Felled my first tree

[yinpin]

As the title reads, tonight I finally cut down my first tree! I have been bucking wood with the chainsaw for a few years now and small to midsize branches but never a tree. This thing has been dead since we moved here 3 years ago but have been so busy.

Came down perfectly, some kind of hardwood with some thick and gnarly branches. A lot of clean up but it’s down. Started cutting the small branches but ran out of gas and had to get the kids to bed.

Also had a cedar that was uprooted in last years windstorm that finally toppled onto another tree, bucked that too.

Still have a big ole dead pine to cut but it worries me. Natural lean to where I don’t want it to go.

 

[Renovationman]

Kinda like what I had to do. Dead tree leaning towards house I renovated. I wasn’t taking any chances so I hooked up to it with a very long tow strap and pulled it away from house with my truck. Landed exactly where I wanted it to.

 

[begreen]

Good to see it didn't land on the truck!

 

[sweedish]

May want to have a little more hinge judging by the pic, but that could be misleading. Also get yourself some wedges, can be quite the savior from getting the saw caught and it allows more control when felling

 

[MAD MARK]

May want to have a little more hinge judging by the pic, but that could be misleading. Also get yourself some wedges, can be quite the savior from getting the saw caught and it allows more control when felling

He is right. Need more hinge. Looks like both cuts were made at the same level, not sure if tree had major lean in your favor or not.Looks like a conventional cut too. I prefer Humboldt cuts 98% of the time.

Good job though, got it done without incident.

 

[KJamesJR]

I would say his hinge thickness is fine. Just need to come up about an inch or so.

 

[Grizzerbear]

Yinpin....Now for the one in second pick in back right lol. Looks like a lot of good dead wood in that one if my eyes arent decieving me

 

[spudman99]

What is a "Humboldt Cut"

 

[Grizzerbear]

What is a "Humboldt Cut"

Basically the opposite of conventional cut. The angle cut is left on stump instead of your firewood.

 

[yinpin]

Yinpin....Now for the one in second pick in back right lol. Looks like a lot of good dead wood in that one if my eyes arent decieving me

I did cut the back cut inline with the first cut and realize it should have been higher. This tree definitely had a natural lean in this direction and there was really nothing in its way either way. I figured it would be a good first.

Actually the one in the back right is a giant maple of sort. It is alive and well and is beautiful once the leaves come. The bark issues at the bottom are from my kids. I caught them pulling bark off and hitting it with "swords" last summer. They have stopped.

I have a very large branch to cut off of the walnut tree in the back to its left as well. That one will have to wait but I will seek advice here first.

 

[SpaceBus]

Kinda like what I had to do. Dead tree leaning towards house I renovated. I wasn’t taking any chances so I hooked up to it with a very long tow strap and pulled it away from house with my truck. Landed exactly where I wanted it to.
View attachment 243027View attachment 243028

Did you pull it down with the truck or steer the felling of the tree with the truck? I've got a skidding winch and could put tension on a tree in any direction.

 

[Renovationman]

Did you pull it down with the truck or steer the felling of the tree with the truck? I've got a skidding winch and could put tension on a tree in any direction.

Just put tension on tow strap to make sure it fell in that direction. I made the cuts to fall that way but tree had quite the lean towards house. Strap was 50 % longer than tree height so no fear of it hitting truck.

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk

 

[SpaceBus]

Just put tension on tow strap to make sure it fell in that direction. I made the cuts to fall that way but tree had quite the lean towards house. Strap was 50 % longer than tree height so no fear of it hitting truck.

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk

Awesome.

 

[xman23]

Make sure your first tree is not be able to hit anything. Go the direction of the lean and top weight. If you don't you might pinch the bar. Learn to use wedges. Study the pictures of the various cuts and practice them. It looks to me the hinge was in the center of the tree. I try to make it 1/4 to 1/3 from the fall direction. Important to make keep the hinge the same dimension as you make the last cut. Just the way taught myself.

 

[Dataman]

Just remember if you think it's beyond your skill level get help or hire someone. But great job. So much fun cleaning up after. Got Timber Jack for bucking up? It really helps a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043TP2X4/?tag=hearthamazon-20

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Kinda like what I had to do. Dead tree leaning towards house I renovated. I wasn’t taking any chances so I hooked up to it with a very long tow strap and pulled it away from house with my truck. Landed exactly where I wanted it to.
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Thats pretty much standard procedure. If you have the room to maneuver.

 

[Soundchasm]

When I fell a tree, I go back and cut away all the evidence of how I did it!

They've all gone within a foot or two of my planning, but it'd be a comedy show to anyone with skill how I got there.

 

[SpaceBus]

When I fell a tree, I go back and cut away all the evidence of how I did it!

They've all gone within a foot or two of my planning, but it'd be a comedy show to anyone with skill how I got there.

Oh man, my property is covered in little reminders I'm not a pro. I'm sure I'll get better as I started felling trees last summer.

 

[firefighterjake]

Seems like when I'm felling trees I either have a banner day and each and every tree falls just how and where I want it . . . or it's just the opposite . . . trees go off in some other direction, tree get hung up in nearby trees or I get it down, but the stump looks like a pack of angry beavers attacked the tree vs. a well executed cut.

 

[CountryBoy19]

If you haven't done so already, watch the BC Faller training video series on youtube. That will teach you the vast majority of what you need to know on safely and effectively falling trees.

 

[Woody Stover]

When you are making your cuts, keep an eye on the chips. If you start to see dark chips, or crumbly stuff instead of healthy chips of solid wood, it could mean the tree has rot in the middle, and your hinge may fail.

 

[Zack R]

If you haven't done so already, watch the BC Faller training video series on youtube. That will teach you the vast majority of what you need to know on safely and effectively falling trees.

100% recommend these videos, watch all 17 of them.

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I'm no expert but have now fallen about 20 trees (just started doing this two years ago) and the best outcomes have been with the Humboldt undercut and wedges. Always leave a hinge and the tree will usually go where you want it to.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I'm no expert but have now fallen about 20 trees (just started doing this two years ago) and the best outcomes have been with the Humboldt undercut and wedges. Always leave a hinge and the tree will usually go where you want it to.

Another note on the Humboldt facecut; it helps the log to push out in front of the stump. This usually isn't a problem because the feller SHOULD be long gone from the area, but if you had to leave your saw behind when you got out of dodge, sometimes a normal facecut can leave the log on top of the stump and when the top hits the ground it will roll to one side or the other, causing the saw to be crushed.

Regarding the BC feller series. If I could take 1 thing away from it (there's really hundreds of things to learn from it), I would say it's the value of the hinge. I had no idea how much you could do with a hinge and how to properly use one. You can apply techniques learned in that series to limbing trees as well. I've used hinges to effectively "pivot" limbs from a point they're hanging directly over a fence, to where the limb comes inside the fence and down on the ground without ever touching the fence. With a good, flexible hinge and a wide facecut you can swing a limb more than 90 degrees from the direction it is pointing.