Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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RichardW
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Woodland managment | vickersdc wrote: | That sounds great, Justme.
A 'wolf' tree is one that is much bigger than those that surround it. It sounds like you have a lovely woodland there.
For those trees that you want to fell in a less-than-ideal direction (I assume you mean those where the weight of the canopy isn't doing you any favours), have you been using the split-level cut?
Also, have you been tackling the windblown trees? They can be particularly dangerous to sort out due to the extremes of tension and compression in the timber.
Now I come to think of it, we should probably start another thread rather than hijacking this one! |
Luckily the windblows have been nearly all the way over so easy to work out that the roots would be pulling back or have been over for a while & the tree has regrown. I cut all the branches so reducing the weight of the tree till just the trunk was left, at this point it started to rise & was they an easy cut.
Yeh when the canopy or lean is not in the direction I want it to go. Had one a week ago that was just ok. Did the face cut & the back cut & the tree was just starting to go but the very very gentle wind caused it to sway back & sit on the back cut (had removed the saw). Thought I had best step back to assess the situation. Was stood a safe distance having a cuppa trying to work out what to do when it decided to fall to one side of the intended direction.
Whats a split level cut?
The wood land is coming on. The fly tipping seems to have stoped now that people can see some one is looking after it. It has been going on for a long long time. One of the big jobs is to pick up all the rubish & glass.
Justme
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dpack
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glass is horrid
leather and metal weave gauntlets are best
i must have done tons over the years
i have some good scars
see above glove advice
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RichardW
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I am tempted to use my butchering glove (chainmail) but only have one so would slow me down.
Justme
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vickersdc
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With the windblown trees, try and leave the canopy alone until you have severed the stem from the root plate. The thing about dealing with windblown trees is that you can never be quite sure where the tension and compression is - if you're standing next to the stem whilst cutting it, and it jumps towards you, you've got little chance of getting out of the way in time.
Now, I'm not an expert in windblown trees, but you really should tie a line to the stem, take it over the root-plate and tension the line up so that it will naturally pull the root-plate back over. It's a good idea to put a piece of wood across the root-plate to stop the line from cutting through the root-plate.
It's also a god idea to secure the stem, above where you are going to cut, with a view to restricting any sideways movement (i.e. so it doesn't hit you!).
But that's just a general overview - every tree is different, and there are different ways of dealing with the various situations (tree almost over, tree windblown but hung-up, root-plate leaning in, and so on..).
Please, please, take care when doing windblown as although they are relatively simple to deal with, one false move and that's it.
As for the split level cut - this involves putting two back cuts in, one which has a felling bar (or wedge) in. The second cut undercuts the first; this means that the bar / wedge will stop the tree sitting back.
If the tree sits back, and you have the saw out, put a small bore cut in the closed up back cut (don't go through the hinge). You can then insert a wedge or felling bar in, and lever the tree over.
Hmmm, methinks a couple of images would help - I'll have a dig around and see if I can find the images that I created for my course notes.
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vickersdc
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Here is the split level cut...
...I'm out teaching CS31 this week so I might try and get a photograph of this cut.
Cheers,
David.
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