Tales from the woods..

[Nealm66]

One thing I’ve noticed is a lot of folks making undercuts with the angled part coming down . Can’t remember if that’s called a humbolt or siginaw. The forest circus and the state all require the angle coming up from the stump which supposedly doesn’t waist any wood from the log. I find it a lot more difficult cleaning my undercut if I’m trying to work on the top cut. With the undercut coming out of the stump it’s very easy working on the bottom cut. Not sure why people do the top cut thing or if they just haven’t tried the other. Like everything, there’s a little bit to get used to but way easier once it’s learned

 

[Nealm66]

Another thing I find my old self doing these days is loosing the suspenders. A belt with a longer shirt keeps a lot of sawdust away from where it don’t belong

 

[SpaceBus]

Lol, cutting in the wind can be exhilarating! I was a timber faller for 20 years and we would go home if the wind was dangerous or no way to let it work for you( bushling wind). One time we had about 4 hours left cutting for a new road through the woods ( called cutting right of way) and the wind was on the verge of blowing trees over but we were over a mile in and needed it done so we finished it. I could feel the root wads picking up under my feet as I was cutting them down. I seen/did some crazy stuff through the years.

My wife pulled over a large fir rooted over several boulders and I "rode" the root flare into the air and back down after the stem finally snapped.

 

[neverbilly]

Yes, it was a recent job for a co worker. There were 3 trees total, the first two sucked and took some spider man and I’m too old for that but oh well.

My gosh, what size saw are you tailing? lol, that's a big un. And what kind of tree, got tons of limbs.

 

[Simonkenton]

Yes it is particularly difficult to eyeball the lean of the tree on a steep hillside. Now, most of them lean downhill.
But not all.

 

[Nealm66]

My gosh, what size saw are you tailing? lol, that's a big un. And what kind of tree, got tons of limbs.

I’m horrible with remembering husky models, I believe that’s a 572? I know it’s modified, I bought it at harbor saw in Aberdeen Washington and it’s peppy! I had another bigger saw there , a 385? It was a short fat white fir ( piss fir) and had been pruned away from the lines somewhat but still entangled the utilities and crowded the neutral

 

[Nealm66]

My wife pulled over a large fir rooted over several boulders and I "rode" the root flare into the air and back down after the stem finally snapped.

That’s a hold my beer moment where I’m from

 

[SpaceBus]

That’s a hold my beer moment where I’m from

It was unexpected to say the least. One tamarack with a rotten bottom fell on the wrong side, luckily very slowly. It landed where my wife was standing and even came to rest on top of the tractor ROPS. We have made a few changes to our operation since!

 

[Nealm66]

Here’s a good example of the undercut being too deep, postcard perfect looking otherwise. But this would be the guy walking over to my strip cus his saw is pinched

 

[SpaceBus]

Here’s a good example of the undercut being too deep, postcard perfect looking otherwise. But this would be the guy walking over to my strip cus his saw is pinched

I'll have to take some pics of the most recent stumps. I do the same undercut, but definitely not that deep. If anything I make the hinge a bit to shallow, but I also have a winch assistant.

 

[Nealm66]

I'll have to take some pics of the most recent stumps. I do the same undercut, but definitely not that deep. If anything I make the hinge a bit to shallow, but I also have a winch assistant.

It’s also a leverage thing when wedging. ( hinge wood is a pivot point)And a horrible waist of fuel if in big wood. Them old timers would have scowled at me if I made a pretty stump like that ha ha

 

[Nealm66]

Here’s another tip, if you’re cutting a tree down that’s a lot bigger than your bar and your trying to pound a nail with the top, it can be a little tricky to tell wether your face is straight across to the other side. Well, if you measure out about 15’ or so from each outside corner of undercut and pound a stick in, then , while close and centered as possible to tree ,line up with your stick(front sight), and see if it lines up with the target, also can stand at target and look back to see if a correction is needed. Just remember to account for drift and keep your back cut parallel with the undercut ( if angled, it can make one side pull slightly different). This might sound like a lot of fuss but it was a trick I used more than once on trees hovering around the 8’ diameter as they were very valuable and hard to read. And we had what we called chunk inspectors and if you had excessive breakage in your strip, you no longer were employed.

 

[Nealm66]

Here’s another, if every time you miss your shot and your confident you had everything gun barreled correctly, take a large square and check to see if the bar is square with your site line. Yes, I’ve had to draw a line with a permanent marker on my little topping saw this way. It was way off.

 

[Nealm66]

A couple of the old timers I worked with started out hand cutting with crosscut and ax. While the falling of big trees might seem magical, the real mystery was hth they were able to buck them into manageable lengths, especially on steep hillsides. Well, the answer I got was , for the cut coming from underneath, they made grooves into the ax handle, the would stick the ax in the log in such a way that the bucking saw could be flipped upside down and ride in the groove. And this also straight from one of the horses mouths, well, you would be surprised at how many cuts can all be finished from the top down. This mystery is definitely one of the lost talents.

 

[MoDoug]

Here’s another, if every time you miss your shot and your confident you had everything gun barreled correctly, take a large square and check to see if the bar is square with your site line. Yes, I’ve had to draw a line with a permanent marker on my little topping saw this way. It was way off.

Not quite sure if this is what you're referring to, but every time I sharpen my saw chain I flip the bar over so it doesn't develop a twist.

 

[Nealm66]

Not quite sure if this is what you're referring to, but every time I sharpen my saw chain I flip the bar over so it doesn't develop a twist.

