step cut

[Big 'Ammer]

Let's not fanny about, Carlton 8018.

[Johny Walker]

Let's not fanny about' date=' Carlton 8018. [/quote']

 

a carltons,a carlton a proper pros machine

[dadio]

This may not have beent he best example to show off the step cut, but the principles are sound. When you really need the hinge to hold well, its best to make the notch and hinge above the trunk flare, where the fibers in the hinge will be straight and strong. The wood grain in the flare can get all squirrely..

 

On a big tree with a large trunk flare, that can be well above the level of a flush cut stump, which leaves a very large and awkward round to deal with. No biggy if you are cutting everything for firewood, but we almost never do that.. Log loader picks up the wood and the brush gets chipped. The dump charges an extra $45 if there is wood mixxed in with the chips. So we usually will slice and dice the last round and chip it. If we can leave half the round attached to the log, we don't have to play with it, and the other half is much easier to chip.

 

With the skid steer on site we have a ready source of pulling power, and becasue we have rigged the tree out, the line was easy to install. So the extra effort needed for the pull is no trouble at all in our system.

 

I AM grinding with a rayco RG-90, so the extra grinding is not as much the trouble as the clean up afterwards.. Between the time saved hadling the round and the time saved cleaning up the stump chips, it makes sense for me to use this cut. This may not work for many companies, but it works for us.

[Stephen Blair]

I used to do an open gob and hopefully it would hold when it hit the deck, and then flush the stump and leave it attached. The ugly end wasnt a problem because i would lift the timber myself from site and cut it off later.

[Mesterh]

First time I have ever heard anyone mention that the grain of the fibres causes any problems with hinges tbh.

 

Apart from the saving of doing a final cut for the stumpy(which worked well so good stuff:thumbup1:) I couldnt see any other time that this would be useful tbh.

 

You have to have some decent pull on there to snap that cut ie winch, tractor skidsteer etc so surely there is no need as they have enough power to pull it over anyway without worrying of it sitting back. An theres no way you would want to be doing that to a straight/weighted fell imo.

 

Plus once its going its going, theres no time to nibble away at one side of the hinge etc to direct it slightly.

 

Maybe I'm missing the point but seems like a bit of faffing about tbh.

[3dogs]

:confused1:

[bjam1964]

First time I have ever heard anyone mention that the grain of the fibres causes any problems with hinges tbh.

 

Is was with you on this one until last year. An accurate fell was required for a 70 ft eucalupt - all was well until it started to snap off the hinge on one side. Turned out to be a very good example of spiral grain - the fibres were almost 45 degrees opposed on the hinge. Result was that one side snapped a lot sooner than expected. I have a picture of the hinge which, thankfully did its job with just 60% of it left - shocking.

 

In my experience it is virtually impossible to determine the grain/condition of the inside of the base of the tree. This step cut seems to rely on the stump being fairly uniform and predictable. Not one I would use but guess it could be developed for certain situations.

[likeitorlumpit]

can't understand why a normal fell wasn't best suited

No need for all the kit

[Bolt]

 

I made this cut up. Have been using it for a couple years now.. works well, saves a lot of hassle, handling the round.. need to have a ready source of pulling power...

 

Nothing wrong with experimenting, and making stuff up.

 

We always used to put our mind to inventing new cuts when we found ourselves with loads of woodland trees to fell, not too many targets to worry about, and a nice bit of 'slow up boys, we've overcharged on this one' time.

 

It's not as easy as you think to come up with something new.. Gob cut here, little bit of boring there, fancy back cut thingy and........ another saw stuck.

 

We did probably come up with a few new techniques for freeing hopelessly trapped saws though.....

[bjam1964]

We did probably come up with a few new techniques for freeing hopelessly trapped saws though.....

 

Any chance of sharing these techniques for the "What happens when the lad has a go - part 3" thread.