the stangle: a combination of the Humboldt and the slice cut

murphy4trees

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Bucket truck was maxed, reaching from the backyard to the side yard to take the top of this pine out. The object of the cut was to not damage the limbs in the adjacent pine. There was a very tight hole, so early separation was required. I set the cut up to trip on the pull line but had to be sure it was cut up enough to reliably trip with the pull line, as I wasn't wanting to go anywhere near it after the first cut and pull. I have used this cut several times, enough to understand it's limitations. I have trusted my life to this cut when on the hooks taking a larger sugar maple top, with long limbs on the backside. The distance the top moves before separation is adjusted by the width of the notch. If your life is on the line you need to make sure the back limbs are going to clear your overhead space before the notch closes, and account for both the forward momentum of the top and the push back of the top as the but starts to drop. It obviously has a potential for serious injury, so I AM not recommending the cut for others to use, just showing it for entertainment purposes. One thing to be aware of is that the hinge will not yield any directional control.

For a better look watch it in .25 speed.

 

You did this a coupla years back.
 
Why does it need a name? Plenty of people using it or variations of it already
 
Everything must be named, it's a human obsession! At least we aren't using binomial Latin for face cuts yet.
"At least we aren't!"!!!! What are you saying, man! At least we should START! Brilliant idea Sean. I'm ripping you off though. I'm gonna be the first. Right after I learn Latin. 😞
 
How did you deal with your lanyard circle of death when you "Stangled" the maple top on spurs? I had an Ash top do a "Stangle" motion past me when the hinge went away and in hindsight I was damn glad the butt didn't get inside my lanyard. It would've done me like a can opener. The branches brushed me a bit hard too even though the top wasn't very big.
 
I've had a salami cut race away on me up in the tree (no spurs)..as it went flying past a sticking out branch knocked me on the head and flipped me upside down...fortunately I had already decided NOT to use my lanyard thinking ahead of time that the cut might break sooner than I expected and I might have to duck the sticking out branch, I was already hunched as it let go but wow it went fast, no time to duck or move away...main line was nice and high and tight in another top so I just took a nice parabolic swing and recovered.
If I had put my lanyard on it would have arrested my flip and I would have taken the majority of the force through my neck...yeah would not have been good.

Cutting dead wood out of Monterey cypress...all the tops tangled no way to directional fell.
 
How did you deal with your lanyard circle of death when you "Stangled" the maple top on spurs? I had an Ash top do a "Stangle" motion past me when the hinge went away and in hindsight I was damn glad the butt didn't get inside my lanyard.
Of course you don't put yourself anywhere near the front of the hinge. Usually I'm on the side to be sure to align properly the cuts (you don't want a mismatch when the top closes the tiny notch and is ready to drop). If the lean is questionable or slightly backward (very slightly), I'm on the back to be able to push the top and put the lean in it ( the notch must be cut to take that in count). So I and the opening of the lanyard aren't in the way of the pointy butt. Even more, most of the time I choke my climbing rope and hang on it instead of the lanyard. If you place the rope/lanyard about 4 " under the lowest point of the notch, the pointy butt has to slide away of it. No chance to wedge the pointy butt between the trunk and the lanyard.

The salami cut is more dangerous because if the top is vertical, it tends to pivot over the climber when the last fibers let go. It's like a fret train passing a few inches in front of you. And smack on the head !
All the interest of the tiny notch is to make an artificial lean in the top, so it limits or avoids the backward rotation and keeps the very top and most of the limbs away of the climber.
An other good point is that you get some time to make the cut.
With a spear cut, you have to rush through it. If not, the top rotates and "lands" flat on the others trees/limbs (fail).
With a hinge and a tiny notch, the top begins to move and takes the lean, but ideally it stalls and waits for you. That's a small angle, so the hinge doesn't break, even in Lombardi poplar. You can wait too for a little less wind for example. The stall stops the rotational speed, so when you cut the hinge, the top falls as is, straight downward in the tight dropzone, less risk of hanging or making a mess in the other trees.
 
The ideal behaviour is the tip of the butt goes down skimming past where your lanyard is tight on the trunk 180 degrees opposite you. But Sh!t happens and the two 90 degree quadrants where your (normal side Dee's) lanyard tangents off the trunk have some vulnerability. On a good fiber-y tree the hinge and release behave well. But it's the what-if, suppose a hidden defect, buried, grown in knot or such that kicks out the symmetry loading and motion of the butt? I realize I'm being somewhat rhetorical and the answer is choking SRT mode.

I get the impression this is a spear cut with some controllable tilt during the triggering phase and maybe a little less saw grab. But reliant on good wood.
 
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Agreed Bart, it is too risky, imagine it got into your lanyard, stopped after a couple of feet, then started to tip forward, the levering effect would squeeze you out like a tube of toothpaste.

I will use a spear cut on Lombardies often, but not the stem I’m anchored into.

Not now anyway, now I’ve got the toothpaste analogy in my head!
 
Sounds a heap funnier than it would be, for sure. We participated in a trip several years ago, where a group of volunteers went to West Virginia to build a church. While there, I met a guy with whom I talked a lot that week. We discussed our occupations, and he was intrigued with tree work. He went and bought him some gear and wound up getting seriously injured when he cut a large branch that he was lanyard-ed to, which near squeezed him to death. Multiple surgeries required. Not sure what all the injuries were. Don't know that he ever fully recovered.
 
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