I have to fight the tendency to notch too deeply. I "learned" to fell trees incorrectly, making the notch very deep and expecting the tree to fall without needing wedges. I now use a wedge on nearly every tree and understand that the greater the distance between the hinge and wedge, the more leverage the wedge has. In the past I literally tore the hinge out with the wedge (raised the tree straight up) by notching too deeply. There is also the problem of the wedge contacting the hinge before the tree falls.
Ive been felling trees for 23 years. As Mr Whoopee said, I learned it wrong and have had a hard time letting go of bad habbits. I just watched a 9 min video of a very skilled feller explaining and domonstrating felling technuiqes. Very informative. He also used a horizontal back cut. That caught my attention as I almost always use an angled back cut. He used a plunge cut/trigger with a wedge to fall the tree against its center of gravity. It crossed my mind that if he had mad an angled back cut he would have had more room fir the bar and the wedge to be in the same cut.? For the record, I usually do MUCH better on the notch than I did on this tree. I changed my strategy to try compensate for the near balance of the tree. I have no wedges and didnt want to take the time to rope it. I botched my plan and luckily it didnt bite me in the arse. But Im not too old to learn.
I don't think you did too bad of a job, but as a general rule, you don't want the hinge very deep at all.....generally, as has already been mentioned, 1/3 the diameter of the tree is a good rule of thumb. One of the big reasons that is a rule is because if that tree was hollow, you could've had some problems with it. Also having a bull rope with tension on it as an "insurance policy" is always a good idea, if it is feasible. Hey, you lived, you learned, and you got the tree down where you wanted it.....at the end of the day, that's what matters. Looks like some fantastic white oak there, one of my faves for sure.....love that vanilla-ish scent!!
Glad you are not too old to learn. I hope neither you nor I ever reaches that age. Good that you watched a video of a pro and learned from it.
If you put an angled back cut when you try to wedge it pushes the bottom over more than it lifts. You can pop the hinge and have the tree come straight back off the stump. Horizontal back cuts are the safest by far. Whether you bore/plunge and then cut a strap on the back or not.
Get some, HF has 'em cheap. When I approach a tree, I have my saw, two wedges in my back pocket and my maul to drive 'em. I even bought some 5 in. wedges for smaller trees. I set a wedge as soon as the back cut is deep enough to allow it, prevents a pinched bar (or worse).
I got a dozen of the 8" or so from madsens for around $40. Wedges are well worth what they cost and are a consumable. If you nick them take a file and re shape them and keep using them til they're too short.
I got 2 small ones both nicked now and a long like 8"-10" one that I have no ideawhere it is. And never used it!!
