Daniel
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Suburban Philadelphia (Wayne)
[ QUOTE ]
Daniel,Daniel,Daniel.....
Those 2 very long limbs you notched up while up in the tree and you kicked off made me cringe so much i genuinly felt worried for you.
First you made the decision to notch that first long limb, that, to most people would obviously get hung up in the surrounding canopy.... i am speechless.You have left yourself in a very dangerous position if it where to spear back towards yourself.
I am giving you some credit cause you probably know that was dangerous,so what do you do.....you do exactly the same thing again...!!!!!!
You trying to get yourself killed??!!
Your tree work from the ground,to me seems quite effective but from what i see with your climbing,you are not comming close to providing the right solution!
[/ QUOTE ]
There were 3 cuts made there.. take a close look and stay with me... on the first cut there was a relatively shallow, and very narrow notch made, with only a slight downward facing lower cut.. Look at my body position when the cut is released. I was on the far side of the remaining trunk, well away from any danger, should the butt kick back of the cut. So I was completely safe as long as the piece didn't move early. That is where the skid steer comes in handy. That reliable pulling power allows me to leave a very strong hinge (the piece did have a slight front lean) which provided me with the insurance needed to make the cut, and get out of the way before calling for the pull. SO there was zero danger on that cut..
The second cut got kicked off. This was a much smaller piece. What protected me there was the 45º downward facing cut of the humboldt, together with a high back cut, leaving a lip to serve as a backstop, should the piece hang up, which it was bound to do to some extent. Understranding the forces that will propel a tree (or top) back off the stump (or cut) is crucial. The factors involved are the weight of the piece and the angle of lean when its hung up. Note: this is why west coast fallers have developed very effective cuts to prevent their MONSTER trees from shooting back off the stumps, like freigt trains. This particular piece did not have enough weight to push back very hard, so between the humboldt and the stump shot, that was a very safe cut/position...
So its really only the third cut that presented any danger. And in retrospect I would have done a couple things differently. That piece was completely dead and dry, though it still had bark, and it was not nearly as tall as the first.
SO I was expecting the tips to break up as they contacted the adjacent canopy. Lack of water weight made for a lighter piece and less force pushing back off the stump. Still though there was pleny enough if the cut was bad. The key to that cut was the partial snipe. This created a ledge on the downward sloping face of the narrow humboldt, which catches the top and acts like a backstop to prevent it from kicking back off the stump, until the piece moves far enough forward to drop down the steep plane of the snipe cut. This cut was invented on the west coast to deal with the very dangerous situations they face there, where a large tree is going to hang up and needs to break the hinge early in the fall to roll off the surrounding trees. It is an extrememly effective cut. And this is the exact situation I faced in this tree.
So I trustred my life to the cut. I can only do that because I have developed the skill and confidence needed on the ground (low and slow). The slow motion replay close up of that cut is a pretty clear example of its effectiveness.
In retrospect I would have done two things differently, to add an extra margin of safety. I would have brought the back cut up a little higher, for a bit more stump shot.. And secondly, since the back cut was a plunge with a back release, I could have taken a moment to get my body further out of the way, before making the back release cut. I thought I'd be able to do that after making the release cut, becasue it was a slight back leaner, but the piece went earlier than I expected, with the pre-tensioned pull line.
That's the long answer.. Does that give you a better understanding of the principles that keep me safe.
Daniel,Daniel,Daniel.....
Those 2 very long limbs you notched up while up in the tree and you kicked off made me cringe so much i genuinly felt worried for you.
First you made the decision to notch that first long limb, that, to most people would obviously get hung up in the surrounding canopy.... i am speechless.You have left yourself in a very dangerous position if it where to spear back towards yourself.
I am giving you some credit cause you probably know that was dangerous,so what do you do.....you do exactly the same thing again...!!!!!!
You trying to get yourself killed??!!
Your tree work from the ground,to me seems quite effective but from what i see with your climbing,you are not comming close to providing the right solution!
[/ QUOTE ]
There were 3 cuts made there.. take a close look and stay with me... on the first cut there was a relatively shallow, and very narrow notch made, with only a slight downward facing lower cut.. Look at my body position when the cut is released. I was on the far side of the remaining trunk, well away from any danger, should the butt kick back of the cut. So I was completely safe as long as the piece didn't move early. That is where the skid steer comes in handy. That reliable pulling power allows me to leave a very strong hinge (the piece did have a slight front lean) which provided me with the insurance needed to make the cut, and get out of the way before calling for the pull. SO there was zero danger on that cut..
The second cut got kicked off. This was a much smaller piece. What protected me there was the 45º downward facing cut of the humboldt, together with a high back cut, leaving a lip to serve as a backstop, should the piece hang up, which it was bound to do to some extent. Understranding the forces that will propel a tree (or top) back off the stump (or cut) is crucial. The factors involved are the weight of the piece and the angle of lean when its hung up. Note: this is why west coast fallers have developed very effective cuts to prevent their MONSTER trees from shooting back off the stumps, like freigt trains. This particular piece did not have enough weight to push back very hard, so between the humboldt and the stump shot, that was a very safe cut/position...
So its really only the third cut that presented any danger. And in retrospect I would have done a couple things differently. That piece was completely dead and dry, though it still had bark, and it was not nearly as tall as the first.
SO I was expecting the tips to break up as they contacted the adjacent canopy. Lack of water weight made for a lighter piece and less force pushing back off the stump. Still though there was pleny enough if the cut was bad. The key to that cut was the partial snipe. This created a ledge on the downward sloping face of the narrow humboldt, which catches the top and acts like a backstop to prevent it from kicking back off the stump, until the piece moves far enough forward to drop down the steep plane of the snipe cut. This cut was invented on the west coast to deal with the very dangerous situations they face there, where a large tree is going to hang up and needs to break the hinge early in the fall to roll off the surrounding trees. It is an extrememly effective cut. And this is the exact situation I faced in this tree.
So I trustred my life to the cut. I can only do that because I have developed the skill and confidence needed on the ground (low and slow). The slow motion replay close up of that cut is a pretty clear example of its effectiveness.
In retrospect I would have done two things differently, to add an extra margin of safety. I would have brought the back cut up a little higher, for a bit more stump shot.. And secondly, since the back cut was a plunge with a back release, I could have taken a moment to get my body further out of the way, before making the back release cut. I thought I'd be able to do that after making the release cut, becasue it was a slight back leaner, but the piece went earlier than I expected, with the pre-tensioned pull line.
That's the long answer.. Does that give you a better understanding of the principles that keep me safe.
