felling cuts

[Charlieh]

Hello all,

I have a job ahead where I am to fell several very skinny Sycamores leaning from a low bank hard towards a lane and over phone and electric cables.

These are too thin to climb and other than hire a MEWP I am a loss how to dismantle them safely.

I could get a line over into the crown and pull them back away from the lane and cables but which cut to use?

I wish to avoid a barberschair situation.

The stems are very small diameter indeed yet around 16m in height.

Thanks in advance.

 

i have done very small diameter alders (6-12") on a reservior bank, leaning towards the water, we felled them by attaching a small electric winch, (superwinch 2000lb) although a tirfor would do the same job, put your gob cut in the direction of fell but make it upside down, so the flat bit is at the top if that makes sense, tension the tirfor so its just taking a bit of tension then put your back cut is as normal, about 1/2" below the top of the gob as you progress get the tifor operator to start to tension the cable, and it should come over fine, just leave a good hinge (a bit more than normal) as if they are small the tirfor will pull them over ok,

 

the winch cable only needs to be as high as you can set it from the ground, where we were felling was steeper than 45degrees

Edited September 15, 2009 by Charlieh

[Tom D]

There's a couple of dogtooth cuts on here, felling with the lean and a backwind, prevents a barberchair.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/video-forum/9354-felling-big-willows.html

[liamjordan]

There's a couple of dogtooth cuts on here, felling with the lean and a backwind, prevents a barberchair.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/video-forum/9354-felling-big-willows.html

love doing those cuts

[Ben90]

I finished college in June, we were taught the regular felling cut, split level, danish pie and reverse fell, which is a variation on the dogtooth but instead of the release cut being 45degrees downward and above the bore cut, it's made parallel to the bore about 1" below, it apparently has a slightly lower risk of throwing your saw if the tree splits.

 

Oh, and since the forests of longleat were so dense, we also made very, very good friends with a winch...

[skyhuck]

Hello all,

I have a job ahead where I am to fell several very skinny Sycamores leaning from a low bank hard towards a lane and over phone and electric cables.

These are too thin to climb and other than hire a MEWP I am a loss how to dismantle them safely.

I could get a line over into the crown and pull them back away from the lane and cables but which cut to use?

I wish to avoid a barberschair situation.

The stems are very small diameter indeed yet around 16m in height.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have always found that trees that are "too thin to climb" can simple be step cut, snapped and carried away.

[Stephen Blair]

it will only barbers chair if the tension on the winch wire is too much, use a tirfor, take the strain, cut, tighten up, cut, tighten up. dont get excited with either of the 2 operations. as long as you are directly opposite the lean with your pull and felling cut then you should be ok, i wouldnt bother with a big step on your hinge, this can act like a break cut on young sycamore, leave it for another month and the leaves will be off and the sep down hopefully will make the tree lighter anf the wood more playable. or as huck says, monkey monkey, i love working on skinny trees, choker up your strops and hang on. if you are lowering use a pulley, makes it less twitchy and smoother on lowering, or speed line it off another, that a lot more fun

[Stephen Blair]

whats v scarf mate??

[coolie]

whats v scarf mate??

 

I see you were enquiring about a post that I edited(deleted).The vee scarf that I mentioned is NZ terminology for a scarf cut 45-70 degrees down and 45-70 degrees up.Like having a conventional scarf and a humbolt scarf in one.The backcut is at the level of the middle of the scarf.

You would use such a scarf when you want the hinge to hold for longer than a conventional scarf.

I edited the post because I am not familiar with the wood properties of those trees and I thought better of trying to give any advice,Lol.

[Stephen Blair]

scarf??is that what we call a gob, so you mean an open gob, so it doesnt break off the hinge early or on the horizontal, if so, it doesnt really work with sycamore well, it is very brittol, and a break cut in this situation wouldnt be cool either i think, you would have no control what so ever, especially when in full leaf.

[coolie]

Yes, scarf is what you call gob, and Yes,what you said about the wood properties of sycamore is why I deleted my post.Wrong scarf for those trees.I suspected that,(never worked on one), so I edited.

After I edited,I noticed that you had already replied so I thought Id post again to explain,Lol.