BC faller series:Spend some time on YouTube looking up BC Faller training videos. Husqvarna has some training videos on there too.
I think you were trying to fell the tree in a direction other than the direction it naturally wanted to fall, and if I guess right that is because the tree was more or less vertical and balanced, so it was hard to tell which way it would fall naturally. If you want it to fall a different direction than gravity would pull it, or if you want to guarantee which way a balanced tree will fall, you need to apply force. For example, you mentioned a truck and a rope. Try tying the rope off and pulling on it a little before you cut. You don't need a ton of force, just enough tension to get the tree started in the direction you want. Once the tree starts to fall you're home free. After the rope is tied off, cut as if the tree were leaning in the direction of the rope. I would try this only with a tree that is more or less vertical and balanced, so it takes only a small force to change the way it will fall. I'd also find a more experienced tree feller to help the first few times.
Having worked many storms, and ice storms are the worst, I know first hand it's impossible to read every tree. I was clearing roads after an ice storm 2 seasons back, 99% of the trees we were cutting were loaded. Clearing a stand of white birch, I just touched a 10" tree starting to open the spring and BANG! That tree sounded like a gun being fired. Although I wasn't expecting that, we work slowly and deliberately when working with loaded trees like this. Good 2 hand grip, solid footing and a clear escape route always. I still think I read the tree correctly, but, it was so heavily loaded it was ready to break on it's own. As said, I just touched it with the saw when it went.
To the OP, with bigger diameter trees that might be weighted slightly the wrong way, look into a technique called a bore cut. It's a great technique and you can manipulate the fall much better than with a standard wedge and back cut. In addition, this technique gives you a margin of safety and time, as the tree simply will not fall until you make that final, small cut.
If you're still green with the chainsaw, get more practice before trying, though. But, once you master it, I've felled trees a full 90 degrees off the way which they are weighted. It can be very accurate.
I think you were trying to fell the tree in a direction other than the direction it naturally wanted to fall, and if I guess right that is because the tree was more or less vertical and balanced, so it was hard to tell which way it would fall naturally. If you want it to fall a different direction than gravity would pull it, or if you want to guarantee which way a balanced tree will fall, you need to apply force. For example, you mentioned a truck and a rope. Try tying the rope off and pulling on it a little before you cut. You don't need a ton of force, just enough tension to get the tree started in the direction you want. Once the tree starts to fall you're home free. After the rope is tied off, cut as if the tree were leaning in the direction of the rope. I would try this only with a tree that is more or less vertical and balanced, so it takes only a small force to change the way it will fall. I'd also find a more experienced tree feller to help the first few times.
Wedges are a CRUCIAL parts of falling and bucking. There is a reason the pros ALWAYS have a wedge on them. It's because the saw is only 1 of the tools needed for the job; there are several tools that work in conjunction with one another to properly fall a tree, and a wedge is one of them.I think I would rather use wedges than rope & a vehicle. The plastic kind, that is, to avoid confusion pointed out by the last post.
They also come in very handy when bucking up big stuff, taking the bar-pinching worry out of the equation and reducing the need for an upward backcut.
Since I decided to get a couple a couple or few years ago & try them out, I am never without them - along with an axe for pounding purposes. They are always in my ATV mounted box now and instead of carrying just my saw to the tree or log if it's a biggish one, it's usually saw, wedge & axe. Also makes for an easier un-stick if you do happen to still stick the saw.
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