Chainsaws Part 4. Tree felling, Limbing, and Bucking. A Master Class.

Chain Saws Part 4

Tree Felling, Limbing, and Bucking

As a homesteader, I believe we own our property and the trees that grow there. However, in many communities, there are regulations and restrictions that restrict your rights to trim, cut and remove your own trees. The far-left has a branch of mostly uneducated liberal environmentalists, with an agenda to take over your property and restrict all your business activities. The far-left environmentalists have developed warm-fuzzy-feeling talking points to convince the public that they are looking out for the public good, but most of their agenda is based on unrealistic concepts and are really contrary to nature. A great example of this is the banning of DDT because of a bad science experiment with a predetermined outcome. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, malaria had been almost wiped out. Since DDT has been banned, malaria now kills over 1.5 million people globally a year. Every public school student is taught how dangerous DDT is to the environment without the truth about its benefits and its real environmental impact.

When working with nature there are two main paradigms: Preservation vs Conservation. I am a conservationist. We believe in the wise use and management of all our natural resources. The Preservationist believes in protecting and non-use of our natural resources. As humans we need the earth’s natural resources to live. We need food, water, shelter, air, and material to live and survive.

The reason I mention this is to give you background for what I am now going to share. I am continually asked the follow question whether I am cutting a tree down or leading a nature group: “Do you plant a tree for every one you cut down?” It’s an innocent and simple question – and it is the product of the environmental-preservationist agenda. The environmentalist wants me to buy and have them plant a tree for me for each tree I cut down. AND I can do this with a generous $10 donation, even though a tree seeding costs less than $1.00/tree to plant. I always say to follow the money to see the real agenda. But that’s not the entire reality of the situation. I live in the Appalachian hardwoods and each acre of hardwoods has over one million seeds and seedlings already in the ground waiting for an opportunity to grow. Nature has a better plan than me planting a tree seedling in competition with what is already growing. The only exception to this is if we want to introduce another tree species.

Questions like this from environmentalists are the reason I teach my students and adults to be ready to give an explanation for trimming, cutting, and removing trees. Here are a few of the reasons to remove a tree:

1. The tree is being cut for firewood.

2. The tree will be used for construction materials or furniture.

3. The tree is being removed for a building site, fence or driveway.

4. The trees are being removed for pastures, fields, gardens, lawns or parks, or construction sites.

5. The tree is being removed because it is dead, diseased, or damaged.

6. The tree is being removed for the safety of the community.

7. The tree is being removed because it is an invasive or nuisance species.

8. Trees are being removed for safety or fire reasons, around buildings, structures, roads, utility lines.

9. Trees are being removed based upon species.

Most people, when given a good explanation for the tree removal, will accept and better understand your actions.

Tree Removal

The saw operator is always responsible for all damage and problems caused by felling trees. Remember, neighbors and friends, wanting you to drop trees for them, really are trying to save money and most likely will hold you responsible for any and all damages.

Before cutting a tree, the saw operator needs to make sure the area is safe. I have years of experience and yet there are many situations when I refuse to fell a tree.

The operator should check the ‘felling area; for the following things:

a. Is there enough room for felling the tree?

b. Are there any ‘widow makers’ in the tree, even if the widow maker is on the other side of the tree? (A widow maker is a loose limb, suspended in tree branches, which can fall down on a saw operator at any time.)

c. Are there any utility lines?

d. Are there any structures or buildings?

e. Are there any livestock or pets?

f. Are there any roads?

g. Is the wind blowing? If so, how fast and what direction?

h. Are there any other trees that it can get caught in when falling?

i. Does the tree lean in the opposite direction of the fall?

j. Is the base of the tree clear of obstacles?

k. Have you determined your escape route away from the falling tree?

l. Is the area clear of all vehicles and people?

PPE and Safety

Wear approved PPE and go to the woods prepared:

1. Hard hat

2. Ear protection

3. Safety glasses and / or face shield

4. Chain saw leg chaps

5. Saw safety gloves

6. Work boots – steel toe recommended

7. Long sleeve shirt and long pants

Take a first aid kit into the woods with you.

Don’t go alone, take a helper who can drive.

Preplan to make sure your vehicle can get out in an emergency. I recommend pointing the car in the direction you will leave.

Fuel and make adjustments to your saw.

You may need additional equipment including plastic wedges, a back-up saw, and a hand winch.

Tree Felling

There are four typical tree cutting techniques:

1. Direct cuts (for 2” or less diameter trees) – this is a single cutting motion at ground level completely through a sapling.

a. Cut as low and parallel as possible. Cutting in this manner reduces tripping over stumps and falling on a pointed sapling stump. It also saves vehicle tires.

b. Deer hunters like to develop shooting zones by cutting small saplings about 10 – 16” above the ground. I tell them to either cut parallel and at ground level or they can’t hunt. I don’t want to have to worry about injuries and flat tires from their ‘punji sticks’.

This sapling was cut at a sharp angle by beaver, making a punji stick which is dangerous to people and tires.

2. Semi-cut (2” – 6” diameter saplings)

a. Determine the direction of fall and cut about 1/3 through the base of the tree on that side of the sapling.

b. Then move to the back side and cut through the tree until the tree falls free from the stump

3. Notch-cut (the standard cutting method, we use it for trees 6” – 10” in diameter.)

a. Determine the direction you want the tree to drop.

b. Clean obstacles and brush from the tree area and determine your escape route from the back side of the fall.

c. There are 3 parts to this cutting procedure:

i. First cut - On the felling face, cut about one foot above the ground and parallel. Cut 1/3 through the tree.

ii. Second cut – an angle cut of 45 – 60° down the face to the back of 1st cut. You should end up with a notch where the cuts match. If they don’t, clean the notch so the notch matches both cuts. You now have taken a notch out of the tree in the direction you want the tree to fall.

iii. Third cut – now move to the back side of the tree, cut parallel to the ground 2” higher than your first cut. Cut evenly through the tree trying to keep the hinge (the distance between the bottom front cut and the back cut) even. You may insert plastic wedges to help drop the tree in your planned direction of fall.

