yeah i agree sharpend. occasionally we get some jobs clear felling camphor laurels and posioning them (they're introduced pests), and it gives us the chance to experiment with our cuts and scarfs (back up and escape route ready of course).
one of the guys we worked with a while ago is a kiwi logger. he had a few techniques i was quite interested in that werent exactly in the 'arborist's handbook'. i mean he's a logger and all (having fallen thousands of trees since he was 12), but if i wanted a tree fallen in a tight spot next to my house i'd get an arborist.
he had this technique i previously regarded as sloppy scarf cutting (notch cutting for you yanks), undercutting his scarf on the desired direction of the fall. ie not a clean face, 1 to 2 inches deeper in the under cut on one side. i think ekka calls it 'off gun' aimed scarf for leaners or weighted trees?
i noticed the holding wood on that side breaks earlier bringing the tree around. this coupled with an angled back cut (triangle back cut) like in one of ekka's recent videos and or steering the tree while it falls, brings the tree around SIGNIFICANTLY.
i was impressed and ever since i've been experimenting with the technique and ive seen good results. obviously ropes and wedges makes a huge difference, but its interesting to see what you can accomplish with just your saw and a couple of cuts in a tree. |