Here is a great example of a barberchair, and the guys cutting this tree had no idea it was coming. There are a couple of factors that contributed. The opening in front of the hinge was too narrow. The opening should allow the tree to rotate downward on the hinge nearly to the ground. When the butt of the log hits the stump, the tree will stop motion, rip the hinge apart, or the log will split lengthwise, making a barberchair. You will often see long fibers on big stumps, and that is caused by the narrow opening. The other problem was that the loggers were aggressively pounding wedges in the back cut while the hinge wood was too thick. They may have started the lengthwise crack, but the tree started over with a hinge that was much too thick, and then the opening closed.
Make your face in front of the hinge at 70 to 90 degrees, make your hinge the right thickness before cutting the backstrap, use wedges to stabilize the tree, and then to tip it over. Know your escape routes if your plan falls apart.
Just a bit of irony in the video itself. Going through it frame by frame you can see the split opening at 1:34. At 1:36 you get a view of the back of the white helmet. It has a big “think safety” sticker on it.
ReplyDeleteJust by luck the log didn’t fall on their side!