Here's the hinge failure video slowed down to 1/4 for us to examine. You can see the one that failed swinging toward the camera as it pulls the other stem over. It comes through the mulberry tree that was growing in the fencerow. Note the stump at the end. The left side was punched down when the master snag was pulled over. The branches coming down are impressive! Hinge failure AAR: https://youtu.be/sixSbZ5SRDo
I am glad I have this recorded! I had it set up the way I wanted, but while I was working away on the backstrap of the in-leaning tree, the hinge failed on the out-leaner! I did not see that because the tree I was working on blocked the view. The chain swung it over to our side of the boundary fence, and then the in-leaner dropped on top of it. You can watch both hinges fail, going sideways. Snags always have extra risks. The wood had lost some strength on these stems and I am lucky the hinge on the out-leaner held until the other one was able to go.
One of the things to do when making your falling plan is to figure out where the tree will go if the hinge fails. You can tell that within a 90 degree quadrant. That is the worst place to be during your cutting. These trees fell almost 90 degrees from where I intended because of the first hinge failure, and knowing where NOT to be turned out to be vital to me remaining vertical when it was all over.
...and DON'T CUT IT OFF! You will see people who keep cutting when a tree doesn't go. If you made a proper hinge, keep your saw away from it. This tree should have been disassembled from the top with a bucket truck. Lucky that someone wasn't smashed.
The fellow in this video is a certified arborist out on the west coast, and he does a lot of tree removals, and makes a lot of YouTube videos. He should know how to drop a leaner without it barber chairing, but west coast fallers, and it seems most arborists won't bore/plunge cut the trees they cut. The primary key to prevent barber chairs is to establish a hinge of proper thickness before the tree is released and set into motion. That requires bore cutting. There is real resistance to bore cutting, even though it is an easy skill to learn, and it is a technique that sets us apart from the axe and crosscut saw methods. I hope to keep preaching the use of proper, safe methods while I can still crank a saw.
Back To The Old Grind!
Here's the link to the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhYggnpWYJs
And the video embedded.
I haven't checked Boomjekappen's YouTube channel for a few years, but he showed up today in my copyright notifications on YouTube. I am showed making a few mistakes, beginning at 3:36. The first one is cutting a lodged tree over a walking trail at Dolan Lake in Hamilton County, Illinois. I had been cutting all day and when I cut the tree loose I did not move away. The top snapped and I saw a chunk come back at me, with no time to move. Force directed, force reflected! The second is at our home, when I was cutting trees around the dam of our pond. I managed to lose my footing and went right into the water. Thank goodness I had turned off the saw and set it down. A running saw going into water would have had bad results.
Chainsaw novices do not know this, and the realization may take a while with a few hard knocks, unless someone explains it to you. Move away from the stump quickly at a 135 degree angle from the line of fall. Limbs that spring back from the crown will be aimed right back at the stump. The stump is a bullseye. Get away from it quickly and stay out of that circle until debris is done falling.
