finally felled my first tree

[Poindexter]

Your hinge looks pretty darn good for a first time. I have made many much sloppier than that. When you are watching youtubes about felling, look for the hinge to be the same thickness edge to edge.

Hinges with a lot of triangle to the shape indicate a tree that fell off to one side or the other of what was originally intended, or a tree that was directed to fall somewhere other than it wanted to go.

Most likely your saw has some kind of guide marks on the case to help you make square hinge cuts.

Also, put an empty gatorade bottle downrange and practice crushing it with the trunk of the tree you are dropping.

I agree with TreePointer that your back cut could have been lower, closer to the notch. Those two pieces where the felling cuts are are going to be cold hearted witches to split.

There is a series of excellent felling videos on youtube by Husqvarna, 5-10 minutes each. I bet Stihl has some and the Stihl videos are uniformly excellent though I haven't watched the felling ones if they have them.

 

[Fred Wright]

Another potential danger, your fell sideswiping an adjacent tree on the way down. This happened to me a few times, rolled the main stem off the stump - and fast. One tree I sideswiped was a red maple, the base was hollow due to carpenter ants. It broke and fell into the street. Had to stop work to clean that mess up. Fortunately, I got it cleared before the police came through. That was definitely a memorable experience.

It's nice to have a clear area to aim trees but I wasn't afforded that luxury. Thick woods, tall forest trees. I learned about defusing springpoles that year.

 

[ohiojoe13]

This is a picture of the first tree that got hung up. You can see in the upper left of the picture is the maple.

 

[ohiojoe13]

I don't understand why all my pictures are sideways

 

[Ncountry]

Good job.Tree is on the ground.Having worked as a feller in the past, here are a few things to keep in mind. Never turn your back on a falling tree, have an escape root planned out, and look up too( 90% of the dangers fall out of the trees above)

 

[Ashful]

I don't understand why all my pictures are sideways

iPhone. There's only one way you can hold it, if you want your pic's to show up in correct orientation on a forum (or any PC).

 

[TreePointer]

I don't understand why all my pictures are sideways

It's where we live. Everything within 30 miles of Youngstown is a little crooked.

 

[bag of hammers]

I use a come along and drag the tree backwards.

That's what I do as well when I can. I don't have a comfort level cutting a tree with a hanger on it. For the not so huge maples / birch etc. this has worked well (small enough to drag the bottom out a foot or 2 to get it on the ground). These are still big enough to do some serious damage if I try the alternative. I have not cut enough to consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination - so I'd rather spend an hour farting around with a cable than take my chances with 2 seconds of gravity.

 

[xman23]

That's what I do as well when I can. I don't have a comfort level cutting a tree with a hanger on it. For the not so huge maples / birch etc. this has worked well (small enough to drag the bottom out a foot or 2 to get it on the ground). These are still big enough to do some serious damage if I try the alternative. I have not cut enough to consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination - so I'd rather spend an hour farting around with a cable than take my chances with 2 seconds of gravity.

Yea brother, well said. I know a lot of stuff is repeated here, but if one person learns how deadly these trees can be, it's worth it.

 

[BrotherBart]

Haven't read the whole thread, but one of our prior moderator's is in a wheel chair for life due to a tree getting him while felling it.

Be careful out there.

 

[Ashful]

Haven't read the whole thread, but one of our prior moderator's is in a wheel chair for life due to a tree getting him while felling it.

Be careful out there.

I think of that guy frequently, when I'm out felling. He was off the forum, I believe in the hospital, at the time I joined. I remember him popping in and telling his story when he got out of the hospital, sometime during my first few months here. Very scary stuff.

If we're talking about the same person, it actually wasn't the body of the tree that got him, as I recall. It was a branch falling from that or another tree, as the tree went down. Not a cutting mistake, just a failure to account for what was looming above.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. It was Gooserider.

 

[Ashful]

I just went searching for his thread, which I was unable to find. It may have actually been posted by his wife, what I had read before.

It left a lasting impression on many of us, even those of us who never really knew him. So, not to rub salt in the wound, but it may be worth making it a sticky or perennial re-posting here. He was a more experienced feller than me, and still managed to get hurt while doing almost everything right. Definitely something worth remembering, when out in the woods.

 

[ohiojoe13]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom.