I had been cutting firewood to help a buddy for 5 or 6 years after retiring. After my brother mentioned using chaps and their benefits, I bought a pair. I didn't have them on for more than an hour when I brushed my leg with a running saw in a moment of inattention. I was a long way from town in a place with no cell service. Maybe a bit overstated, but I'm pretty sure that the chaps were some of the best money I've ever spent.
Our family used to have two small farms, and often we had a working-bee where all of us males turn up, work from dawn until about 1 and then the women have a big meal and it is a very effective way to get things done. Plus, there is usually firewood to take home. One year my brother Steven had had a very profitable year in his business, so he spent about US$ 3000 on safety equipment, all sorts of things we had never had new, and things we had NEVER had. Everyone got REALLY good gloves, chaps, REALLY good helmets that had ear protectors, plexan and mesh face guards, he had fire extinguishers, a couple of really good medical kits . . . And we were really grateful less than two hours later. A felled tree hit a heavy fallen branch, twisted as it fell and hit our eldest brother right across the side of his head, he would have been dead for sure, it spun him around like a tumble dryer. He wasn't happy, and the helmet was a right-off but he survived. And right as we were finishing, getting careless, a nephew reached out with the tip of a saw that was too heavy for him, to cut a small branch, *Clack* it rebounded the blade up and straight into the face shield and we got to see why the mesh is outside the plexan, stopped the blade dead. He just got a bloody nose. Would for sure have cut his head in half.
Mid-70s and retired now, but logged and fought forest fires for decades. You're certainly right about sawing and felling being dangerous. Not quite as dangerous as being on Alec Baldwin movie set, but close.
Regarding escaping from the falling tree: Here in Sweden they teach chainsaw course students to make it a habit to use the chain brake as soon as they stop cutting. If you stumble and fall onto the running saw, nothing dangerous will happen.
Isn't it better to use the brake and then drop the chainsaw? That way, if you do trip, the saw won't be anywhere near you. A leg or arm is more expensive than a basic chainsaw.
@@hauntedshadowslegacy2826 I was once about 10 feet up in the tree when it came back at me, I pitched the saw as far as I could one way and jumped the other way, all ended up fine, neither the saw or me was harmed
I’m a homeowner who cuts down 2 or 3 trees/ year, and need all the help I can get. This is the best video I’ve ever seen to address all the issues I have or cause. Thank you!
I know absolutely nothing about tree cutting, watched the whole video and found it amazing. Common sense is not so common to a city guy with little to no tree cutting experience. At 70 yrs old I'm not planning to start now. Thanks so much for such an informative instructional video! 👍👍👍
Great video. Another tip - I now make sure I have a peice of chalk with me and draw the wedge and the cut before I start cutting. Makes it a LOT easier to see where you need to cut.
I am a professional qualified arborist and this is an excellent video for home/garden people. Exactly as NPTC training / assessment (UK qualification) goes. Good job. My only criticsm is full PPE at all times, but very good video
I have been cutting for many years. I carry a spare bar and chain just in case like you do. I also take several limbs that I removed cutting the branches off. I place them under the trunk where possible. This gives me the ability to cut thru without hitting the dirt. Great video, thank you for confirming many of the techniques that I use.
Love the fact that you don't hide your mistakes. You make them, explain them and then offer advice on how to correct them. I don't cut professionally and only have a couple big, hardwood trees under my belt, so I know nothing about cutting compared to my knowledge of the saw itself. Just a diyer with a major in mechanics. Really amazed by and appreciate the knowledge you share for free for guys like me.
I am number B. the messenger. do not kill the messenger, if you hate the message. why do you hate the message? brainwashed & programmed? or have you been told to hate the message? i hate satanist doG with big g i hate satanist dogs with small g i hate satanist doG = i hate satanist God i hate satanist dogs = i hate satanist gods(people who want to be a god) who was the original satanist (j c)? those rich satanist assholes who run this world, have brainwashed & programmed people from a young age. satanist prayer is for us to forgive those satanist assholes but our prayer is for us to punish those satanist assholes. why? for all the pain they have given us. i have too tell people about God & how people have been brainwashed in believing about their satanist doG = God. forgive= NO.. punish= YES
With this one video alone, you have saved the life of everybody that watches this video about seven different ways, on the ground while felling a tree, or up on a ladder especially. Thank you for this masterclass in the basic do's and dont's. Your teaching method is outstanding , especially demonstrating doing things wrong deliberately, and then showing us how to get out of it and then conversely, how to do it correctly in the first place. I can think of maybe one other guy on TH-cam for teaching as well as you, such valuable lessons in using a chainsaw. Thank you for the life-saving service you provide in teaching intelligent use of Chainsaw. Hopefully there will be no more TH-cam disaster videos of men getting smoked by a tree trunk or branch snapping off...
there are probably seven other versions of me from the multiverse that already died by not watching this. I've done just about everything he said NOT to do, lol
I have watched dozens, maybe even hundreds, of chainsaw related videos, and this one is without doubt the best of them all. The way you demonstrate how things goes wrong e.g, getting the bar pinched, and how to get out of those situations is of immense value to people learning the craft. Your explanations of the physics about tension and compression are perfectly clear and understandable. You are a generous and natural teacher. Thank you for putting in so much effort.
