Reaming: it actually works! 8O

[LordFarkwad]

Felled a little maple and oak yesterday (20" and 24" dbh, both < 50' tall) before my real job, and part of the work order was to buck up everything < 6" into firewood length rounds. I've been known to occasionally get a bar stuck, it's no secret, so I just wanted to try reaming on the larger pieces.

Cut from the top until kerf begins to close, pull bar out, bore back in at same location...worked like a boss! And, at least on the stuff of the size I was dealing with, it only took one time to keep it from pinching through the rest of the cut! Amazing!

I was highly amused by this, if you can't tell.

 

[Treetopflyer]

Heel yeah reamer 10 4 slice bore

 

[chris_girard]

Pro loggers use this tech all the time.

 

[LordFarkwad]

Pro loggers use this tech all the time.

First read about it in "Fundamentals..." then saw a video @rico posted, pointing out to someone where he does it in the vid.

 

[chris_girard]

Yup, so many of us have Jerry Beranek to thank for introducing us to techniques that we otherwise would never have heard of. He was and still is my mentor.

 

[Phil]

Cut from the top until kerf begins to close, pull bar out, bore back in at same location...worked like a boss! And, at least on the stuff of the size I was dealing with, it only took one time to keep it from pinching through the rest of the cut! Amazing!

This is interesting and something I will definitely experiment with. To be clear, when you bore back in, where in relation to the nose of the bar is the bottom of your original top-down cut? Center of tip? bottom of tip? Just trying to get a better mental visual.

I have another technique I use for bucking larger logs to prevent pinch and also buck logs bigger in diameter than the bar I have. I'll try to explain: Log has compression wood on top side. Start cut horizontal from the top down until it starts to close. Next cut is vertical on the far side of the log, in line with the top cut. I just let the saw walk around to the far side when I've gone deep enough on the top. I make this second cut about 1/3rd of the way in and then bring the saw back around to the side near me. I use the nose of the bar to make a similar vertical cut on the side of the log close to me. At this point there is essentially an internal rectangle of wood left holding, starting at the bottom. The last cut comes up from the bottom. The very top of the log will close but since we already cut that, when we finally release the internal rectangle with our last horizontal upward cut, the chain is not near that pinch point and the log actually pushes itself apart a tiny bit allowing the saw to be removed. Works well 99% of the time. Some times I rush and biff it though. sometimes I will bore in for the last bottom cut if there isn't enough clearance to get the saw under the log. Hopefully that's a decent explanation. I can't remember where I saw this technique first but its not my original idea.

 

[LordFarkwad]

The way I was doing it at least, I plunged back in with bottom of bar approximately in line with bottom of cut - as if I was continuing on down through the log.

I defer to others who'd like to explain, though; I'm way under-qualified to pontificate much on the 'right'/textbook way. In fact, this might not be the correct way to perform it, what I was doing.

Didn't get a chance to experiment with it much, but it seems like the more that top cut closes, the safer you are from being pinched as you continue following your original kerf, which is also perhaps why it takes only one plunge to completely cut through the log, at least on as small of a guy as I was bucking. In other words, once the top of the kerf closes, it's done pinching until the log is bucked through completely.

From the perspective of speed/efficiency, it seems as if it would be much quicker to bore back in with the bar's belly coincident/lined-up-with the bottom of the kerf you just pulled out of, since it would then be just the top of the chain cutting wood as you plunge back in - might be a little quicker than trying to bore back in with the belly having to clear out wood all the way along the bottom of the kerf.

- Deep thoughts by Jack Handy.

This is interesting and something I will definitely experiment with. To be clear, when you bore back in, where in relation to the nose of the bar is the bottom of your original top-down cut? Center of tip? bottom of tip? Just trying to get a better mental visual.

I have another technique I use for bucking larger logs to prevent pinch and also buck logs bigger in diameter than the bar I have. I'll try to explain: Log has compression wood on top side. Start cut horizontal from the top down until it starts to close. Next cut is vertical on the far side of the log, in line with the top cut. I just let the saw walk around to the far side when I've gone deep enough on the top. I make this second cut about 1/3rd of the way in and then bring the saw back around to the side near me. I use the nose of the bar to make a similar vertical cut on the side of the log close to me. At this point there is essentially an internal rectangle of wood left holding, starting at the bottom. The last cut comes up from the bottom. The very top of the log will close but since we already cut that, when we finally release the internal rectangle with our last horizontal upward cut, the chain is not near that pinch point and the log actually pushes itself apart a tiny bit allowing the saw to be removed. Works well 99% of the time. Some times I rush and biff it though. sometimes I will bore in for the last bottom cut if there isn't enough clearance to get the saw under the log. Hopefully that's a decent explanation. I can't remember where I saw this technique first but its not my original idea.

 

[TreeCo]

I use two small plastic felling wedges. I hammer one in with the other just before the kerf starts to close. If one wedge won't do it I use both wedges and hammer the second one in with a piece of small limb wood. Neon green wedges.

I just learned a new technique in this thread and it's in my mental tool box. I'll still use the two wedges if I have them and the plunge cut if I don't.

Thanks.

 

[LordFarkwad]

I use two small plastic felling wedges. I hammer one in with the other just before the kerf starts to close. If one wedge won't do it I use both wedges and hammer the second one in with a piece of small limb wood. Neon green wedges.

I just learned a new technique in this thread and it's in my mental tool box. I'll still use the two wedges if I have them and the plunge cut if I don't.

Thanks.

Sounds faincy! I gotta try that.

 

[flushcut]

Iv'e been reaming since I read it in FOGTW.

 

[LordFarkwad]

@Phil - @rico has a video he posted here several months ago where he shows himself reaming while bucking a yuge piece. Not sure how to find it or what, maybe he'll chime in. But it looks like it's almost something he has to devote no conscious thought to.

Expert level 9000.

 

[JeffGu]

@rico has lots of videos of him reaming various things. I think they're in his private collection, though, not posted online. He avoids attracting the attention of the authorities.

 

[southsoundtree]

If you have a top-bind, rather than reaming, you may alternatively cut from the top, downward, until the kerf is starting to close a little bit, or you're simply deep enough in the log.

Go back to the to of the log, 3/4-1" to the side of your kerf, start another cut on an angle toward the first kerf until you cut a wood wedge.

The wood wedge will drop into the kerf.

Tap the wedge down with the bottom of your bar a couple times.

Reinsert or ream into the kerf, and cut down and through the log, never having taken your hands of the saw.