big tops and interesting cuts

[scotspine1]

On heavy leaners

 

Not necessarily Dean, the same thing can happen when you have a straight main stem but with a crown that is heavily weighted in the direction of fell. This creates the same effect as a heavy leaner.

 

Another situation where it could happen would be a straight tree with a winch or pull line under tension in the direction of fell, similar to the first tree in Daniel Murphy's vid

[Dean Lofthouse]

One thing I never do if I suspct a possible barber chair is strop in on my side d's that way if the stem does expand, I'm not squashed the tree expands within my climbing loop without me in the equation, I may take a fall though

[Tom D]

The video Mike posted was the one I was refering to in my earlier post, as I said it serves the exact same purpose as the dog tooth except the dog tooth can be made lower and therefore preserve more timber, as NPTC / Lantra courses evolved out of the forestry industry that is why most are more familiar with the dog tooth.

 

If I am felling big tops I avoid excesive weight on the gob side to avoid a tear down (upside down barber chair). I have seen this happen to a climber, fortunately he did not have a lanyard round the stem and was tied in on another stem, however the tear down, which was at least 8 feet long caught his prussic and lifted him up about 10feet as it hinged over then fortunately it dropped him as it broke free. Pretty scary for him though, I finished the tree as he didn't fancy it after that.

 

Another way to avoid this is to fell just above a major branch union as this holds the stem together much better than a clean streight piece which can be much more easily cleaved.

[scotspine1]

I finished the tree as he didn't fancy it after that.

 

 

wonder why?

[Lorry thompson]

I was shown by a bloke when he cuts a big top off a tree mainly on willows etc

he does his gob then cuts a bit out of either side of the gob so the hinge isn't as wide then the saw cuts faster and the top releases better works for me don't know if this cut has a name or if anyone likes it but I use it

[Tom D]

I was shown by a bloke when he cuts a big top off a tree mainly on willows etc

he does his gob then cuts a bit out of either side of the gob so the hinge isn't as wide then the saw cuts faster and the top releases better works for me don't know if this cut has a name or if anyone likes it but I use it

 

I do that but its more to stop it tearing and hanging on, sometimes with willow it still does.

There's some dogtooths on this vid:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz_PKTFcPOw]YouTube - Felling willows[/ame]

 

And some of lorry's willow cuts on here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz_PKTFcPOw]YouTube - Felling willows[/ame]

[Ian Flatters]

I was shown by a bloke when he cuts a big top off a tree mainly on willows etc

he does his gob then cuts a bit out of either side of the gob so the hinge isn't as wide then the saw cuts faster and the top releases better works for me don't know if this cut has a name or if anyone likes it but I use it

 

Kerf cut?

Edited June 1, 2010 by Ian Flatters
spelt wrong

[Will Hinchliffe]

Some big tops. He obviously knows what he is doing. The bore and release at the begining was a bit scary but it did what he wanted it to.

 

Lorry we call them side cuts or ears. I think the purpose is to make sure the wood doesnt hang on or tear making the fell more predictable.

[Mesterh]

I was shown by a bloke when he cuts a big top off a tree mainly on willows etc

he does his gob then cuts a bit out of either side of the gob so the hinge isn't as wide then the saw cuts faster and the top releases better works for me don't know if this cut has a name or if anyone likes it but I use it

 

Its called cutting the ears off and I use it loads even on small stuff that has stringy bark.

 

It stops it tearing and either pulling your strop down if tied in or hanging on and dropping on whatever you were trying to gob it away from.

 

Good on willow,lime,elm,oak ,etc.

[Ian Flatters]

I was shown by a bloke when he cuts a big top off a tree mainly on willows etc

he does his gob then cuts a bit out of either side of the gob so the hinge isn't as wide then the saw cuts faster and the top releases better works for me don't know if this cut has a name or if anyone likes it but I use it

 

Here you are i hope this is what you ment?