I deal with fallen trees in all sorts of precarious positions, doing trail maintenance in the Rockies…and coming from an agricultural background…and working on oil rigs and in construction…common sense becomes ingrained with numerous trials and hopefully only a few errors. We all tend to fail forward on occasion…and for some of us our friends and acquaintances failed once too often??? Having taught physics before, retiring, it’s a good idea to take physics in high school. Learn the G word… Gravity, and learn about forces and vector components! W=F*d so no matter what type of physical work one is engaged in, consider the force and direction components. Some applied book learning can reduce trial and potentially deadly errors!
Now do a cut 30 to 40 deg angle and aim for 4 inches higher than hinge. Obviously a tree on a lean the way you want to go and cut wedge 50% Stump will guard you from kick back. I've done trees 2 times that trunk with stihl wood boss
As someone who has only dropped three trees before, the tips in this video help me see where my past issues came from and what not to do in the future. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into this!
Great video. I used to clear lots for new homes in Michigan when I was 17 years old, in 1975,only wearing shorts, sneakers and the saw... What safety equipment??😅 We used to put a wood stake in the ground where I wanted the tree to fall, used to be pretty good, as I see here must've been doing it wrong cause I always cut on a angle from top down, instead of horizontal. I grew up with a chainsaw in my hands without any instructions. Made😊 it out alive😅. Chased many hurricanes in s Florida with saws jn hands. Old School baby!
As a 65-year-old woman with her first "lady sized" (not 36" bar) chain saw, I've found your instructions to be the clearest and best teaching of any of the many I've watched. I get more comfortable with my saw all the time and am feeling ready to fell my first trees. The info on cutting branches was also very helpful. I have 18 acres on an island in Maine and working with wood - cutting, stacking, and burning it - is my favorite thing to do. Wish I had started a few decades ago ...
Do you have a gas or electric saw? The electric saws are great for smaller sizes (up to 18" for Ryobi) and do not require the yanking so you can save your energy. My mom is 59 and loves the battery mower, string trimmer, and chainsaw I got her.
I used to live in Maine too, "up river" (Winterport) on 11 ac. Loved to see the Bald Eagles population returning as they'd go Salmon fishing the the Penobscot River there. We heated (mostly) with wood (about 8 cord/yr). Plenty of trees up there, a-yup. Be safe (and everyone up there says, "stay warm").
I've been doing treework since 95, logged for years as well out of Seattle. Opened my own business in 01 and have ben running it ever since. I agree 100% with this video and am quite happy that someone has finally hit this subject. I've never personally seen a problem with an angled back cut but that's because I've never used one nor do I know any other professional tree or logging companies that do. Kudos to your video.
@@dreamingrightnow1174with a really big bar saw it’s actually easier than a conventional cut, and i mean big like the 4 foot bar a pro can use the top side of the bar faster cause you can look right at it and more importantly, you can use your legs to pull the saw upwards instead of having to push it down into a big tree which uses more shoulders and back. if you watch a lot of pros do their humbolts with 4 foot bars, youll see them lean back and use their knees to keep it straight instead of hunching over the cut youre making. and then youve got the boss’s reason, like the guy said in the video the ends of your logs are parallel instead of having an angled cut on one end, makes it easier to measure and easier for machines at the mill to grab it and you gotta get every inch of lumber outta that tree
Humboldt wedge was a good lesson in cutting and I agree with your argument with the angled back cut. Any instruction manual I have read has made it clear to cut across. I learned a lot in getting a chainsaw unstuck from watching your video, thank you.
I have been using chainsaws for 14 years and most of the video content was "self taught" through my own trial and error, and one minor accident involving a ladder and a chainsaw that could have been major. Wish I had seen this video many years ago. My technique for getting saws unstuck evolved from using a second chainsaw to not getting it stuck in the first place by learning to be a lot smarter about how to approach branches and logs under tension. I really like the idea of having a second bar and chain handy and would not have thought of that myself. I will definitely do that if I get stuck again.
I have been running a saw for 15 years (I am 66) and my dad ran a saw for 51 years. The trick about leaving a stuck bar in the wood and removing the motor is something I never thought about. I usually have 4 or 5 saws of different sizes with me so it is not a problem if I stick one. Thanks for making these videos; they are well done and informative!
It's not an option on all brands of saws. Pretty much impossible to do on my preferred brand of chainsaw. Husqvarna. It's definitely a big pro for a sthil.
Great explanation on why to keep your back cut horizontal. Blows my mind everytime I see a stump with that angled back cut. Also multiple reasons to use a Humboldt notch. If the bottom is open enough then the log lands flat all at once. This helps A) keeps the tips from digging into the ground or the top of the spar by the log all hitting at once. B) If your milling the log, it keeps the log from fracturing on uneven impact. There are a million ways but I'm an Isa certified arborist, so just wanted to give a little more insight. Great video with a lot of great information!
The “best” part of your videos is your willingness to show your mistakes, such as when you were not happy with the results of your first attempt to cut the wedge from the base of the tree. Taking time to explain why you were not happy with those results was actually much more informative than if you had made the first cuts exactly right and then moved on to the next step.
