No longer a felling virgin. Now with pics.

[Sinngetreu]

That's right, tonight I felled my first tree by myself.
I'm feeling like such a big boy in my big boy pants!

It is a decent sized Mulberry that was about 18-20" DBH.
I made my open face cut like I wanted, chased the cut to the hinge nicely, and the sucker dropped just where I wanted it to. It was awesome.
It was a dead standing that had very little bark left on it. It had been dead standing for at least the five years that I have been here. I have been meaning to get that down for a while, and I decided tonight was the night.
Not only was that the first tree, but I used my new Husky 555 for it. I haven't had a chance to cut with it before now. Thank you Pen for recommending that one. It was neither underpowered or overpowered. It was just right.
I didn't take any pictures yet, but it was a quick fell after work. I will take pics of the carnage tomorrow and post them.

Carry on.

 

[pen]

Hope you are as happy with the 555 down the road as I have been with mine.

Sounds like you were well ahead of the curve in terms of making your first fell. Education is key! Some comes through learning on places like this, the rest comes from getting it done first hand. Well done. Sounds like you put good practice to use and had a safe fall.....

As it should be! and glad to hear it!

pen

 

[Paulywalnut]

I hope you're good to go with the Mulberry. That wood can hold moisture forever. I know you're running low on wood so good luck with it.

 

[Sinngetreu]

Hope you are as happy with the 555 down the road as I have been with mine.

Sounds like you were well ahead of the curve in terms of making your first fell. Education is key! Some comes through learning on places like this, the rest comes from getting it done first hand. Well done. Sounds like you put good practice to use and had a safe fall.....

As it should be! and glad to hear it!

pen

Yep, Im a researcher. I watched a few training videos and also watched a few videos from the cutters point of view. It was helpful to visualize what I needed to do to make a successful fall. It helped a lot.
Here is one of my favorite videos.

 

[Sinngetreu]

I hope you're good to go with the Mulberry. That wood can hold moisture forever. I know you're running low on wood so good luck with it.

Thanks Pauly, the trunk I don't expect to be ready, but the upper branches are definitely ready. They are gray and barkless with cracks every where. When split, they sound like bowling pins. Im not sure about MC, but they seem very dry.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Thanks Pauly, the trunk I don't expect to be ready, but the upper branches are definitely ready. They are gray and barkless with cracks every where. When split, they sound like bowling pins. Im not sure about MC, but they seem very dry.

Good deal.

 

[ArsenalDon]

congrats on your first popped cherry...uhhhh I mean Mulberry.

 

[Sinngetreu]

congrats on your first popped cherry...uhhhh I mean Mulberry.

HaHaHa Wow, and I thought I was walking the line with the whole virgin comment. LOL Thanks.

 

[pen]

HaHaHa Wow, and I thought I was walking the line with the whole virgin comment. LOL Thanks.

In this context it's OK. By the way,,,, pics or it didn't happen

 

[Sinngetreu]

In this context it's OK. BTW, pics or it didn't happen

The pics are coming, I promise.

 

[ArsenalDon]

In this context it's OK. By the way,,,, pics or it didn't happen

YES! Rule number 1!!

 

[kjahnz]

The Vidio was entertaining and educational, thanks. I don't own any wedges.

 

[Sinngetreu]

The Vidio was entertaining and educational, thanks. I don't own any wedges.

They are a good tool to have. I need more of them.

 

[_CY_]

Yep, Im a researcher. I watched a few training videos and also watched a few videos from the cutters point of view. It was helpful to visualize what I needed to do to make a successful fall. It helped a lot.
Here is one of my favorite videos.

gotta disagree .. above video is a cool video but truly sucks as an educational video. very dangerous situation with barber chair .. safest method would have been to strap trunk before cutting a badly leaning tree. barber chair can shoot entire trunk in an unpredictable manner .. possibly in a fatal direction.

lots of instruction video abound on youtube .. problems is knowing which one to trust your life to

this is a good video to watch .. everything but plunge cut near end is pretty standard. plunge cut is favored by some. personally hardly ever use it.

pay close attention to hinge which controls fall .. he spends time on figuring out how to determine fall angle .. escape route .. etc.

