gettin hinges parallel

[sycamorephobic]

could anyone give some advice on gettin nice accurate straight parallel hinges when fellin medium/large stems? been in the game a couple of years and most of the time i get it right but the odd time when it feels right but i look at the stump after and think jesus! thats awful. i.e back cut is slanted/hinge is way off. where are you looking when you start the back cut? is it just a matter of practice? its not the kind of thing you wanna get wrong really.

cheers

[Rob D]

I put on a thread the other day with exactly the same thing! Been felling for years but made a poor effort of getting hinge parallel - the worst I've ever done!

 

I suppose you're talking about when you can't see the bar tip on the other side - it is tricky when you have a big saw in the cut, thorns up your backside... you don't really want to pull the whole saw out then back in to compare the angles... but it's what you should do!

 

But maybe a few others know a trick to get it parallel.....

 

 

 

 

[Mark T]

I think the best advice I can offer is to know where the back of your sink is... sounds simple but many stand too far back and are, in effect, cutting blind. When finishing a back cut off I place myself just forward of the hinge so that I can look at the back of the sink and lead the saw upto it.

 

Also, use the air intake lines / sight lines / component lines on the saw body to show you which direction the bar is pointing - or even keep a few inches of bar out of the cut. That way you'll know where back of the sink is and where the nose of the bar is and the rest should follow.

 

Sorry if this sounds too basic and you already know it but its so important to get the basics right.

[tommer9]

Holding your bar against the hinge, in the gob, and using your sight lines, put the tip of the bar halfway across the hinge. Note where the edge of the stem comes on the bar- if you still have lettering/ paint on the bar great, a letter or mark will be your reference point. You could score a line in the bark from one side of the hinge to the other round the back of the tree. Then bore in behind the hinge a couple of inches above your line that you scored, and bore in keeping the sightline on the saw pointing the same way as when you held the bar in the gob (as above) until you get to the point on your bar that you marked/ remembered when the tip of the bar was in the middle of the hinge. Keep that reference point at the edge of the trunk, and keeping parallel to the line you scored, bring the saw round the tree, imagining as you go that the bar nose is your pivot point in the tree. When you have gone just past 90degrees round, put a nylon or aluminium wedge in the gap (having applied the chain brake) and keep cutting. On a large ish tree anothe wedge could be added further round if necessary.

 

If you're really lucky i'll do a vid later......

[testcricket01]

a good trick i got taught at college was stick a long twig in the gob, so it sticks out both sides of the tree. then you can see where your gob is plus it helps with getting the height of the backcut. hope this helps.

[Ben90]

a good trick i got taught at college was stick a long twig in the gob, so it sticks out both sides of the tree. then you can see where your gob is plus it helps with getting the height of the backcut. hope this helps.

 

I did that too! Everytime I do that, the hinges come out nicely, if i don't, they often turn out pants. Sometimes it's hard to find a long enough twig that's also straight enough.

 

Maybe we should start carrying around a bag of 6mm dowel rod offcuts of varying lengths.

[skyhuck]

On big trees I will normally decide which side of the hinge in under compression and cut that side first, cutting as close too the back of the hinge as I feel is safe and then move to the tension side of the hinge and cut until it starts to go.

 

Does that make any sense at all???????

[scuff]

Take side buttresses of at 90 degrees to gob gives you a nice pair of levels to follow:thumbup:

[combined tree services]

On big trees I will normally decide which side of the hinge in under compression and cut that side first, cutting as close too the back of the hinge as I feel is safe and then move to the tension side of the hinge and cut until it starts to go.

 

Does that make any sense at all???????

 

ditto . also it has alot to do with your posture when cutting , how you handle the saw when your putting your cuts in and not rushing the cuts

[scuff]

check out me piccy