From someone with over 40 years of experience around chainsaws and tree felling/removal, excellent advice, and job! When that stump starts to dry out drill some holes in it and soak it occasionally in some diesel/waste oil mix. Then when you burn it, it burns most of the roots along with the stump.
To aid in rotting the stump, drill lots of 3/4" hole using a long wood bit (long as you can get). Fill the holes with epsom salts and top off with water. Repeat a few times. Will rot most stumps in about 12 -18 months. This is preferred in-city where fire regs prevent burning the stump.
We can't do that in fire country unfortunately even during winter! I have had friends do burn piles, the pile ignited the roots, burned underground and popped back up set a wood pile on fire and also a tree on fire!
Great Video. One critique.... wear the chaps through the entire cut. Cleaning up the trunk and and cutting up the trunk is probably more likely for a thigh bump
Prior to cutting main trunk into sections - fill the gaps under it with heavier previously cut branches (logs) before the trunk slumps to the ground - then when you cut trunk sections, they fall onto the logs, holding reminder of the trunk off the ground. You keep all your gaps, and never have to hit the dirt with your chain.
Yes !!! I thought I’ve seen it all until my landlord hired the cheapest faller he could find . I watched him stuff garbage wood into his fresh cuts all day to take down a 4 ft oak hanging over our house. Will never forget that trick and use it as a grading contractor to this day
I do that too. When possible I'll raise the end of the log with a jack before propping it up. You don't get your saw in many pinches if one end of the log you're cutting is off the ground. Lets you cut easier and use smaller equipment .
My former bossman had been climbing and cutting for 44 years when he passed in 2021. . I was his main hand for the last 12 of those years and learned alot from him. Was able to go off with my own small crew of people under him and do jobs that didn't require climbing when we would get a hurricane or tornado come through down here. He was still climbing at 65 when necessary or when our climber wasn't there. With the money from hurricane Laura cleanup, we got a bucket truck with a 75 foot boom and he was actually in it cutting when he had a stroke in Oct 2021. Miss the hell outta that guy. Seeing your comment and how long you been climbing made me think of him. All that experience, you guys know everything about the job.
I’ve been cutting for years now and have references from STIHL and ECHO and HUSQVARNA as well as forestry guidance and other arborist on TH-cam. This is the most thorough, comprehensive video I have seen. I wish I would have watched this first three years ago. You have a new subscriber!
A really informative video. I have been running my chainsaw for 11 years, but am always open to listening to other, you never know what you might learn. On this video the solution to having a pinched chainsaw was so simple and straightforward that I never thought of it. A second bar and chain… jeeze that’s brilliant. Thanks for that and the other tips.
I agree! That was probably one of the main things I will remember from this video. *note to self, throw a spare bar in saw box...* That, and hugging the tree to see which way she's leaning. No matter which direction she's tilting, if there's a possibility of hitting something I really don't want her to land on, I'll rope it, and put some tension on it just incase. But I'm a novice tree guy. And I don't want to have to rebuild a fence or a gazebo bc I got in a hurry and missed my wedge by a couple of inches, and a gust of wind blew, just before she came down! But this was a good video reminder of things to do to be safe. But I would suggest keeping the chaps on after the tree is on the ground. That's when all of the injuries with a saw involved that I've actually seen happened. The guy or gal gets in a hurry limbing, and doesn't remember there's a limb on the ground right behind them. The saw bucks or a small overhead limb falls toward you. You quickly step back, to avoid getting a little face slap, and trip over that 4" limb on the ground behind you. Tripping or falling with a chainsaw running wot in your hand can make for a bad day!
1st, Thanks. I’ve watched several of your videos. It’s been 25+years since I’ve used a chainsaw and even then very amateur. We just bought 5 acres in PA and I fell several trees using what I’ve learned from you. All went “textbook “.
I've been managing our woodlot for forty years and have learned a lot about cutting. It's not a task for the irrational and it helps to understand a little physics, tree structure and your own physical limitations. Chaps are essential along with eyes and ears. The 45 degree exit path is essential and it's good to have both of them clear. Your commentary on ladders is good. I kept a damaged 8' step ladder just to remind myself to never go up a ladder with a chainsaw again. Dead standing trees are good pre-dried firewood but they also want to kill you. Depending on the species they can rot near the top which comes back at you when the tree falls away from you. Ash trees are good barber chair candidates especially if they have indication of dying or rot near the bottom. Never do I start a tree project without a second saw nearby and make sure the backup saw is not a wimpy one. I enjoyed the entire video.
The one thing that I think is most often overlooked is the wind, especially for tall trees. The wind is the very thing I check for before I even grab my chain saw. Even a mild wind on the ground can be an overwhelming directional obstacle to controlling cutting tall trees, where the unabated wind at the top is moving much faster.
