The recent windstorm topped a couple trees outback. So my brother and father came up to help clean them up. First thing Dad did was take a saab four wheeling and get it stuck. To rescue Then we started cleaning up the brush. Brothers face cut wasn’t big enough. tree went 180 from planned drop zone. Stihl got a face lift.. No handle or break.. No injuries so we decided to say the heck with it and have If your having a bad day. There’s times when you’re older and wiser to quit
I am not an expert to extent many here are, but there was one time I had a tree fall in the opposite of the desired direction. I think I made my face cut too deep, and probably didn't have my back-cut high enough, or a combination of both. I don't recall examining the stump to know for sure, as I was pretty young at the time, and probably a bit hasty, compared to nowadays. Glad you are all okay, and are enjoying some beers together!
Nothing you can do about a bad day except call it a day and move on. Glad there were no injuries from the unfortunate felling.
Sucks! Also very lucky no one got injured. Will give some constructive criticism and advice. Never angle the back cut! plastic felling wedges are a must. It looks like the holding wood was completely severed "tends to happen with angled back cuts" Because of this the face cut depth was inconsequential, a deep face cut isn't always required anyway, this is where felling wedges help immensely. Maybe do some research on proper felling techniques. I say this because it appears nothing was done properly and by someone that clearly does not have the basic understanding of how to fell a tree. Felling trees is dangerous even for the experienced. Just recently a local man lost his life feeling trees, one of the trees he was cutting fell on him.
I am glad your brother didn't get hurt. I'd like to see a little better pic of the stump but from my perspective: The face cut was a little shallow but what really got him in trouble is the sloping back cut and cutting the hinge off. ( A horrible technique will never have good outcomes. I don't know why people do that.) Even with the shallow face cut, a wedge inserted in a proper back cut either level with the face or slightly higher to stop the tree from setting back. The work the back cut towards the hinge and maybe using a 2nd wedge to stabilize. I am guessing the tree was leaning the direction it fell.
Glad no one was hurt for sure! Not to pile on, but what they said. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Angled back cuts are an absolute no no. I've seen guys do that & claim it keeps the tree from tipping backward. Not true, just compromises the hinge & endangers everything/everyone around the tree. Enjoy the
A plastic telling Wedge was used. I think the tree had stress fractures from the 50 mile an hour winds.
From my angle at the tractor the back cut looked flat I’ll have to get a better pic in the morning. But once I saw the top move I started screaming. I think he was getting sloppy because it wasn’t a bad tree it was only 10 inch diameter 30 foot tall because it was already topped by the wind. I was actually taking a load of brush over to burn pile because it wasn’t a difficult fell
I will go in the morning and I will check out the tree. Then I will have him up To make sure, that he knew what the mistakes that were made.
Since nobody was hurt, I take this all as a learning experience. Both you and Firewood Bandit said the same thing. Ive not used my plastic felling wedges yet, but I will be using htem soon as I have a couple of ash trees on my house lot, and in my wood lot that all have to go the way I need them to. None will go the against the way the trees want to go, but I've have a sugar maple drop back opposite the way I wanted it to fall due to a gust of wind that derailed my almost perfect fall. I know the wedges would've not allowed the backwards fell.
That's what can get a guy squished in a hurry. It appears the back cut is very angled, and the hinge looks completely severed. No hinge no control. One thing that can also happen, using wedges with an angled back cut can actually force the tree off the stump breaking the hinge, instead of lifting the tree as a wedge should. Again glad there was no real loss other than some saw parts.
I started teaching and showing him how to cut when my hip started going bad. And I’ve seen him cut at least 50 trees. And I’m glad this wasn’t a hard one I mean it’s a 30 foot tall pine. 10 inch DBH. 60 feet behind the garage.But after everything went wrong just said the heck with it it wasn’t our day
Horkn The tree in question because you’ve been here would have been 80 feet behind garage. Not a limb on it. As they grow straight and tall and the crown had already falling off. I’m certainly not defending angle back cuts.. It was such an Easy drop I wasn’t even watching it. We talked about which ones we wanted to come down cut up the crown and put it on the brush pile. But I will definitely go take a level and another photo tomorrow so we can determine what happened
Been there so many times. When having a bad day, leave. attempt the next morning after a good nights rest. Now I find myself always looking for excuses to take a nap.
