A few posts back in "Tipping Trees" I discussed the importance of making the two front cuts on a tree correctly; meaning that they should meet exactly. This little sassafras illustrates why technique is important in falling a tree. The person cutting this tree made one front cut on the heavy side of the tree, then cut in from the back, creating a very impressive miniature barber chair. The forward momentum of the tree even mangaged to split the stump! The tree begins to tip, then is blocked as the improper cut closes, and something has to give. Either the hinge fails, or the tree splits lengthwise. The cutter in this instance wisely quit while he was ahead.
These two hickory butts show that the cutter was trying to make an open face cut, but was bypassing the face with his horizontal cut. These trees were much bigger than the sassafras, and had real potential to kill, but luckily, the hinge let go in both cases. One of my landowners died making this mistake many years ago. The hickory he was cutting split lengthwise like the sassafras above, and the tail end smashed the man's ribs in.
Don't let these lessons discourage you. When you learn how to do it right, dropping trees is a blast, and it is a necessary skill if you are a landowner/homeowner. You can see the various techniques you need to know by clicking on the chainsaw label and viewing some of my previous posts; or by going to http://www.forestapps.com/ and clicking on the Tim's Tips.
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