Felling cuts in knotty wood?

[DickDancer7]

   Stubby, im saying if never heard that acronym gob, thats all. Also if i walked away from everything in life i wasnt qualified for, i might as well kill myself.  

   Chris! Yes i like the humboldt cut, I like the idea of the spar sliding off and away, especially when up a tree. Or the wedge falling out of a big cut.

so this dog tooth, sounds like a bore cut, but u pre tension w wedges, then finish w an angled back cut? I thought those were no bueno on the hinge? Whats the idea behind the 45 back cut?

No luck on google, my apologies. I also have hillbilly cell service.

 

[Exmoor Chris]

The portion of timber you leave is your safety, you could go for lunch on a windy day with 20% and it would still be there. You remove your saw and wedge furthest from the hinge. You come in from the back with a 45 degree cut to meet your already made back cut. Your wedges would not allow you to go back in and continue. It leaves a little tooth of wood at the back, "dog tooth" 

 

If I go felling tomorrow I will do one. 

[Exmoor Chris]

That's it on a smaller tree with a normal gob/wedge, for your I would use a humbolt. 

 

It's normally used for trees heavily leaning the other way for control, but I like the safety and time it gives you to set the wedges and have everything ready before you make that little 45 degree cut and let is go. 

 

Be prepared to sweat on the wedges and have plenty of them, I like big steel ones, send em home. 

[Paddy1000111]

44 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Just picked up on something here " you don't know what a gob is " ?  Are you taking the piss or is this true ?  If its true you need to get someone in who knows what they are doing . Forgive me if I have got this wrong .

To be fair, I didn't know what a gob was until a few years back. I always knew it as a face cut/felling cut/wedge. Americanisms and all that. 

 

In terms of weight there are log charts available. it's going to be roughly 35lbs per cubic foot. 6'x1' section would be about 480lbs.

 

I don't want to be a dick but it doesn't sound like you have a lot of experience with big timber. I wouldn't suggest you start making bore cuts that need to lign up etc for dog tooth cuts. It's very easy, especially on a hill to bore in and come out lower than your hinge which will 99.99% of the time lead to a barber chair. That being said you probably want to do it yourself anyway. If you have a chainsaw and a bar long enough just make the cuts and do a basic fell. If I am right the tree was leaning towards the house before you took the weight out the back? A dog tooth cut isn't for back leaners, its for forward leaners and it gives you more control instead of the tree just going. It sounds like between it's back lean and you adding weight to the front it is relatively ballanced. A danish pie would be the best of both worlds but considering you have tonnes of wood to play with you have tonnes of room to put wedges in the back to stop it falling the wrong way. Put your face cut in, I would suggest a humboldt, take your time and make sure its a very clean face. Then start making your back cut. Try to make sure that it is level or up to 3" above the horizontal line of the face cut or it can Barber chair, whatever you do don't cut below the horizontal line of the face cut. Once you have cut in say 10-12" then put a load of wedges in the back so it can't sit back. Worst thing it can do is sit back and rip off the hinge, that's the only way it can hit the house. keep cutting until you have a nice size hinge (around 6-7" as it should be 10% of overall timber diameter) then just pummel wedges in. 

[Dan Maynard]

I would guy the tree to the side, it doesn't have to be super perpendicular to the hinge, if it's ahead it will slacken slightly as it comes down or behind then it will pull the tree across. This will stop it getting any momentum towards the house.

Also I'd go for Paddy's idea of installing the pull line. It's better to put the line in early rather than when it's all cut and all your wedges are banged in and you're out of ideas except wait for the wind to change.

Really though it does sound like the kind of tree it's worth getting someone with experience to help with.

[AHPP]

25 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Felling cut, wedge, something else that I can’t remember 

Face

[Steve Bullman]

Just now, AHPP said:

Face

I had that in my head too. Think there might be another one too though 

[Exmoor Chris]

12 minutes ago, Paddy1000111 said:

A dog tooth cut isn't for back leaners, its for forward leaners

Bang on Paddy, I cut lots of the top of Devon banks. I use it for control on both back and forward learners, the ability to safely move is greatly reduced and getting to the back to hit wedges usually impossible due to the fall, guess I have become comfortable using it in situations of poor access that I want total control over. 

 

Danish pie would defo be good too, I do like pie! 

[Paddy1000111]

1 minute ago, Exmoor Chris said:

Bang on Paddy, I cut lots of the top of Devon banks. I use it for control on both back and forward learners, the ability to safely move is greatly reduced and getting to the back to hit wedges usually impossible due to the fall, guess I have become comfortable using it in situations of poor access that I want total control over. 

 

Danish pie would defo be good too, I do like pie! 

As long as you bang a wedge in and know that it can sit back on the bar (which you obviously do) then it's perfect for you like you say. Only reason I said about it is I can imaging the OP cutting the back out and the tree sitting back on the bar and having the chainsaw stuck in the tree along with a tree that won't fall 😂.

[AHPP]

22 hours ago, DickDancer7 said:

Anyone have any experiences/advice, putting directional felling cuts in a tree this naughty?

About 130’ tall, 6’+ wide, maybe 20deg lean towards my buddys home for the first 25’, then dog legs straight up.

removed all the big branches on the bad side as an attempt to adjust the favor(and clear the house), looks good, however i cant visualize a strong hinge in there.

Pulling is an option, tho not the greatest considering its size, and the available anchor points. 

The majority of people on this site will not deal with trees like that very often. The UK's trees are mostly tiny in comparison to your tree and with different challenges. The few larger trees here will be dealt with by a lesser represented cadre of forestry cutters (who I hope contribute but are statistically less likely to). You'll probably get more useful answers from an American forum, especially from the PNW members.

 

My feeling is that you've done more than enough by removing the back weight and felling with a Humbolt below the knots will be straightforward. Big face/wedge/gob cuts can be difficult to match, especially Humboldts. Take as long as you need to get it right.

Edited December 10, 2020 by AHPP