HELMET will help as you showed in the Husband and wife pine tree cut, his helmet got thrown off, so Chin Straps are smart , I wore a hard bell bicycle helmet when I worked cable TV and the boss smirked but it stayed on when a illegal AC service shocked me 16 feet off the ground and I fell to concrete after it shook me loose, I had just taken my lanyard off to climb down so my head missed a concrete step by less than 3 inches but the helmet stayed on and I barely cracked my heel bone. To this Day I wonder if I was set up on that install given the fake way the wires looked cut off on old brown glass insulators from probably the 1930s
@@tv10morehead It's beyond cuntish that some people will smirk when you are trying to be safe and sensible. Trust your own judgement and look after yourself, us older chaps know what it's like but I hate seeing younger guys not wearing PPE because some other cxxx thinks it isn't necessary. The dumbest thing is, if you aren't wearing PPE and get injured, then you aren't covered on the work's insurance. So if you trip and break your ankle on site and can't work, but weren't wearing a hard hat and that can be proven, then you are fxxxxx. And if I'm asked a direct question I will give an honest reply because I value my employment a lot more than some txxx passing through. Sorry for the swears 😉
I feel lucky to have been blessed with a substantial amount of inherited scaffolding so I was never taught from a very young age to use a ladder around trees and scaffold was set up to trim any lower branches but normally to set up a several inch wider nylon pull around the tree higher up to set up pull points on the ground to guide the tree on a path for felling. That way upper leverage of the tree is on my side and not simply any cuts made at the bottom. Other healthy trees have been used as guides with ropes and pulleys as well. We commonly only cut unhealthy or dying trees and like to keep lives ones and maintain a healthy woodland where critters from deer to possums to beavers in the pond live. We just don't want unhealthy trees taking out livestock, buildings, or fencing. Completely agree to check the tree tops for wind as even what you believe is a wind free day may not be when you look at the tree tops and how they bend back and forth which on taller trees can have a big impact. The difference between driving a car and a semi on a windy day, very different.
Just stumbled on to your video, great work. I've been cutting trees of all sizes for over 50 years now, but it is always good to observe other folks and pick up on new things or reinforce old lessons learned. One suggestion I would offer is to keep the chaps, steel toe boots and head gear on throughout the whole cutting process, especially when limbing and bucking the tree. When working in and around the tangles of branches, you can easily trip or the chain can catch and either throw you or the saw off balance with serious consequences; a lesson I learned the hard way long ago. I also regularly use the chain brake when I am moving around with the saw still running. I'm going to go hunt up your other videos. Thanks.
Good point Michael. I've never been cut by a chainsaw after a thousand trees, but the chaps I was wearing were cut right across the quadriceps once, with no harm to me. I wear my chaps and safety equipment.
Very good point. I agree 100%. What's the point of taking off the PPE just because the tree is on the ground? It's as dangerous laying down as it is standing up. Bit like my wife 🤣🤣🤣
As an amateur tree cutter and a retired Engineer, I always learn something from your tree cutting videos. Mostly safety related things that I learn but even seeing you discussing tension & compressional forces indicates that tree cutting can involve a large amount of "science" and/or Engineering. With your advice, I have completely changed how I make my back-cuts and also improved my notching techniques.
I am a professional arborist so I may over think what you said, it is in our blood because we only get one opportunity to get it right. Nice Notch. I like how you did not any have kerf bypass and the notch is clearly defined and no cuts into the hinge wood. The humbolt was created out west so the gaint wedges or notches would fall out instead of having to be pushed out like a conventional notches and to a degree marketable ends. The notches out west can weight upwards of 300lbs. I prefer calling it a notch over a wedge because I drive wedges and removes some confusion when communicating with some crew members.The reason the tree can come backwards over a stump is because a ramp has been created.
As a seasoned tree chopper I give this a thumbs up. Only thing you forgot is an important one... always check for wildlife up the tree before you begin. I'm had a large porcupine almost land on me, and once a baby sasquatch which turned into quite the scary ordeal so i always advise looking up and checking best you can !
One trick I was taught to save your chain is when cutting close to the ground, chip the bark off the tree with an axe or hatchet first, as the bark contains a lot of sand and dirt near the ground. Great video!
Yeah, and the sand/dirt makes micro-fractures in your chain, if you look closely, that takes about 20 or 30 good pushes with your file to get out. Usually have to file out a 32nd or 16th of each tooth to get it sharp again... what a pain in the rear!!! :)
Up in Vermont, I've been cutting with chain saws a long time, landowner not pro, and I'm learning a lot from your videos. I like very much that you've done extensive research (saving me the time) and distilled it down to what you describe and demonstrate. Please keep 'em coming!
You cut to deep, go in 1/3, back cut leaving 3” until you use your wedges. Once the wedges are slammed in, finish the cut. It you cut in to far at first, you wedges might interfere.
@@mcmuskie2563 I have made that mistake, to the point that the wedge was no effect cause it actually hit the hinge, I have also learned that wedges that are too long can be more trouble than needed too, that is why I carry wedges of 4 different lengths, 4, 6. 8 and 12 inches,
I am number B. the messenger. do not kill the messenger, if you hate the message. why do you hate the message? brainwashed & programmed? or have you been told to hate the message? i hate satanist doG with big g i hate satanist dogs with small g i hate satanist doG = i hate satanist God i hate satanist dogs = i hate satanist gods(people who want to be a god) who was the original satanist (j c)? those rich satanist assholes who run this world, have brainwashed & programmed people from a young age. satanist prayer is for us to forgive those satanist assholes but our prayer is for us to punish those satanist assholes. why? for all the pain they have given us. i have too tell people about God & how people have been brainwashed in believing about their satanist doG = God. forgive= NO.. punish= YES
An important feature of the Humboldt is that the base of the tree falls off of the stump before the tree lands flat. This produces a much more gentle landing than with the Conventional. Loggers prefer the Humboldt because they get fewer breaks and shakes with it. (A full treatment on notches can be found in "The Fundamentals of General Tree Work" by G.F. Beranek.)
