So I fell a dead ash tree, but not without a bit of extra work. It was leaning and should have been easy. But I think I messed up the hinge. I’m thinking back cut was too low. Btw to drop it I used wedges, my hookaroon and some elbow grease.
It looks like it went where you wanted, since it's laying in line with the face cut. It's hard to tell some stuff due to orientation of pics, hard to tell height of backcut. But the front of hinge has an angle...it should be a straight "crisp" line/cut. I've always considered the face cut side of my hinge very important and will true it up if anything gets buggered. The backcut side of the hinge has that triangle piece at the top of the first pic, not sure what happened there. Is that about a 10-12 inch tree? Did you bore cut after the face cut, or just come in from the back with the backcut?
Looks good to me. I dont fell a lot of trees, but its on the ground, no one hurt, no damage done (other than to neighboring trees) One thing ive done different as of late is a steeper angle cut on the notch, but thats just me.
Normally a start the back cut on the back and not plunge cut. Ill tap a wedge in once the cut is deep enough to prevent a bind.
Yeah it’s maybe 14”. And no bore cut. And to be clear it didn’t fall when I cut. I had to wedge and use my hookaroon as a lever. The triangle I think is because I cut through the hinge on one side. I think I do need to do a a steeper angle like BuzzSaw says. It’s my third tree. Just felling easiest I can find. Otherwise I prefer when they are already on the ground.
That tree being dead, the back cut and bottom of the notch should be on the same plane. That hinge needs to split to fall the tree if the back cut is way higher, which will take a lot more force hammering a wedge. Also make the notch more open so the tree can fall further before closing.
I'm the black sheep as I very rarely use a wedge. That is how I learned when I was logging and it has worked well.
Unless I'm missing something, we can't tell how open the face cut was based on the pics provided. The bottom should be flat if on flat ground, or mimic the slope if not.
I have a similar one to deal with soon, maybe even this afternoon. Standing dead elm maybe 10-12” at the base. Pretty straight with almost no discernible lean or top weight. What tiny bit of lean is opposite of the way I want it to go. Gonna try and wedge it the way I want but not much room for wedges after the notch and getting a good start on the back cut. Not much of a problem if it doesn’t go as planned, as long as I get out of the way. Might hang up in some other trees but I should be able to get a chain on the butt and pull it out with the pickup.
Hard to describe without pics... But you can cut two different methods for wedges. 1. Facecut, plunge cut and set the hinge, cut out towards the back leaving required size trigger. Set wedges as needed, release trigger. 2. For smaller diameter trees needing wedge, but tree has to be big enough to have hinge left on both sides of wedge width.... Face cut, bore from front or back through the middle of hinge (keep this cut level, or on the same plane and flat with the bottom of the facecut and precisely in the "v" of the facecut). Widen this cut on back side, drive wedge (the wedge should be pointing in the direction you want the tree to fall), start cutting what are now "wings" on both sides of the wedge, taking then down to what needs to be the thickness of the hinge. This can be a touchier and trickier method, and success is based on taking out those wings just right so what's left of the hinge works.
Just so I understand, there is a method to cut specifically to involve wedges? I figured you use to fall in a specific direction or if (like me) the face/back cuts didn’t work as planned. Thanks to everyone for all the input.
Important thing is to not cut through the hinge otherwise the tree will go where it wants to. Saw my dad do this many years ago on an oak. We tied it off with block and tackle pulley. My uncle and i pulling on the rope and dad cut too far. Tree goes diagonally backwards and just clips my uncles house. Damaged a couple roof shingles and end of rain gutter. This sticks with me and i learned a lot from that. I was a younger teen at the time. I felled a deadash in my woods back in January. Cutting the back and tree starts to fall. I beat feet. I didnt cut enough of the hinge on one side so its goes forward, but diagonal to where i intended it to drop. The side that held it on had too much meat and the otherwas too rotten. Should held my ground and cut another inch or so, but at my age i dont "beat feet" as fast as i did years back!
Sounds like what i do to fell a standing spar with no top weight only ill pound in a steel wedge then use a smaller saw to nibble at the hinge cut. The few ive done have been big trees.
It went perfectly, almost like I knew what I was doing. Not much of a score really, only 9” on the stump. But I was only on site barely an hour and 1/2. His dump truck was only about 75 ft away so that made cleanup go pretty quick. 357xp got the call to duty today
Howdy Grandgourmand! It's down, you're safe, that's a win! 1. I'm looking at that slice you took out of the face cut wondering if what you've been saying all along is "The face closed up, but the tree stopped falling at that point."???? If that's the case, or even if not, yes, make a (much) wider face cut. It would account for that odd pie shaped cut at one o'clock on your stump anyways. You used a hookaroon to get it on the ground? What??? 2. I agree with all of Eckie's observations and advice 100%. Everything just needs leveled out - and that comes with practice. That face cut especially - needs one straight cut from one side of the hinge to the other - that was fixable - and should always be fixed. 3. Yes, there are setups especially for wedges on small trees. They involve back cut first, setting the wedge, then make your face cuts, then banging away but this is vastly more problematic for the occasional woodcutter and doubly risky with dead trees - stick with what you're doing and every (west coast) faller I know uses wedges religiously. I did too years ago when I was a professional faller, and still do today as just a woodcutter. 4. Wedges come in different lengths, you need some short wedges that will give you enough lift without taking up so much space in your back cut. Yes, you can drive a wedge parallel to your face cut, or at any convenient angle they tend to try and slip out, but the banging of a wedge does not topple the tree, the lift of the wedge does. 5. Drive wedges slowly. Stop and look up, watch that crown. Trees respond slowly and subtly to wedging. If you run out of wedge space try doubling up a pair - put some sawdust between them so they stay together. 6. On bigger trees sometimes a helper will go to the opposite side of the hinge and hold his fingers open to the same distance that is uncut. Your job is to match what you can see on your side of the hinge to what he is showing you. It can be useful. 7. Falling trees is both an art and a science, and it comes only with lots of practice. Pass up anything you think has a potential to go really wrong until you get some more practice. 8. Do your best on every stump - because eventually you will need a cut to be perfect, and as noted they each tell a story and are a record of your ability. 9. There are a few guys on youtube falling professionally that take a camera with them. Hotsaws101 is one and another is Bjarne Butler. Course there are plenty of bullchitters too. Buzz
Nice little scrounge there SHB! A straight one to boot. Sometimes i like the little ones over behemoths. I know my back sure does!
You went a tad deep in this one spot...... I'm not beating you up, just dropping an honest assessment. The rest of it looks good. When you take too much ot of a section of your hinge (namely on the outer edges) in some species or trees in certain stages of decay, it can steer the tree in an unintended direction. Take the extra time and pay careful mind to your hingewood.... Your back cut is properly above your face cut, that's where it needs to be. And your face cut is approx 1/3 the diameter of the tree, which is the standard in most instances.... Overall you did good!
