threading the needle

[treemeup]

that's fair enough, pick all you like at his work practices but my problem with some posts on daniel's threads have nothing to do with his work and just seem to be trying to undermine him by attacking his use of language.....this I don't understand as it's almost looked like some kind of schoolyard bullying at times imo.

[dadio]

There were two pull lines set in the tree, both anchored at about 10:30- 11 o'clock to the desired direction of fall, as the tree had a slight side lean and side weight. So there was no way the tree could fall back, but if the hinge failed it could still go 90 degrees to the pull lines, which may have left some of the limbs on the back side of the tree able to sweep into the boom at its high point, so I wanted all parts of the boom out of the potential sweep, should the hinge fail. I also wanted to get a good camera angle for taping the drop.

 

The first pull line was pretensioned from the ground, carefully watching the movement of the tree as the truck slowly pulled forward. Both pull lines were dynamic, which allows for a good bit of stretch in the lines, which combines with a high pull line, will spring load the pull from both the stretch in the rope and the bend of the upper limbs. The first line was to be the static anchor, which would only be used if the primary pull line didn't have enough pull to get the tree over.

 

The primary pull line was only pre-tensioned after the notch was made. Again the tension was carefully set by watching the movement in the top of the tree to get a bit of spring loading, but not too much pull. I then made the plunge cut to set up the hinge. I usually stop once or twice as the plunge is through and approaching the desired hinge thickness, and walk around the tree to check the distance from the bar tip to the corner of the notch (which of course will be the thickness of the hinge). But in this case, it would take some time to swing the bucket around for a visual of the far side, so I just guesstimated the far side hinge thickness by using the top gunning line on the saw, to make sure the backcut was gunned to the same direction as the notch, which would ensure it was parrallell with the notch, and then cut up to the desired hinge thickness on the near side.

 

When I did swing the bucket over to check the far side, I had taken a bit more than I wanted out of that side of the hinge, which was the tension side, fighting the side lean. Not good, but I was pretty confident that the offset direction of pull was enough to fight the side lean. I hammered a wedge in the compression side of the backcut for a little more help in that regard.

 

Then I brought the plunge back towards the back of the trunk, leaving about 6" of back strap. I have used an offset back release cut very succesfully in the past, leaving a "fuse". This is done by making the back strap release cut 6-15" or more below the plunged portion of the backcut. Then the tree won't move until enough force is put on th pull line to break the fibers running with the grain, between the two portions of the back cut. Its a very sweet cut, which has a lot of benefits and allows the faller to get away from the stump before calling for the pull. I often run the camera on these drops.

 

In this case, I was a little hesitant to leave so much distance between the two portions of the backcut, as I was concerned about not having enough pull to overcome both the back lean and the force needed to break the wood fibers between two cuts. So I made the back release cut a little higher than usual, at most 3" below the plunge. AS soon as the two cuts bypassed, the tree moved just a little bit, partially breaking the fibers between two cuts. The kerf of the lower back release cut opened up a little, and the tension in the pull lines went a bit slack. The spring loading of the two pull lines had done its job, but once the tree moved enough to unload the spring, it stopped, still holding on the hinge, with a slight back lean. This is shown in the video as the camera pans up and down the back of the tree from the bucket, just before the full speed fall. I just moved the bucket into position, switched the saw out for the camera and called for the pull.

 

I apologize if this explanation seems wordy or preachy. It is just a reply to Josh's request with a thorough explanation that even a newbie should understand. Remember, that a lot of people come here to learn, though they may not speak up, they are listening.

 

 

 

Nice fell

 

 

can you re word/expand on this

The bakcut was plunged, with a slight bypass of about 3" on the back strap release. This allowed the tree to move slightly towards the lay, but then stop, leaving the kerf of the lower backcut open about an inch

 

Josh says thanks Dadio

Edited October 24, 2010 by dadio

[josharb87]

perfect, thanks for that explination, simmilar to the stepped back cut like in the elm vid you put up then? (when felling the stems)

[josharb87]

just an after thought, using this 'explosive' technique seems less controlled than a pull line, and a regular back cut, which allows the cutter to manupilate the hinge to controll the fall off the tree by cutting more off one side of the hinge, altering the direction of fell by a fair few degrees. i see the benifit felling stems, but not whole trees. why do you prefer/did you choose this technique for this tree?

its intresting to see diffrent techniques, and try to understand them!

[treemeup]

just an after thought, using this 'explosive' technique seems less controlled than a pull line, and a regular back cut, which allows the cutter to manupilate the hinge to controll the fall off the tree by cutting more off one side of the hinge, altering the direction of fell by a fair few degrees. i see the benifit felling stems, but not whole trees. why do you prefer/did you choose this technique for this tree?

its intresting to see diffrent techniques, and try to understand them!

 

Is it to allow for the insertion of a wedge in the compression wood? i guess along with a fanned hinge this could be quite affective when dealing with a side leaner

Edited October 24, 2010 by treemeup

[lendahand]

also the nitpicking is beginning to leave a bitter taste......whats the deal guys?

 

No apologies from me, because I am an amateur film critic in my spare time.

[geoff]

Don't understand people insulting another member,if you don't like the post why get involved in pathetic quips about a persons looks or way of talking.

 

Dadio puts these vids up & takes the time to edit them & reply to reasonable criticism or questions,if you dont agree with a teqnique shown,sure express yourselves.

 

I like his style of dealing with personal insult (ignoring it),but it sure leaves a bitter taste in my mouth to see us 'pros' resorting to schoolboy insults.

 

Come on lads give the guy a break,please!

 

P.s. I hate sticking my nose in like this ,but at least I am being impersonal & polite!

[testcricket01]

Don't understand people insulting another member,if you don't like the post why get involved in pathetic quips about a persons looks or way of talking.

 

Dadio puts these vids up & takes the time to edit them & reply to reasonable criticism or questions,if you dont agree with a teqnique shown,sure express yourselves.

 

I like his style of dealing with personal insult (ignoring it),but it sure leaves a bitter taste in my mouth to see us 'pros' resorting to schoolboy insults.

 

Come on lads give the guy a break,please!

 

P.s. I hate sticking my nose in like this ,but at least I am being impersonal & polite!

 

[treemeup]

No apologies from me, because I am an amateur film critic in my spare time.....At least the bloke on the blower new what he was doing

 

If you wish to talk blowing techniques maybe you should start a different thread.

 

I just believe that criticism on arbtalk should be applicable to the subject matter and constructive, I was just asking a question as to motives and pointing out some odd behaviour which seemed to be repeating it's (ugly) self. I didn't/don't wish to derail this thread, listen to Geoff, he's better at this than me!

[lendahand]

Chill, don't be so sensitive, I thought we were all rough tough and gruff on here not snowflakes ready to melt at the slightest thing.