I did I firewood for 7 years for room and board, that's why I know a little bit about falling trees and never touch the chainsaw just the mall, I got to watch it all.
I live in the south East and I clear right of ways, nobody here uses a humboldt. Maybe it’s because we deal with mostly pine trees down here and the occasional live oak. I definitely see the perks of the cut for logging though.
Good effort. Don't keep cutting when the tree starts to fall, you run the risk of having your hinge fail before you want it to. If you want to reduce splitting, gut your hinge from the front, leave two pegs of hinge, then do your back cut. There was a visible change in the bark texture where you were deciding to out your back cut. There is an imperfection there and that could have been a point where the trunk might have split, it didn't, but once it fell you could see the internal change in that area as indicated by the weird bark on the outside.
I've probably cut down hundreds of trees in my life time. Always used an angled back cut. 2 days ago I cut down 8 trees. One was 24" diameter Oak. The horizontal back cut makes much more sense once you explained it. It worked perfectly. All the other trees came down as expected. Thanks for the education, I'll never use an angled back cut again.
I have little tree-felling experience and never even considered anything other than a horizontal back-cut. That angled cut makes no sense. Why make a 12" cut when a 6" cut will do? The problems pointed out in this video was evident enough to me, plus a chain-saw is a cross-cut saw, and not really meant to rip-cut.
With an angled back cut you have NO LEVERAGE TRYING TO LIFT A TREE WITH A WEDGE Therefore the flat back cut , I’m a retired Faller from on the coast and mostly fell old growth timber be safe Brother
Best all round starter video on the subject that I have seen. Many thanks and stay safe. I lost a good friend a few years ago. He went to help a guy cut back some branches overhanging a driveway on a Saturday morning (there was a ladder involved), the guy left him to it? and allegedly came back later to find my buddy lying in the road with head injuries. He got airlifted to hospital but was dead within 10 days. RIP mate 🙏
I have not used my chain saw to cut any trees lately, but I like to stay up to speed on tree felling safety. This video has been one of the best. In addition to teaching the correct way to use your chainsaw safely, I love the included clips on what can go wrong if you don't think before you cut. I will more than likely watch this video right before I cut my next tree. Thank you for the time you took to film this excellent video.
As a former logger in the northeast, I rarely used a Humbolt notch but I mainly cut hardwoods. Loggers in the northwest cutting conifers on hillsides would be more apt to use them. One thing I would do differently, other than using a typical face cut, would be to do a plunge cut first to set up my hinge and then work towards the back of the tree and leave some holding wood as a trigger. At that point I throw a couple wedges in and then cut the trigger when I am ready to release it.
Cutting hardwoods close to the ground a traditional notch wastes less wood than a Humboldt notch that's for sure. There are reasons to use both, when Cutting a Humboldt I tend to use the top of the bar to cut the notch out and almost never dog the saw, get more control that way.
For some reason I never thought to do the plunge cut before the face cut, but it makes good sense. The first time I tried a plunge cut I misjudged and cut through my hinge, which trapped the bar. Not very good
@@carrollsanders9376I also prefer starting with the angled cut when doing my face cut. This allows me to vary the angle and depth of my cut as needed to cause the log to do different things. Also it makes it a lot easier to complete the cut when you finish with the horizontal. I have been a tree climber for 6 years now and have mad limbs and logs do all sorts of crazy things to land exactly where I want them
You're so right about ladders. I HAVE gone up them and climbed on up beyond the top of the ladder, and logged trees from the top risking knocking the ladder out with falling wood. If you really must do that, you have to have a good guy there to put the ladder back, if it's still usable. I'm 71,and stopped doing stupid stuff like that two years ago, while I was still living.
I'm from Grays Harbor Washington and have been felling big conifers since I was 16 years old. (37 years experience). I love to use the Humbolt face cut. You are absolutely correct about horizontal back cut. If you're really worried about barber chair you can wrap a log chain around a few times use bungie chord to hold chain. Great instruction. 👍🏽
@@JadensRedemption mainly so I can remember, and talk about the old timers and their old ways😂 They say that you get more usable wood when you use the Humbolt. I'm sure that it was a factor when trees used to be as big around as your house, but nowadays it's mostly vanity. Especially in my case, I only fall residential trees. It's so I can get asked by the customer, "why'd you cut it like that?" And I can answer, "That's a traditional felling technique that I learned in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest and it will make more usable wood for you." Then I will appear smart and conscientious😂😎
A couple of safety comments I'd like to add: I was taught to always use a cant hook on the end of the log, if you use it in the middle your escape route is very limited. Cant hooks can loose their grip if your standing close to the end you can take only one step to safty. I've 1/2 cut an entire rather straight log into firewood lengths, rolled the log to finished the cuts. Since I'm smaller person, I lock my upper arm straight when cutting as much as possible to help prevent kick back. Thank you for the great video, great work I learned a lot too.