 

[kjahnz]

That second video was educational, not entertaining at all.

 

[JustWood]

gotta disagree .. above video is a cool video but truly sucks as an educational video. very dangerous situation with barber chair .. safest method would have been to strap trunk before cutting a badly leaning tree. barber chair can shoot entire trunk in an unpredictable manner .. possibly in a fatal direction.

lots of instruction video abound on youtube .. problems is knowing which one to trust your life to

this is a good video to watch .. everything but plunge cut near end is pretty standard. plunge cut is favored by some. personally hardly ever use it.

pay close attention to hinge which controls fall .. he spends time on figuring out how to determine fall angle .. escape route .. etc.

Agreed on OP's video.
Lots of fatal mistakes . His saving grace was every tree was a clear drop with no obstacles.

 

[infinitymike]

i gotta ask...what does DBH mean? I assume diameter but whats the B H

 

[JustWood]

i gotta ask...what does DBH mean? I assume diameter but whats the B H

Diameter Breast Height

 

[infinitymike]

Diameter Breast Heigth

AHHH. Now I'm longer a DBH virgin

Thank you ... Learn something new everyday

 

[Sinngetreu]

gotta disagree .. above video is a cool video but truly sucks as an educational video. very dangerous situation with barber chair .. safest method would have been to strap trunk before cutting a badly leaning tree. barber chair can shoot entire trunk in an unpredictable manner .. possibly in a fatal direction.

lots of instruction video abound on youtube .. problems is knowing which one to trust your life to

this is a good video to watch .. everything but plunge cut near end is pretty standard. plunge cut is favored by some. personally hardly ever use it.

pay close attention to hinge which controls fall .. he spends time on figuring out how to determine fall angle .. escape route .. etc.

There is a little bit of a misunderstanding here. I wasn't showing that as an example of a instructional video, just an entertainment video (and a POV video that I was talking about). Also, you can learn from other peoples mistakes.
Here is the video that I used as an instructional video.

 

[TreePointer]

i gotta ask...what does DBH mean? I assume diameter but whats the B H

There are actually rules for measuring DBH. As JustWood mentioned, in the USA it's normally at 4.5 feet, but there are exceptions for certain trees like those with low branching off the trunk.

 

[jatoxico]

Good deal Sinngetreu! I haven't felled many trees and of those that I did, they were not very big and probably not done very well. But it is kinda fun so I get your enthusiasm. Get those pics up!

 

[Sinngetreu]

Here are some pics. I hope this offering will suffice. LOL

The site.



As I was walking out there, I saw at least 20 pheasants pop up out of this weed patch. We haven't had those numbers on the farm in years. It was cool to see.



Here are a couple pics of the splitting last night.



Here is whats next....

Its hard to see, but there is a dead standing in the middle of the screen that is in front of the Aspen.



And then the second from the left spruce in the middle of the frame. Its dying and needs to realize its full potential as firewood.



I brought in a round from outside to warm up. Later on, I will split it and get a moisture reading. I'll let you know what that ends up being.

 

[aussiedog3]

After watching that video I can't wait until spring to start scrounging again and the smells of fresh cut wood, sweat, and 2 stoke exhaust!
Kinda hard to do now with 3 feet of solid snow on the ground now. County road commission was taking some trees down nearby this past week and I couldn't even watch, had to take a different route to work, I have no place to put it and process it. I have snow piles, snow piles and more big frozen snow piles.
Hardly room to turn the car around in the driveway.

 

[Sinngetreu]

Last night I brought in a round that was fresh cut to get warmed up to room temp. Today I split it and took a moisture reading. The highest reading I had on that round was 17 percent.