So I have a tree next to it that is… next up, and headed that direction. Definitely need more practice. I marked the intended back cut and didn’t follow it. Stump from that fall, and the one from the leaner, This pile will grow, soon!
The important part is not cutting your hinge. It’s normal to be a little off up and down on back cut. No hinge=no control
Even the little seedlings make heat. Nice score. Cuts look good to me but I’m far from a felling expert. Most of my trees are on the ground by the time I get to them.
I could pass on red oak if it’s not especially convenient... but I’d go spelunking in a cave if there was a hoard of chestnut oak down there
When the tree guy came a while back to fell the ones close to the house, they told him it was primarily chestnut and black oak. I’ll never discriminate, lol!!
good job on getting them all down safely. Your hinges look good. I know when I'm dropping one and it ends up being hollow while notching it, I pucker a little bit. I've been trying to make my notches smaller (just deep enough to get enough hinge wide enough) so I have more room in the back cut to get the wedges in behind my bar and chain as soon as I can to prevent them from sitting back if a gust of wind or something comes up. Unfortunately I get too many hung up in our woods when felling. Many areas of our woods is so thick with similar sized trees that even aiming them the most open direction they get hung in limbs from other close trees almost immediatly as they start falling. It just can't always be avoided so I just don't fret it, I just go get the tractor and chains. The stump from the leaner you can see that it fell sooner with a much thicker hinge than the others. Leaners are the most likely to barber chair while making a traditional felling cut. If there is much lean and the tree is large enough (smaller ones aren't as dangerous) I'll make a plunge cut for the felling cut to leave a couple inches of holding wood at the back while sneaking up on the face cut (notch) to set the hinge correctly. Then I'll snip off the holding wood about an inch below the plunge cut at the back and there is no chance for it to barber chair as it will pop the holding wood and let the hinge do it's job.
Looks fine to me. On the ground (save for the hang up) and youre in one piece. I dont fell a lot of trees and better than i could do. Like Chud stated the hinge is the most important part. That hollow one wouldve had me running for the depends. Thought the twin felling was cool as was the 7/10 split. Looking forward to seeing your progress and looking like the Huskies will be happy! Love me some chestnut oak. Only scored a PU full last Spring. Smells better than normal white oak. Rare scrounge for me. Splits very easily too.
Probably need to clean up the face cut and hinge a bit, cut the stumps 1/2" lower, use the Humboldt notch so you wood won't be short one 1 side... JK, brother. Looks like you did some nice felling...... Glad you got the hollow 1 down safely, especially since the sapwood had gotten punky, I noticed the fungus on that stump. Nice
My opinion on hinges is this.. If tree comes down no injuries it’s a win critiques are learning points for later.. not a criticism BUT my buddy who is a pro hates the strands on stump..
Fiber pull takes away value @ the mill. I’ve fell a bunch of trees over the years. It’s one of those things (for me at least) I feel you never stop learning about. I’m always open to others views and appreciate the feedback. I'll definitely consider smaller notch so I can make the deeper back cut and have better room for wedges. One critique I had for myself that no one touched on.. I don’t own a helmet. This is the first time I’ve felt vulnerable. These trees were very long, with dead wood at the top. I think it’s time.
Had mine on today, because of the possibility of dead limbs snagging an adjacent tree and dropping on me. Added pucker factor
It took me a long time to realize that wedges are 50 times more powerful than the couple inches of notch when you're wanting a tree to go a certain way. I always thought the deeper notch would allow the tree to tip that way easier, but that couple or few inches at the bottom fulcrum of that giant lever is almost meaningless. The wedge behind the bar has the trump card is this case. I've had a helmet for years and always wear it when felling. I left it at the house one day while blazing a new trail through the woods with the tractor and was just cutting some grapevine and some small snaggy trees out of the way when BAM. A small stick maybe 5/8" diameter and 3' long came down from no more than 20' up (there wasn't anything around higher than that) and hit me in the side of the head and drove the metal frames of my glasses down the side of my face and gashed my cheek wide open. I was goofy for a few minutes and when I realized I had blood all down my shirt I could have kicked my own azz for not having that helmet on... It doesn't take much to severly damage the top of your head with a blunt spear... I felt very lucky and if I'm going in the woods with a saw, I have the brain bucket on... If I'm bucking logs out in the open I'll use my ear plugs instead, but in the woods... I always exit on the escape route also when felling. Many times cutting dead stuff, the top will snap off, drop backwards, and land right at the stump. Please invest in a helmet, especially if you will be felling. We don't want to see anyone get this...
Is your buddy a logger? Only ask cause they absolutely hate them cause they ruin saw logs! Whatever length pulls out of the log, you may as well cut that length off the button end of the log cause the mill won’t take it
Back to this honey hole today for 2 loads. Landowner is all of 135ish pounds wet and probably 5’8”. So I “skidded” sections by hand into piles for him to scoop. James Miller stopped by to pass off some saw parts. And sporting his new to him Jonsered. Dayum, that thing made quick work of noodling these 24” rounds. Torque monster! Hooked up the new chain to pull some logs out of the brush. The Bobcat carried 48” logs down to my truck and trailer. This is load 1. Wood in the back window is always a good sight.
Boss wanted me to take a few pieces of wood that the power line guys stacked up. No idea what it is but you can see it mixed in the pics above. Here’s the meat of load 1. 24” pieces are no joke. Another trailer shot. And #2 I think was on the heavy side for my trailer! He is able to put the bucket right we’re I can pull the pieces off and stack. Pretty nice to have hydro help!! Wait, I only went with 2 saws!!