@0100101 010101 that was not ''such a bad hinge'' but he pointed it out his mistakes, I have seen a few of buckin' billy ray, logger wade,and steve billow who are all accomplished tree fellers have some troubles too, watch a few more vids that feature barber chair, most of what I have seen are a result of rotton tree, or too deep a facecut, real heavy on one side, heavy leaners, none of which applied to what this guy was doing. but to agree with you on the moment it began to fall, he should have been in his safe spot several seconds before the tree had any real fall angle to it.
My husband cut trees for over 20 years. He tried bringing the bottom half of a tree down with wedges. Why? I have no idea. He always cut wedges out first. Tree slid down and came back on him. He was killed instantly. Only 49. Listen to this man. NEVER SHOVE WEDGES IN A TREE TO BRING IT DOWN!! That was 2 1/2 years ago. Feels like yesterday.
Good safety tips. As an FYI, there are differences in how the tree falls with a Humbolt cut as opposed to a standard notch cut: with a Humbolt cut, the base of the tree will contact the ground first, resulting in more accurate placement of the tree and less movement back towards the faller; great for steeper slopes or when more accuracy is required. The standard notch cut forces the tip of the tree to contact the ground first. Not really an issue in an open area, but it can cause the butt of the tree to move/bounce to the side. That said, as you mention in the video, the notch cut is easier and is perfectly fine. Just make sure you have a good clean escape route.
On this side of the pond, I've never seen the Humbolt taught, only the 'conventional' bird's mouth cuts. Been running saws for nearly 40 years with 5-yearly updates to keep our vigilant safety elves happy. Thanks to you and the poster, I now know what the Humbolt is for. Despite the apparent waste of wood in the stump (small island here, not many trees unless you go conifer harvesting) there is logic there. Thanks, Jeff.
@@anemone104 Technically they are called a Humboldt (not Humbolt) face cut, with a D, as the technique is named for the cut made into redwoods in Humboldt county California. This face cut method saved loads of boardfeet over the last century due to the massive diameter of redwood trees. Also the early fellers were falling from springboards lodged into the the trunk above the stump swell, and the face cut was often made with a double sided axe. The Humboldt cut allowed the feller to make the face cut (after the initial horizontal start cut) without having to go higher on the trunk than already achieved.
@@RudiBega Thanks. This is all new to me as I'm UK based and we just don't get trees like redwoods! Makes sense. I've noticed that on a lot of vids on YT showing people felling with the conventional gob, the gob is far too small and too narrow so it closes up and the butt pops up off the hinge. Especially when they don't put a step in behind the hinge. The step is supposed to stop the butt end sliding backwards off the stump. Narrow gob and no step makes for a potentially interesting life..... Narrow gob on a big, clean-grained tree can also cause a barber chair - also 'interesting'.
@@anemone104I never knew that's what the step was for! If Id've realized this I would have done it every time (always went flat because It was marginally easier for me to see how much hinge was left, but clearly a step can be life saving!)
@@saintapoc4031 1-2" is good. Go too high and if the grain in the butt end is wild, the hinge may snap off without acting as a hinge and you lose the benefit of the step.
I cut trees on my ranch in the NC Smoky mountains…..many have fallen due to natural causes. I have learned the hard way how much tension can exist in limbs contacting the ground. My “go to” tool for questionable limbs under tension is a Greenworks Pole Saw. This gives me “standoff distance” from potential face slappers under tension. This distance adds a lot of safety. Also, I always wear chaps….especially when limbing up felled trees…..this is when most leg cuts occur….my wife was an ER nurse and dealt with saw accidents weekly.
Awesome video. I’ve cut down enough trees and cut up the tree on the ground afterwards often enough and I just fumbled my way through it and I’ve been lucky to not get injured. Lots of great tips in this video. I feel like I’m going to be more prepared for the next one. I appreciated all the thoughtful discussion
The main reason for the ' Humbolt ' cut, is to prevent the valuable timber log from hitting the groung top first and splitting. As your tree fell, you could see it slide down the bottom spoping cut of the ' Humbolt '. As you stated, the bottom cut ideally could have been a little steeper for a perfect drop. Kind regards, Tony Marsh.
Some additional tips, use hearing protection. The chain brake is a crucial safety tool that should be engaged when you let go of a running chainsaw. It's not just for kickback. Make a habit of wrapping your thumb around the handle of the saw so when it kicks back, the chain break will automatically be engaged by your wrist. Also, the term wedge for a face cut is problematic because a wedge is a tool to keep the tree from leaning back and pinching your bar in the back cut. Use a wedge in this felling situation, put it in the back cut as soon as there is room. Even if you know where the tree is going to fall, put a wedge in because often one can be wrong about the lean.
