Felling

[gordon]

Wedges are not just to keep a tree from leaning back on the bar, they can also be used to control critters coming at ya. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If used correctly the wedges are worth their weight in gold and then some. You can take a leaner and drop in the exact oppsite way with wedges. But there is that fine line. To much and it's best to use the winch or skidding cable on it. I'm not sure of the links that I listed had but there should be something out there to give you a good lowdown on wedge use. Another thing to think about is the style of cut u use to begin with. Stay simple at first, get comfortable with the smaller straighter trees and go from there.

I'll see if I can hunt something down on wedge use for ya.
Gordon

 

[Youare]

I have used plastic felling wedges for quite some time, I have at least 4 with me all the time and I use one most of the time.

Back in the 1980's I spent a couple of days with a professional logger, Soren Erickson. He was being interviewed for an magazine article and demonstrated many of the felling methods used in the area of Europe he came from.

Since then I have used the 90 degree face cut along with felling wedges. The advantage of the 90 dergee face cut is the tree stays connected to the stump through the hindge all the way from vertical to horzontal. A 45 degree face cut forces the tree to seperate from the stump some where around half way from vertical to horzontal.

This condition allows the tree to move backward off the stump should the top of the tree contact another tree top on the way down or roll to the side from a similar event.

Soren demonstrated a nice little manuver when you use two or three wedges across the back of the tree and you have reached the end of the wedge but need morre lift. He tapped the two outside wedges in and left the center one loose. Then taking the chainsaw and plunging the bar in directly under the center wedge about 1/2 inch below the wedge in about the length of the wedge.

In this cut another wedge is inserted and it will give you another wedge thickness to tip the tree in the desired direction.

I have found that some plactic wedges are more slippery than others. Some types of trees like to spit out the wedge from time to time, when this happens I take a little dirt on place it on top of the wedge and on top of the stump. This gives the wedge a little more bite.

Becareful out there.

Randy

 

[Rowski]

Well... I did it /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif. I'm sure to others this is no big deal, but to me it great to have an out come with something that I knew little about. I got the tree to go exactly where I wanted it too. I did use the wedges (2 of them), I got the plastic type. The tree was leaning slightly opposite the direction of the fell and the top of the tree had more branches opposite the fell. I could have done a little better on the notch and back cut. The bar on the saw was about and inch to short, I thought it would make it. The cut was needed to be made almost chest high, next to a very large rock and uneven ground. The only route was to fell it one direction. Any other direction and it would have most likely gotten hung pretty badly.

Attached is the picture of the stump. You can see the thicker hinge on the far side of the picture compared to a smaller hinge on the closer side of the picture. The wedges are shown but not in the position I had during the fell.

QUESTIONS-> Should I have used one wedge instead of two? Also is there anything else wrong with the front cut and bcak cut shown on the stump? I know it should have been more level on the back cut and the hinge should have been more even across, correct?

I do have 2 Spruce trees that need to be cut about 10" in diameter that lean pretty bad to the opposite side of the fell. They most likely won't get done till next weekend.

Thanks for all the info and links Gordon.

 

[Rowski]

A shot of the whole tree on the ground.

 

[Rowski]

A shot of the butt and the stump next to each other. Gives you a better idea of my not so perfect notch and back cut /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif.

 

[BigDave]

Congrats Derek, that looks like a pretty good size tree for your saw. How do you like your Husky? What model do you have? How old is it?

Retired my old Husky Model 61 for safety concerns. Hoping the new ones have similar quality, since I bought a 350 w/16" bar & a 372XP w/24" bar today. They have some new fangled contraption called an anti-kickback device. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[jyoutz]

According to my timber sale contracts, I'd have to charge you for a high stump penalty. Ha, Ha, all in fun.

 

[gordon]

Nice work Derek, as I said the wedges are key not only in felling but in bucking as well. Cool when you can make that tree do exactly what you want it to isn't it. But please and this goes out to everyone---BE VERY CAREFUL WITH A CHAINSAW!

Now to your question about the notch. Yes it needs some practice. Your backcut was a little low, but you already know that. But then again that is how you become better as something-with practice.

There are alot of things that you can do with both the wedges and the type of cuts that you make in steering the tree during the fall. A full open face will give you the best steering, all the way down if that is what your looking for--safety.

Oh and I fixed those dead links on the forum and added a couple of new ones as well. Check out the new ones, some good stuff on wedges.
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.forestryforum.com/directory/Chainsaw_Operation_and_tree_felling.shtml>http://www.forestryforum.com/directory/Chainsaw_Operation_and_tree_felling.shtml</A>

Oh and best yet the Mrs bought me a new saw shirt. I'm a husky man (saw that is) and it says stihl on it but it's a very nice shirt with kevlar in the sleeves and shoulders. NICE The above picture is of me wearing the new shirt. Also in picture is one of our new gunnin dogs that we bought. This one is from PA. His name is Fred and he is almost a year old now.

Gordon

 

[knucklehead]

Nice job, Derek! And a nice saw, too. Sometimes I sorta forget and line up the backcut with the notch - it seems "natural", and I'm always sliding the saw up a bit to correct myself. Did you find the wedges "moved" the tree noticeably?

Hey Gordon - thanks for the fix on the links - I'll go back and read the ones I couldn't. No sweat about the shirt - I have a pair of Stihl kevlar chaps, and so far, my Husky doesn't mind them. Hope it decides to stay away! And ain't it nice to have all that insulation around my legs when it's hot - nice to keep the legs, though!

Does anyone know if that "90 degree" notch, that Randy mentioned above, mean we can cheat our back cut down toward the notch, because the hinge is more open to the falling direction? Or, as I would imagine, should the backcut stay up a bit for an added factor of safety?

I didn't know how much I didn't know about this until I started thinking about it - what's that they say about ignorance? Next to Godliness?

/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif