felling help

[RPA]

Ooops.

Should have said you over do you butress cuts to give you a guide as far round the tree as poss.

[treedave]

i done that today and was told im not allowed to do that when doing my back cut i have to cut until im happy then get the tree down i cant go back in to take more out.

 

I can see that will hold true for assessment, and should be what you're aiming for, but might help get your eye in (practice - you know 20 trees a day won't kill you, it'll just feel like it!).

If your tutors doesn't like my suggestion, it's not worth winding him up, but try asking him for tips, you never know he might have a right corker that works for you.

:wave:

[Paul Smith]

Put your gob cut in as normal then place a pencil sized stick in the gob to the rear of the cut with the majority sticking out of the cut. This will be a marker for height and to make sure your bar is parallel. If the bar is parallel when you make the cut the hinge will be equal! :wave:

[Pete Mctree]

Make sure you use you thumb on the throttle, to keep the saw level and try using a pushing chain. It's harder to control the saw, but easier to see the progression of the cut, the height and if the bar is 90 degrees to the felling direction.

[igottacabstar]

Make sure you use you thumb on the throttle, to keep the saw level and try using a pushing chain. It's harder to control the saw, but easier to see the progression of the cut, the height and if the bar is 90 degrees to the felling direction.

 

One of my past trainees got failed for that. You have to hold the handles correctly.

[bob]

most saws have a felling line on them

place saw in back of gog take note of where line is aiming

with chain brake on make a vertical line with the tip of the saw where your back cut wants to stop

do your backcut keeping felling line aiming the same way and stop when you get to your mark and hey presto spot on

if you have a problem keeping your cuts level with the saw turned off put a spirit level on the bar pick up the saw by the front handle and then see how far you need to lift the back one and after several goes you should be able to pick the saw up get it where you think is level and then check bubble

as previosly mentioned the stick thing works for a lot of beginers

hope this made sense

[RPA]

One of my past trainees got failed for that. You have to hold the handles correctly.

 

Thumb should be on the throttle when doing a felling cut with pushing bar.

[treejumper]

Tuppy practise is the answer.

 

However I believe the solution may be simple.

Are you 'sighting' your fell correctly using the lines on your saw to help ?

 

As Edenarb mentioned it is not wrong to use the pushing chain to put in your felling cut - however you do need greater control of the saw in case it bucks around (or out) of the kerf. Are your horizontal cuts flat as a pancake, as most people when they are new to felling, lift the back handle up slightly which will obviously not give you a horizontal cut.

 

Marking the tree is a good idea -decide the correct size of your hinge (usually 10% for a sound tree) and make a vertical mark down the stem of where you need to finish your felling cut to maintain the correct size hinge (2 small 2" 'nicks' either side of the tree using your saw will do).

 

 

Now you can mark a horizontal line with your chain-brake on at the correct distance above the height of the horizontal cut of your directional notch (not forgetting the depth of your bar and chain).

 

Remember that if you make these marks they need to be accurate and you need to adhere to them when making your cuts. If using the pushing chain you can re-sight the fell (with the line you originally chose) and this will in turn maintain a hinge of adequate proportions that will be across the full width of the tree (as long as all the other cuts are of the correct dimensions).

 

Don't give up - it will come!

 

If you need to practise at home, go and get some 5ft stems, dig a hole in the garden and chock the stems into the hole making sure its secure (you could probably get 10 - 15 cuts into a single stem)

Wear you PPE - dont be tempted to do this without it!

 

I hope this is of help!

 

P.S. Thumbs round handles - correct you are not in control of the saw if you do not have your thumb fully round the handle.

P.P.S. Thumb on throttle - no problem with that as far a I am aware (also left hand holding handle at the point where the handle bends) this gives the best stability whilst cutting.

[Yorkshireman]

theres all sorts of tips & handy advice

 

first ensure that your saw is level in both planes ie nose to saw & bottom to top when in the side elevation

hold your saw on the front handle side plate down ! then adjust the tip using your right hand (this will only take a finger strength) then align the engine case (as that is set at 90' to the bar) dig your bottom dog into the stem then apply power at the same time allow the bar to sweep in toward your base cut this should mantain a parralell back cut

 

make sure that you make allowance for the tapograhy of the ground , it is all to common to set yourself up from one side holding the saw in a rigded position to make your directional cut then to transpose the back cut from the other side of the tree with the same stance (not making allowance for the change in ground slope)

 

rgds

Iain

[Alasdair]

Cheers for the advise guys im back up the woods on monday so ill try some of the methods mentioned and ill let you know how i get on.

 

I think the poles in the garden is a good idea (better then my first plan which was to find a forest and cut some trees down asked a few folk about that and they said no) as long as folk dont mind me digging up the garden but im sure they wont.

 

As for ppe i always wear it still have a vison of a video i seen where a guy is using a saw without any and lets say he will never make that mistake again this vison scares **** out of me everytime i lift a saw.