U can be right about the lean but thevwind pushes the tree back once was cutting these big mofos that were blocking our billboard i cut it as soon as it started to fall the wind picked up caught it an pushed it back the other way almost fell on my buddy who was on traffic duty he got hit by sum small branchs he was mego lucky it didnt kill him
i had a big limb fall off a tree in my backyard today, so i had to use a chainsaw for that- didn’t realize how much the little details helped. this is about as comprehensive a guide as i could have ever asked for, and it was still engaging. thanks man, you’re saving my feet out here 🙏
I grew up cutting trees with my grandpa and my recently deceased father and never was formally trained. Appreciate learning some of the right ways to do this. I think my #1 piece of advice is to have someone with you on a fell like this. Escape path always on my mind. Overhead rotten branches are probably the worst thing I've had to deal with.
You are so right about the overhead rotten branches breaking off, there is so much that could happen with a tree you never know, I appreciate someone taking the time and teaching us what they know, and comments like yours I had not thought about that part in a while and that is when I get into trouble. you don't get second chance with a tree. Thank you for all your comments. My father-in-law was on a ladder cutting a tree at 45 yrs old, he fell and he is paralyzed from the legs down and has been in a wheelchair for 55 years and just turned 100 years old 2 days ago.
Thank you for the excellent content! Growing up my father and I cut wood for heat but did not do much tree felling since there was always plenty of downed ash trees along the river. My wife and I now own some property with a number of acres of trees which have not been well maintained and I find I have a lot of standing dead and overly dense young trees. What has helped me become better a felling trees is practicing my face and back cuts on trees which would not, necessarily, require that sort of attention. I've gotten much better at meeting up the notch and back cut to create a useful hinge and manipulating the holding wood in the hinge to guide a tree to fall where I want it in spite of adverse weight and lean. Even trees as small as 4-5 inches in diameter give some good practice and are relatively less dangerous to practice on for when you need to take down something more significant.
Good job I live on a farm like you. I cut trees to mill for projects around here most in the 20 to 32 inch diameter. I learned several good tips in the video. I am always trying to learn to be safer. Unfortunately a year ago we lost a family member due to a tree accident. He was a 30 year experienced logger here in Oregon. So it is now a thought I have every time I look at a tree. Thank you!
Stuff can get Real hairy Real Quick, I cut a 100 footer down that was hit with lightning and survived a tornado ,it actually “Jumped “ up off stump like a tendon was severed but it fell exactly as planned luckily
Those of you seeing the whole video through, will undoubtedly have learned a lot good stuff concerning safe working when cutting down a tree with chainsaw. Showing the wrong way, and not only the right way, shows good educational skills. Overall, it is one of the best chainsaw videos I have seen.
Great educational lesson. I learned a lot out of it. I only noticed by counting your cutting time how much percent you are wearing leg protection. Most injuries happens doing the small work. Stay save and thank you for your effort.
Putting a wedge in the cut when doing your back cut is helpful just to give you an easy indicator that the tree is starting to fall (the wedge droops and gives you a visual indicator right next to your saw where you're actually looking). It's more of an issue when you're dropping 100'+ trees or something prone to barber chair like an alder where you want to get back quick.
I have to say, the explanation of the negative effects of a sloped back cut was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have time to watch the whole thing, but you were right on, regarding the implications of which angle the force exerted on the hinge is coming from. Kudos.
I have taught Chainsaw safety classes, but that was many years ago. Last year I fell a 30-inch diameter living cottonwood tree using a Caterpillar 16-inch bar and 60V battery powered chainsaw. The tree was leaning to the North over a township gravel road, and I did not want it to fall across that road, so I made a notch on the East side of the tree so it will fall across my driveway. I cut the flat straight from the West side stopping at about 3 inches for the hinge. Then I got my tractor loader raised up about 10 feet and put pressure on the West side of the tree, because my house was about 40 feet to the West. After this I started cutting the hinge on the North side, leaving the South side hinge a little wider. When the tree started to fall it twisted toward the heftier hinge and landed nearly straight East where I wanted it to go! Your videos really helped me plan that felling.
Great video. As a tree cutter with forty years in the craft, I agree with not using the angled back cut to fall a tree. If the tree needs to be controlled by a wedge in the back cut it will push the tree more than lift the tree and make the hinge more prone to break and the tapered area is weaker than the base of the tree causing the wedge to be less effective. Here in North Carolina, the Forestry Service teaches the bird mouth technique which is a top and bottom wedge cut. This allows the tree to stay attached to the stump longer for better control of the tree as it falls. As for working up the log, a wedge in the top of the cut will hold the cut open not allowing the bar to be pinched. This is important when severing a group of cuts from the rest of the trunk. I will admonish you for not wearing your safety gear during the clean up portion of the job, especially when cutting off the stump. You speak of dirt dulling the chain and even stop to sharpen your chain. Dirt in the inside of the stump will dull your chain and can cause a kick back faster than you can control it. I have scars on my thigh to prove it.
@@CaptainRonAhoy at this time I am unable to use a saw due to injuries from bicycle. The gentleman in the video does a good job of explaining about the cutting technique. Search for wedging and bucking trees and you can find some good videos.
Good overall video. You should try using your wedges when cutting down through a log that is supported on both ends. Cut down through log like normal. But before the kerf starts to close and pinch your saw, insert a plastic wedge into the kerf above the saw with a few light taps of a hammer. Then continue your cut. You’ll be able to cut all the way through without your saw pinching or risking contact with the dirt attempting a up cut. It just makes the job so much easier. The one subject that I believe more attention should be given is the cutting of storm damage/downed trees and how they pose a greater risk of injury. Storm trees can often be difficult to determine where the compression and tension are located. And extra precautions should be taken. Good job on the information you provided.
