Skeans1
Platinum Member
That chair is from too much holding wood vs like a Dutchman or a stalling cut.
Tractors and wood! Show your pics
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That chair is from too much holding wood vs like a Dutchman or a stalling cut.
John_Mc
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2001
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- 4,567
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- Monkton, Vermont
- Tractor
- NH TC33D Modified with belly pan, limb risers & FOPS. Honda Pioneer 520 & antique Coot UTV
He asked what a barber chair was, so I showed him. It was not intended to be an instruction on what causes it.
For someone who does not know what we are talking about, just saying "Barber chair is when a tree splits out the back well you’re cutting it" doesn't really explain what is going on to someone who has not seen it.
Skeans1
Platinum Member
It also helps explain what caused that barber chair so that people could avoid this situation too.
goeduck
Super Member
That tree looked sort of straight but I could not tell what they were doing from the video. A barber chair from a leaner got someone I knew decapitated a decade or so ago. He would not listen to me and had no professional experience. So it goes.
Skeans1
Platinum Member
That’s what happens when you leave too much hinge wood and the tree stalls, you can see it start to go then it stop the rest is well history.
Sorry to hear about your buddy, would it happen to be from an Alder?
Citydude
Elite Member
I wasn't leery of leaners thinking they would be easy to fell until a good friend of mine explained the amount of tension that's in a leaning tree.
He was a retired logger and didn't mince his words. His message sunk in my thick head.
arrow
Super Member
It only helps Skearns if people knew what you're talking about.
You cannot take as much for granted.
Even the phrase "holding wood" can cause a question mark let alone "stall cut or "dutchman".
If you talk "loggerese", a lot of people won't know.
John Mc clued me in once when I stated I could not fathom the conniptions people go through about sharpening a chain. I stated it was like "breathing" to me because I've done it 40 million times.
He adroitly pointed out that most don't have enough experience to get to that point so a sharpening aid is beneficial to most.
Many times we'll need to get off that "high stump" we're perched on.
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goeduck
Super Member
I think Skeans is correct about too much hinge left on that one. Too bad the video did not show the stump.
Hilbilly
Veteran Member
I don't get that sense at all. Seems to me, information is being provided as a learning aid. I for one, appreciate the information, even if I have to Google some terms for clarification. More learning.
I'm just a country boy that has been heating his home with firewood for about 25 years and have always gone into the bush to cut down trees as the primary fuel source. So far I have been lucky and only had one tree barber chair and luckily it was a small vine maple. Even that small tree knocked me on my butt and provided a very memorable experience / lesson.
The comment about leaving too much holding wood was definitely a new piece of information for me. Now I understand why he kept cutting the back cut, even after the tree was clearly starting to fall. If one pays attention, there is always something new to learn. Thank you Skeans1 for that tidbit of information. It may save me from making a similar mistake in the future.
Very interesting videos.
John_Mc
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2001
- Messages
- 4,567
- Location
- Monkton, Vermont
- Tractor
- NH TC33D Modified with belly pan, limb risers & FOPS. Honda Pioneer 520 & antique Coot UTV
That's one of the reasons a forward leaning tree is prone to barber chair (especially for species which are prone to it in the first place): when you start cutting in from the back for your back cut, the tree can start moving well before you have cut forward to the point where your hinge is the appropriate thickness for that tree. You end up "chasing the tree" to finish the cut, hopefully before it gets far enough to start barber chairing.
While there are those on here who are not fans of the Game Of Logging technique (and who take every opportunity to make that dislike known), it is one of the better and safer ways to deal with a forward leaning tree. (There are other situations where I will use it, but the forward leaner is probably the clearest example of where it has an advantage.) With that method, you make your notch, then bore cut parallel and behind the hinge, taking the time to set the hinge to the desired thickness while the back edge of the tree is still intact and holding the tree motionless. When everything is set, you then cut the remaining wood at back of the tree to release it, and immediately move away from the stump. This is what is often referred to as the "GOL technique". It looks something like this:
That is not to say that this is the only way to handle a forward leaning tree. Some use the "Coos Bay" cut or other methods to reduce the time it takes cutting in from the back, thereby increasing the chance that you can complete the cut and get the hinge to the appropriate thickness before the tree moves enough to risk a barber chair. This involves taking out some of the wood out of the back, so there is less to cut on your way to setting the hinge. Here are a couple of options:
These are not my diagrams. The first was found in this thread on another site, along with a number of other felling diagrams. The second was just the result of a quick internet search on "Coos Bay Cut"
