I first saw this cut here and thought, "hell ill never use that"...
Then I saw the picture of the tree all bowed over and got to thinking.

I worked an ice storm a year ago or so. We got called out to cut some stuff off the line. Probably 10-12 sasafrass or ash trees, skinny tall bean poles. 6-8" dbh that were bowed over onto a stacked 3 phase. Line was dead, so I thought I would just cut them and let them slide down and land parallel to the line. First one I was just going to put a little under cut in it, I got maybe a half inch in and was pinched. Smooth move slick haha. Got the 200 and just touched the back side, barber chaired big time. I ended up just cutting them and every one barber chaired violently!! Thinking back, if I had known this cut then I could have used it and it would have probably been alot safer!

 

[Burnham]

Sounds like that would have been a perfect situation for this felling cut, Jim.

 

[pantheraba]

Burnham,

Thanks a million for showing how you did it and how it worked. The stump picture does help. All very instructional.

Thanks, Gerry, for passing along this info to all of us.

 

[JIML]

Sounds like that would have been a perfect situation for this felling cut, Jim.

After I cut the first couple of them, I found that the safest place to stand while cutting them was pretty much in the path of where they were going to fall. They came down slow since they brushed the line but they would shoot back at me standing to the side or the back... so basically right next to them but in front kinda was the best spot to be.

 

[JamesTX]

Burnham or anyone, have ya'll tried out these gloves? You blow into them? They seem like a good idea to me.

What about those chemical heat packs you can get at WalMart? The ones you shake and they react with the oxygen - I've used those in hunting and they work great. Just put one down your gloves.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Apples and oranges, James.

 

[Stumper]

Neat report Burnham.

Trees don't really freeze-that would rupture cell walls and wreak havoc on the system.They supercool. -The proper constituents in the sap for cold weather allow some species to tolerate temps far below zero without freezing.

 

[wiley_p]

So frost cracks in Spruce, Hemlock, Pine are a result of what then Dr. Stumper. Why don't plastic wedges work in the "non" frozen wood? Curious, I grew up in interior AK and it sure seems like wood can do something pretty damn close to freezing if not outright textbook froze.

 

[stig]

Back when I first started logging in Denmark, before global warming started, we had some pretty severe winters around here. Sometimes at work, when the saws weren't making noise, one would hear a sound like a rifle being fired. That would be an ashtree splitting from the cold.
Today, with winters here being mostly muddy, one never hears that sound, but we can still see the overgrown frost-splits when we fall old ashtrees.
Felling hardwoods like beech and ash in extreme cold, one has to be really gentle when laying them out, or they'll splinter to tothpicks. No good ,when you're being paid by the amount of logs you cut.

 

[pantheraba]

Felling hardwoods like beech and ash in extreme cold, one has to be really gentle when laying them out, or they'll splinter to tothpicks. No good ,when you're being paid by the amount of logs you cut.

That is an interesting thought...I'm glad it does not get that cold here in Georgia.

Welcome to the TreeHouse, Stig.

 

[gf beranek]

Thanks for the insight, Stig. I often wonder how the cold affects the tree, wood and all. I really glad it doesn't get that cold here.

Oh, you should be getting a parcel very soon.

 

[fallguy1960]

Four years ago I was in Northern Minnesota for the deer hunting opener the temp got do to 15 below that morning. Before that the coldest temps had been about 10*F. That morning the aspen trees were poping till about 8:00 after the sun started to warm them a little. That is why tell old timers called these tree's Popple.

 

[Jamin Mayer]

Back when I first started logging in Denmark, before global warming started,

Ha You must be real old.:what:

Click on confused face above.

 

[Jamin Mayer]

This may be a stupid question, but here it goes: Do any loggers have the need to carry a small trim saw? If I come into a small diameter leaning tree, I find that a mid-sized saw (and bar) are too fat to plunge. So, I just use my MS200T. I can't tell from the photo. Would it have been doable with a MS200T? Just curious.

Can someone make a picture drawing of the technique you're describing. I can't visualize it.