Keep cutting evenly through the back cut until the tree starts to fall. Turn your saw off, remove it and use your escape route as the tree drops. Even if you are dropping the tree in an open field, get away. The upper branches may cause the base of the fallen tree to spring back at you. The way a tree falls and bounces in never predictable.

iv. Directional Felling or ‘Soren Ericksson’s Directional Bore Felling Method’. For trees over 10” diameter this is the safest and best method for felling. With this cut you reduce the number of trees splitting, it is safer for the saw operator and you determine when the tree actually starts to fall.

Let me back up to my blog on chainsaw chain. In case you missed it, I covered the types of saw chains and talked about safety chain. However, I didn’t recommend it for most saw operators. For amateur saw operators, I do strongly suggest it, but if you plan on doing the directional boring felling cut, you should not use safety chain. The anti-kick guard on the chain makes it almost impossible to make a bore cutting action. Some states require all chain to be safety chain (West Virginia, for example, requires safety chain and that all trees over 12” diameter be cut using the directional boring technique which is not possible with safety chain. Yet another example of government regulations with fines if you don’t do both even though you can’t.)

Please watch the 2 following videos. The first one is a classroom presentation and it is dry but if you skip it and watch the 2nd video, you will be lost.

#1. How to make tree felling notches and hinges with a chain saw by Husqvarna 10.44 minutes

The 2nd video actually demonstrates how to use the directional boring felling technique. How to safely fell or cut down a tree using a chain saw by Husqvarna 45.54 minutes. This is the best video I have found to demonstrate directional felling using the bore cut. The video also explains how to use plastic wedges to help guide the felling, plus it shows limbing and bucking procedures. (Note: This is also the first professional video I have seen that shows the saw operator cutting a hardwood tree and not a pine or aspen.)

Key Points To Remember

1. Do your routine checklist of the area before cutting.

2. Have the saw fuel and chain sharpened and adjusted.

3. When making the bore cut Always use the bottom of the bar tip to start the cut before turning the saw 90° into the tree.

4. Always stop the saw after the bore cut is through the base of the tree and check the opposite side of the tree to measure your hinge distance.

5. Clean up your hinge and make it the same distance on both sides of the tree.

6. Yes. Sometimes your bar is too short to go completely through the base of the tree for the bore cut. The safest thing to do is to get a longer bar for this procedure.

7. Yes. I know professional loggers who can match up the bore cut by boring from the opposite side of the tree. If you don’t match the bore cuts, the tree may twist and turn back on you as it falls.

8. I took students to the woods and had them practice bore cutting on tree stumps about 6-8 feet tall. (Where tree tops had broken off.) This is a good way to practice matching opposite side bore cuts.

9. Use your escape routes and don’t watch the tree fall. If you want to see it, have someone video tape it for you to study.

Limbing

The video does a good job explaining how to limb but here are some other points:

1. Always start at the bottom of the log and stand on the uphill side.

2. Inspect each limb separately and determine if the limb is under load, which can pinch your saw.

3. Watch out for limbs that may spring back at you when cutting it from the log. Also watch previously cut limbs that may also be released and spring back at you as you finish cutting a limb.

4. This is a good time to have a back up chain saw. If your saw gets pinched you may need to cut it free.

Bucking

1. Bucking is cutting the log to lengths, for example for firewood or saw logs. Done after limbing the log.

2. If you are cutting saw logs always add 4” to the length of the log. Your bucking cuts may angle through the log.

3. Try to get the log off the ground so you don’t hit the ground when cutting through the log, dulling the saw chain.

4. When a chainsaw is sitting flat on the ground, the bar and chain is 1” above the ground, so the chain doesn’t hit the ground.

When the saw sits flat on the ground, the bar remains 1" above the ground.

5. By using plastic wedges inserted in the top cut groove on the log, you can generally raise the bottom of the log off the ground, therefore you won’t be hitting the ground.

A plastic wedge is used to raise the bottom of the log off the ground when bucking. Make your downward cut until there is room to insert the wedge into the top of the cut.Pound the wedge in the groove which will raise the bottom of the log off the ground and then complete the cut.

6. If you have a situation where you know you are going to be hitting the ground, stop and put an old chain on the saw so you don’t mess up the good chain.

7. I keep old chains for cutting tree roots.

8. Another tool to move and get the log off the ground is a cant hook.

This is a cant hook, used for rolling logs and getting logs off the ground to cut to length.

Be Safe and Enjoy the Outdoors

1. Now is a good time to drop those trees you need for firewood next Winter.

2. Cutting is easier now rather than after all the leaves come out.

3. If you are cutting in a pasture don’t cut Cherry trees once the leave start to bud. Cherry leaves are deadly for livestock. They contain cyanide and become deadly when the leave wilt, usually 12 – 16 hours after the tree is cut or the limb blown down during a storm. They remain deadly until the leaves dry completely and drop off the limbs. It is good practice to remove all limbs and leaves from a pasture after a wind storm. Yes, I know my livestock eats green cherry leaves, but it is the wilted leaves that kill.

4. It is April 3rd in NE Ohio and I would not chance dropping cherry trees in the pasture now. I plan to cut them in the fall when the leaves have fallen off.

Please be careful and stay healthy!

Bob

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