Triple hinge sizwheel fail

[Buddy]

I had a heavy leaning doug fir that I tried the triple hinge on. It failed miserably but I blame the frozen tree, rotten center and the more than average heavy lean. I had a line tied in it to but the tree didn't move very far before I got slack in the line and that was all she wrote, right out in the middle of the hawthorns. I cleaned up with a mini excavator and ended up having to haul off all most as much thorn brush as I did tree limbs.

 

[stig]

You've got a twisted tree there.
Look at how the fibers run in your hinge.
That was what made the hinge fail.

I couldn't tell that twist from the bark, it was really well hidden.

 

[Buddy]

Ya Stig I didn't notice that until after I posted the pictures on here. I basically cut my holding wood with the vertical cuts.

 

[Burnham]

Awful heavy lean as well. That's asking a lot of any hinge.

 

[Buddy]

You're right Burnham and I didn't actually think I would hit my desired lay but I figured it would hinge farther than it did. Oh well, at least there wasn't a house under it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Damn good practice.

 

[theTreeSpyder]

Do we consider the temperature zone to hinge flexibility;
or is that seen as a nominal change/factor?

 

[Buddy]

I considered it and figured it would effect it to a certain degree.

 

[sotc]

Seems those vertical cuts are pretty far apart. I generally wouldn't do that too much further apart than my hinge thickness.

 

[sotc]

Also, I can't tell how high of a stump but on a tree that sweeps out from so low, the highest you can comfortably make the felling cuts, the more lean you take out of the tree and generally the straighter the grain

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Thinking of it, you should cut the vertical kerfs not vertical but parallel to the trunk's axis. That would reduce the amount of crossing the fiber's path and then the likeliness of a hinge failure. Maybe not enough in this case to avoid the loss, but a little bit could help.

 

[stig]

Willie is right ( If I understand him correctly, that is)

You should have made a higher stump.
That would have given you straighter fibers and maybe you could have pulled it off.

 

[Buddy]

Also, I can't tell how high of a stump but on a tree that sweeps out from so low, the highest you can comfortably make the felling cuts, the more lean you take out of the tree and generally the straighter the grain

I never gave that any thought but it makes sense.

If I had known the grain was twisted or saw any sign of it before I started I would not have made the vertical cuts. Starting Monday I will go back to timber falling part time. That will give me plenty of trees to practice this technique. Unfortunately you only get one chance per tree. If you could stand it back up and try different cuts you could find the best technique.

 

[rfwoody]

...Unfortunately you only get one chance per tree. If you could stand it back up and try different cuts you could find the best technique.

good one!

 

[Altissimus]

Just my two cents (me simpleton). Set heavy line high attach to the Tirfor (w Crosby if need) and pull it over on a thick regular old hinge. Agreed on high Stumping it.

 

[Buddy]

Is there a way to set a line at 90 degrees from the lay and keep it tight the whole time the tree is falling?

 

[Burnham]

Sure. Set at exactly 90 degrees to the lay, and with nothing in way of the moving rope, it's pretty much foolproof for countering side lean, and the tension will stay constant...long as the rope and anchor point are up to the loading.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks Burnham, I will have to play around with that on a small scale until I get it figured out.

 

[Burnham]

If the anchor point is a little to the rear of 90 degrees, the tree will hit right of the lay...if the anchor is a little forward of 90 degrees, the tree will hit left of the lay. Simple geometry, all else being equal.

 

[treebilly]

The biggest issue I've found with using a guy line is getting the clear shot. For me there seems to always be something in the way that cannot be removed.

 

[Burnham]

That is very true.

 

[SeanKroll]

Agree with Willie, thick hinges.

Shave bark, look at grain.

 

[Altissimus]

Sometimes anchor points are godamm tough to get (have anchored Tirfor up to 300' away on some occasions), other times easy. Plus side of just off center w compensate aim is the rigging isn't all underneath the Tree afterwards.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

90* side anchor but it has to be at the same level than the hinge. Too low and it gives some slack (or more like not pulling enough to the lay), too hight and it pulls harder, overstering the tree.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks again for the advice guys.

It's funny when the most significant part of a removal has nothing to do with the work itself but rather who you did the work for.

http://youtu.be/f3bJuzGNyFo