Hmmmmmmmmm, well i've had this post sitting hear a month from a similar conversation; i offer it in its entirety:
A while back we were talking about a climber’s/ gymnast’s connection; and seemed to have found a pattern amongst us! For me the comparison goes much deeper than that of just the swinging and balance.
In gymnastics, you progress into more difficult tricks, as your scope enlarges and talent, alignment of power increases. But, you always wade in with a wealth of power to the task; one that so much overrides what you are attempting so completely; that the controlled motion flows with grace and power; using all forces available to achieve your goal; while minimizing those that stand against you. You fined that pointing your toes, staying tight etc. not only looks good ; but is mechanically correct, as it provides more leveraged swing, with less play in the machine of motion; thereby yielding the most power from the input. You see how the fine points of balance and timing come into play in the controlled motion; and learn to apply them. This is the connection to me!
In the scenario presented of Billy-Bob, sliding sideways, burning rubber in a truck attempting to pull over a tree; there is no grace; there is no overwhelming force ready to imperceptibly correct any hesitancy of motion ushering towards your goal. This does not provide overwhelming positive force.
We pull trees with trucks; that are sometimes going to go where we want them any way! Sometimes we put a 3/1 on the load (tree). Of course you can only schedule this; with plenty of travel; a lot of this is generous overkill though. We also walk the backcut to a point of failure/fold before urging it down; that point where the pull at high leverage point will commit the fall into the desired ‘box’ with the most ‘controlling’ (holding) wood to usher its motion (right this way please sir……). For the more controlling wood on the drop into a well-placed/formed hinge; the more control! We find that by not setting a running bowline to the top; but rather running the line down the back side of the fall as a brace/ pushrod, clove hitching to the trunk; we can go higher for more leverage on the center of balance. Dropping the back/face cut also grants more leverage to the pull. Also, if we can get the line into the tree to be cocked back rather than straight up; we can get more torque through a wider range. I’ve never read this, but it seems to me that the bend as the line traces over the top, wants to straighten out with the more pressure applied, so besides the direct pull, you have that bend trying to straighten out working with you; the same for the self-torqueing rig! They both seem to me to want to pull from the hitch; and leverage a push at the bend as they seek to straighten out; indeed I have seen where the longer this leg is, the more leverage it seems to exert on rolling out or ‘dumping its bucket’. Just another example of a lesson on the ground; teaching also one in the air! For the controls on gravity of line, facecut and holding fibre; are all pervasive in both. All this force and pull is to bring the tree into the facecut with more controlling hinge wood than it would have had otherwise. Also; playing and working with all this, to make it better can sharpen an understanding of hinging wood fiber in rigging limbs.
A lot of this we do for positive motion; a lot for pulling a tree forward with a beefier hinge of holding wood than it would have had otherwise to usher it to the ground more controlled; coupled with the wide mouth hinge to allow this motion to flow unhindered. We seek to make the hinge hang on a long time; for once it shears we don’t have any control over speed or direction. We see the facecut as a chock taken away from a tire, allowing free flow of motion through a range. A lot of what we usher is formed in clearing the way for favourable forces to flow unhindered. This range (arc) of motion can be increased by making a wider facecut. To give this mechanical instruction to the gravity powered machine to move through this wider arc before shearing as the faces meet. The resultant hinge provides brake force and steering through this range to an extent, the better, stronger more elastic, lively the fiber; the more control is possible.
Other things we do to allow this to work is to make a wide mouthed, deep hinge, without the face cuts being crossed at all. If they cross; they make a hinge, within a hinge that closes too early for it is only as wide as the kerf; causing seizing or shearing as both faces are pitted against each other in this small space. Sometimes we can use the resulting compressive force of a hinge within a hinge to our advantage, especially on just one side but that is way out at the ex-stream! We leave the face wide, to give the mechanical instruction/allowance for the machine (hinge) to have a wide sweep, for when the faces meet; it must shear off; and is then a free agent. All these things are machine instructions; you must give the ‘program’ the right instructions for the proper control and ushering of that which passes through this machine.
We also plunge the nose of the bar into the center of the face cut horizontally (there is a safe way to do this, and a wrong way); as to remove the oldest, stiffest wood in the center. This leaves 2 hinges; one on either side of the center punch; these hinges are younger, more flexible wood; that flex more without snapping (in good wood; ie. Live Oak , pine etc.). . We also eliminate the fiber on the outside of the cut (especially pines); as it seems so ‘leathery’; so we ride just the select; not too stiff or leathery fiber down. This also gives you a nice whole to site the drop through! Using a wedge from the back, while pulling from high leverage in the front; so it comes over with a beefier, wide hinge of more elastic material, for very slow, controlled drops confidently. This grants more control over direction and speed; the less speed, the less impact. The more of a glancing blow ( some force of the total moving sideways); the less impact! We seek to have the beefiest hinge possible, that are the most flexible. We arrange the fibres within that hinge to pull differently to adjust the balance of the head’s path; as it all flows into the facecut. Which tells it how far it can flow undisturbed; and when to start to separate and from what point; as it ushers our gravity powered machine through its arc of motion. This, doesn’t seem to have quite the capacity to adjust an off-balanced head as a full hinge; so I don’t use it in extreme circumstances of this.
We also drop the resultant force on a mattress of limbs, sometimes old tires covered with limbs and make mechanical fuses out of the leading limbs to dissipate force. All these factors combining and multiplying, and we can drop more weight with less impact; and no digging into the ground. The mattress of limbs also help to keep the saws cutting the trunk from hitting steel braid or dirt; by giving a buffer zone.
You have to do everything right, in good wood to usher such grace safely. You must make the hinge perfectly, feed into it’s apex on the release cut, and maintain a steady speed on the drop; don’t cause it to stall with too much control! The stump takes a lot of the load (brakeforce of fall), it will shift under ground (can break pipes!) so must be sound.
So we leave the face wide, to give the mechanical instruction/allowance for the machine (hinge) to have a wide sweep, for when the faces meet; it must shear off; and is then a free agent. As you pull the truck forward, sometimes you can lose traction if the pull is directed up. So we will redirect the pull off a trunk (with pulley) to the truck to alleviate this; putting weight in the bed helps also, sometimes in sugar sand, we will let some of the air out of the tires for more positive traction/power. In rigging and drops, we seek not to cut through the hinge, but maintain it’s machinery. We find 3 positions for the hinge; Fall, Hold and then Fhold in between the 2 others; we seek to Fhold for more controlled slower motion; manipulating the holding wood for different pulls side to side.
Same for the redneck crane, generous, overwhelming force; judiciously applied with ready reserve to faultlessly usher everything to your goal. The hinge is the machined that must be made perfectly to function at it’s maximum. A lot of guys I’ve seen use a truck, don’t walk the hinge cut to a point where the mule (truck) can pull it easily; this has gone for guys felling trees, or lifting limbs off houses. They sit and fight the holding wood uselessly, instead of waiting for the right time when the machine (hinge) can work; to easily pull the member through its range. You have to have a feel for the forces present and how to stack them on your side; and minimize how they stack against you. A truck; judiciously used can be a readily available source of power and overwhelming force; in it’s own range; just like Tiny!
-KC
And, if i remeber write, some of the blame goes to Murphy! All together: "BAD MURPH", "BAAAAAAAAAD MURPH".