Nope. Sorry if confusing. There’s a line on both sides of a saw. These are used for aiming when you make an undercut. They are not always accurate and it can make a difference with the bar shape.

 

[MoDoug]

Here’s another trick. For boring. Let’s say you fall a big tree to cut in to firewood. Step back and look for air pockets under the log at spaces close enough that aren’t too heavy to roll. Start at the top with the tip of your bar and draw it down the log and start boring straight through. Put a twist on the motor to keep it from bucking. Once your bored through , carefully finish the cut down leaving all the wood at the top . Then finish the cut. This helps keep your chain out of the dirt. Repeat until you have rollable lengths. Then just roll to get the bottom cuts. Hope that made sense ha ha

Had a chance to use this tip today, it took me a few cuts to think about using it in the right place, but it came in handy. I even thought to take a picture of it.

 

[MoDoug]

Nope. Sorry if confusing. There’s a line on both sides of a saw. These are used for aiming when you make an undercut. They are not always accurate and it can make a difference with the bar shape.

There's a youtube video of a guy from Husqvarvna cutting down a tree and he stands back and lines up his saw with where he wanted it to drop, this must be what you're talking about. I wondered what he was talking about, I'm going to have to look for those lines on my saw.

 

[Nealm66]

Yup, those lines should be a 90 degree from your bar , that gives you an aiming point. Sometimes a funky weird bar can be off. Most times they’re pretty close, although some saws when you flip, they can be slightly different although that’s probably the bar again

 

[Nealm66]

Had a chance to use this tip today, it took me a few cuts to think about using it in the right place, but it came in handy. I even thought to take a picture of it.

View attachment 268084

I think the more you practice boring, you will find many times how handy it is

 

[peakbagger]

There is a logger safety program called the Game of Logging that mixed safety with competition that got a lot of press in the 1980s . The training was big on precision logging. They wanted every tree to be dropped to be dropped with precision and to drop only when and where they wanted it to. They used the guide marks on the saws. It was founded by a swedish logger and the media and sponsors both supported it. The founder eventually left the US but licensed the rights to a group that continues to offer it. (broken link removed to https://www.woodlandtraining.com/GOLhistory.php). They seem to have a lot lower profile these days.

One of the reasons for corporate support of GOL is hand logging with a saw is one of riskiest professions out there. Few companies can afford to employ sawyers as the workmans comp rate is incredibly high if its even available. GOL is a way of improving skills and safety awareness for loggers. What has happened in the northeast is most of the remaining logging companies have gone full mechanized and many dont employee actual loggers that use saws, they employ equipment operators who spend their day in the seat of piece of equipment. If they need hand sawing done they sub it out to a private contractor, who is usually a sole proprietor who freqently has a spouse with health insurance from work as a workaround the workmans comp issue. Some guys go "naked" and just hope they dont get hurt. It rarely ends well unless they get out of the woods I saw a reference somewhere that the biggest risk to the new equpment based "logger" is cardiovascular disease related to lack of physical activity on their job (I am not sure if it was a joke or not). Take a look the reruns of the American Logger shows and you notice you rarely if ever see a chainsaw at the Swamp Loggers operations or the Pelletier's operations in Northern Maine.

 

[Nealm66]

A lot of that is similar here. Even on the steep ground they’re trying to yo yo them bunchers over the hill. There’s still a lot of hand cutting though, the state land has mostly 60-90 year fir(too big) that’s too much of a pain for the machines and a lot of the tree farms around here are on the side of cliff’s( sarcasm) . I’ve heard there’s a certification that is coming about in the industry. It’s probably a good idea. I worked with guys that had been cutting 30-40 years in the big league that you definitely needed to be a tree and 1/2 length away with your strip. I used to tease one of them and say it looked like they dropped they’re strip out of a plane. Not sure what kept those guys alive but they definitely produced a mountain of work every day

 

[peakbagger]

The company I worked for had the last pulp and paper company employed crew in New England. They had great safety records, when the company laid them off and sold what little land they had left most went to work for contractors that had to crank out the wood to make a buck. Almost all our former employees got injured within months as they were trained to work in the safe way not the fast way.

 

[SpaceBus]

Nope. Sorry if confusing. There’s a line on both sides of a saw. These are used for aiming when you make an undercut. They are not always accurate and it can make a difference with the bar shape.

Both of my Stihl 1/4 micro picco bars are tweaked from getting pinched by limbs and whatnot, can't cut straight for anything. The bar rails are flat and cutters are equal. It's frustrating because none of my electric circular blade saws can cut through rough cut 4x4's without turning the work. I'll have to get a new bar and mark it so I don't use it when limbing.

 

[Nealm66]

Both of my Stihl 1/4 micro picco bars are tweaked from getting pinched by limbs and whatnot, can't cut straight for anything. The bar rails are flat and cutters are equal. It's frustrating because none of my electric circular blade saws can cut through rough cut 4x4's without turning the work. I'll have to get a new bar and mark it so I don't use it when limbing.

a limb pinch happens to the best of us. If it pinched my bar I would always pull my chain and give it some light raps with my bar wrench using a falling wedge, lightly ( but quickly-time is money) widening and working a driver through as I go till it’s back to acceptable width. I never had a limb pinch would cause a chain to cut crooked but who knows. I will say , at least the environment I was in, falling timber for a living is different than wacking a couple trees down and slicing them into firewood so I really don’t have much experience on the other side other(firewooding) than when I do/did resi tree work so there’s a lot that I don’t know