backleanign maple near a house

[dadio]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbAT1_EA_2M]YouTube - ‪backleaning maple by house .mov‬‏[/ame]

 

shows a close up of the notch, plunge cut and center plunge to gut the hinge and a few thoughts on the examination of the hinge after the fall. Short little video, 2 minutes..

[scotspine1]

climbing rope (true blue) for pulling a back leaning tree with a skidsteer?

 

a good idea?

[Mark Bolam]

Yes.

 

You could have pulled that with baler twine.

 

Neat gob and letterbox Daniel.

 

I would have gone with a standard back cut, but I wasn't there, you were.

 

Thanks for posting.

[scotspine1]

Using old climbing rope for pulling trees over and light rigging is common place in certain situations I agree, but to use climbing rope in that situation where you have a (albiet small) tree leaning over a house is not a good idea.

 

Your trying to decrease the risk in a situation like that, by using a climbing rope in conjuction with a skidsteer your increasing the risk. 3/4 inch yale double braid would've been a better choice.

[Big 'Ammer]

Tree goes right where you want it and so alls good. Thanks for posting.

 

Whats the purpose of the letterbox in this case?

 

You anticipated some twisty grain, so would a standard hinge not have been more appropriate in this case?

 

If the tree's crown was weighted heavier at one side, and had nipped your saw during the backcut, before the backcut met or overlapped the plunge cut, you would have had to start pulling with the skid steer to help free the saw, when the cut was not finished.

 

Letterbox and plunge cut seem unnecessary for this tree and overcomplicated.

 

I spent much of this week pulling over similar backleaning sycamores, the properties of which are almost identical to Norway maple and standard cuts were fine for the job.

[dadio]

I don't climb on true blue... I know they market it as climbing rope, but that seems 10 years out of date to me... I would have been ok with a standard back cut, but I wanted a little insurance to make sure it stayed in place until I had time to go pick up the camera.. That is also why I told the op to "hold that".. so he wouldn't go until I give him the signal, which is SOP, but I was a little concerned he would pull after I walked away from the tree.. So it would have gone differently if it wasn't getting taped...

 

more later............

[dadio]

Tree goes right where you want it and so alls good. Thanks for posting.

 

Whats the purpose of the letterbox in this case?

 

You anticipated some twisty grain' date=' so would a standard hinge not have been more appropriate in this case?

 

If the tree's crown was weighted heavier at one side, and had nipped your saw during the backcut, before the backcut met or overlapped the plunge cut, you would have had to start pulling with the skid steer to help free the saw, when the cut was not finished.

 

Letterbox and plunge cut seem unnecessary for this tree and overcomplicated.

 

I spent much of this week pulling over similar backleaning sycamores, the properties of which are almost identical to Norway maple and standard cuts were fine for the job.[/quote']

 

I did take a good look at this tree beforehand, and it looked very well balanced, or I would not have used this cut. Would have gone with a tapered hinge instead. Notch and plunge cut were set, then the pull line was pretensioned before the back cut was finished. So no worries about the saw getting pinched, to either side or back lean.

 

Though the letter box may have been unnecessary, I wouldn't' call it over-compicated, as it is a quick and straightforward cut, taking less than 5 seconds.. And just because it was unnecessary, doesn't mean it isn't useful or good to use.. Certainly, the tree could have been felled without the letterbox, no problem. But for the extra 5 seconds, I'll put it to use, throwing as much advantage my way as possible...

 

The only reason to use it in this situation is to reduce resistance in the hinge, which allows more of the force of the pull line to fight the lean, as less is needed to fight the hinge fibers.

[Big 'Ammer]

I did take a good look at this tree beforehand, and it looked very well balanced, or I would not have used this cut. Would have gone with a tapered hinge instead. Notch and plunge cut were set, then the pull line was pretensioned before the back cut was finished. So no worries about the saw getting pinched, to either side or back lean.

 

Though the letter box may have been unnecessary, I wouldn't' call it over-compicated, as it is a quick and straightforward cut, taking less than 5 seconds.. And just because it was unnecessary, doesn't mean it isn't useful or good to use.. Certainly, the tree could have been felled without the letterbox, no problem. But for the extra 5 seconds, I'll put it to use, throwing as much advantage my way as possible...

 

The only reason to use it in this situation is to reduce resistance in the hinge, which allows more of the force of the pull line to fight the lean, as less is needed to fight the hinge fibers.

 

This seems a contradiction to me.

 

I don't understand why, when you had anticipated the tree to have some twisty grain, that you would want to sever the central fibres of the hinge with a letterbox cut?

 

Surely, if the holding properties of the fibres at the side of the hinge are likely to be compromised by the grain, then you would seek to retain the central portion of the hinge.

 

If you wish to reduce resisitance in the hinge then cut it narrower across the full width.

 

I would say that a letter box and plunge cut actually have more potential disadvantages than potential advantages for a tree like this.

 

The main one being, if the twisty grain side fails early, and there's no centre to the hinge, the opposite side has too much hinge, the tree will likely fall away from the direction of lay, out of your control.

 

We are talking fine points of 'what ifs' etc, as I stated beforehand that the tree went over as it should, where you wanted it.

[dadio]

I wasn't concerned about twist in the hinge before the fall. The main concern there was side lean, which was not apparent. I keep my back cuts 1/2"-1" above the notch on precision falls, unless there is a good reason to go higher... One of the reasons for keeping stump shot to a minimum is that twist in the grain has farther to travel and can eat up more of the hinge with a higher back cut.. Even with so little stump shot, I was surprised at how much twist was still in the grain.. That wouldn't be a surprise on a low cut, but this was at waist level... This is something to keep in mind with the species..

 

That said, your point about less twist in the middle of the hinge is noted... another perspective would be that the wider hinge allows for a little more twist without compromising the integrity of the hinge on that side.. Who really knows what the right answer is.. perhaps the best thing that can be emphasized here, is that I would not have used this cut if the tree had any side lean... Pulling 180 degrees to the lean, allows for a lot of latitude in technique..