I posted these in another thread but here they are again. Before pics from someone else’s butchery & after I got it down. BUT make no mistake I have made plenty of shady looking felling cuts also…
As a total newb, I've had some real uglies. Some posted here over the last 3 years. However, once I figure out what I could have done better, pics taken and possibly posted here, the evidence gets cut away. I don't need that evidence around for whomever, and assuming I improve, bad stumps are not an indicator of present performance. I've bound up my saw, maybe once bound up two, and had to use an axe to remove both . . . More than once though: fell fell fell. crash. "ooooh that was bad" *quickly looks around to see if anyone was looking* *lickety split cuts a piece or two off the stump and hucks them, then trims the butt end*.
I do the same. Someone on FHC, possibly Redneck , mentioned it to me while at Dennis's GTG 2 years ago. Any time I can work smarter not harder, I do. I've done a few nasty felling cuts. I have gotten a lot better over the years though. To be honest, I don't think I take pictures so there's no proof. I burn the evidence
I’m new here to FHC but I have been working the woods most of my life not as a job but on weekends and summers as a young boy I was my grandfather’s goffer and chain monkey. He had a small mill on the farm for many years as well as doing custom cutting for neighbors and friends as well as felling for a couple of local mills. As we both got older he would fell less and advised me instead. The problem was and is that I dropped a bunch of wood and could handle the saw but I didn’t quite understand the mechanics of why I cut things as well as I should have. Now he is gone and I wish I would have asked him more questions of Why instead of just doing as I was told. There has been quite a few ugly stumps in the last few years more than a few pinched bars and even 1 that went the wrong way. I have lived and learned a lot. There is a lot of video on doing it right and that is good but there is also a older generation with a lifetime of experience to learn from. Shawn
Welcome to the FHC Great to have you. I was in the same boat watching dad fell trees and never asking. Later learning he did it wrong. Experience is a great teacher.
I don't have any pictures but I know a guy who likes to make a wedge cut, then make the back cut about 2"-3" above the hinge.
Similar story. Dad was the feller. I spent my time loading and unloading the trailer. When he passed it became my job. And I didn’t know squat. Also our woods was pretty clean at the time. No dead trees, no downed trees. So I began culling the live leaners. It wasn’t pretty. I did manage to barber chair a good 20”+ oak with a ms-250. I began watching videos after that. No Joes Premium Firewood videos tho.
Big dead maple I took down at home. Nasty full of dirt and critter surprises. Got into my bore cut then realized there was old fence in it so I had to step down to finish the back cut. Aside from the spraying muddy poop water coming out it went where it was supposed to. My 100cc Poulan and 36” bar just for some scale.
I've had several uglies over the years, but this one from the Plantation job was an ugly tree with serious lean towards the swimming pool Had to leave a lot of holding wood and used the tractor to push it over onto the dirt pile Had a little barber chair and tore the roots up. Went where it needed to go safely
Ash from this afternoon. Notched and felled in the general direction i wanted. Hollow caused me to lose the hinge too soon. It went quick and i beat feet.
Here's my submission from my Sunday fun. Couple of Beech, snapped off around 20'. No limbs or significant lean. Need to pay closer attention to my angles
I have no pics to prove it but ugliest stump I ever delt with was actually one of my nicest stumps to look at afterwards the ugly was what I found as soon as I started my back cut and hit water 10-15 gallons. This was a free tree removal for the grandma of my son’s friend. I had to drop it between a garage and a shed with the house on the the back cut side. Then I hit water I stopped and wedged it till I came up with a plan. A long story short tree fell as planned and exploded upon impact with the ground. The ugly part is looking at what happened and me not picking up any of it before I hit water in the giant crack in the tree i even went up a ladder and checked for rot and hollow in the Y. The pucker factor was out of this world as I took a bath in tree water but all ended well. Shawn
Todays entry. Chestnut oak stump from yesterday. Used the 261 with a 16" bar. Shouldve had longer bar on bigger saw. Kinda wasnt planning on taking a bigger tree at the time. Tree went over without issue.
Not sure what is going on with the camera. The pictures make it look like a couple 4" dbh Beech. Honestly, 20" bar and only 2" was poking out the side.