3 million new chainsaws sold a year, 250 people a year die to chainsaws. 30-40 thousand visit the hospital. Those are only the USA numbers. 6.5 million views on this video. Hospitals hate this man's one weird trick. Be safe.
I've been felling and bucking for over 20 years and I'm always learning. One other advantage of the Humboldt cut is that the main trunk will usually have less dropping distance from the stump and will usually do less damage to the ground. I learn and practice a lot of different techniques and every time I fell a tree, I'm nervous and try to completely assess as many possible ways things may go wrong before I even start my saw and hopefully avoid them all. Tree work is a science mixed with an art because every tree is different.
Humboldt cut allows tree base to hit ground before the top, thereby significantly reducing probability of damage to the top when hitting the ground, or breaking off part way up; a not uncommon occurrence when using the conventional face cut.
I watched a professional show me how he did it about 5 years ago. He cut a bars-width slot straight through the middle of the trunk horizontal. Then he did a downward facing wedge on the opposite side, not enough to cut into the middle cut, but enough to create the hinge. Then finally a short cut, angled slightly down, I think, towards the middle bar area from the opposite side, again leaving about an inch. He said "That tree is safe now. It'll stay there like that all day until you're ready to fell it. And then just cut out that remaining 1 inch and push away." He worked as a professional logger for many years.
As one of the professionals mentioned earlier on, I wouldn't recommend stepping up on your back cut with a humboldt notch. It functions better if you come in even with the apex, using wedges to push it over, and the underside of the cut should be 45 degrees or more.
Deeper face cut, get into the heartwood, don't step a Humboldt. With proper cutting and wedging you get a green tree to go anywhere. Keep in mind the limb weight can supercede lean weight. Also trees don't kick back unless you're falling it into another tree..
This is one of only 2 videos I continue to refer to when I plan on felling trees. I've watched dozens of instructional videos; yours and the other are the only ones I need to do the job safely and effectively. In my twenties (ancient history), I worked in demolition and WISH I had the knowledge you impart! Really outstanding video, and thanks much for producing it! I know for certain that you have made felling trees much, much safer for me, and very likely for others, and I appreciate this immensely!
This IS the best video I've seen on basic tree cutting. I live on an acreage and have been cutting trees, small scale, for years, and I learned a lot from this. Thanks!
Great video. As others have stated and I am not trying to pile on , but wearing safety PPE cant be over stated. When on the ground you would think you would be safest but I see more areas for chain injury cutting a downed tree than when felling a tree. The possibilities for misdirected chain motion just increases, other than that awesome video. I do appreciate the different approaches to certain obstacles. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, lol. Keep the videos coming.
Excellent, very thorough, professional explainer! I especially like you doing things the wrong way (as a lesson), but still in a safe manner, for the man, tools, and surroundings involved. Great job! For the layperson (like most of us): much of this should come to you naturally if you put safety and cleanliness before rushing the job.
Practice doing it wrong🤣 You will do it wrong enough without intentionally going there That’s foolish intentionally doing tree work wrong will bite your ass!
I enjoyed that moment where the camera got hit-- the camera looked as if it was far back enough, or off to the side enough that it wouldn't get hit, but then the tree went, "Surprise!" and the camera went spinning. It's a good reminder that if you think you're far back enough, keep going.
I like this guy. Knows a lot of stuff, goes to the effort to spread the love. He's my go-to for 70-year-old outboard motor repair! As for Simpli-safe... it's simple and it's safe. I've had mine since 2012. Don't use it anymore but several batteries are still working. I'd definitely buy it again, if home safety were a priority. Surprised Google and Ring/Amazon just didn't buy them because they're so much better than either of their offerings!
Thanks so much for explaining the danger of angled back cuts. I’m an amateur and have been doing it for about ten years successfully, but I lately started doing slight Nike back cut but your explanation od why it doesn’t do what I thought it did makes perfect sense. From now on, straight back cuts for me.
Very nice and informative video. I definitely learned a few things and I have been cutting trees for over 40 years. I do have a few things that I found helpful over the years. When cutting smaller limbs, it is helpful the have the wood closest to the motor to eliminate throwback. When a tree falls and there is airspace under the trunk, I use smaller logs to put under the trunk to keep it from hitting the ground as it is bucked. When starting my saw I have the blade brake engaged, especially while holding it in the air. Thanks for the video and I will look for more.
THANK YOU. I seriously appreciate the fact that you are HIGHLY HELPFUL AND NOT JUST SEEKING THE DOLLAR. YEAH EVERYONE LIKES TO GET PAID BUT HONESTY, CLARITY. YOU ARE DEFINITELY ONE PERSON I WILL TAKE ADVICE FROM.
I fell a couple hundred trees in the late 80s & would have sworn by the high angle back cut based on my own experience. I've convinced a few tricky trees to fall where a gal or guy wouldn't think possible. Now that I have an engineering degree, I can completely understand your explanation and how the high angle back cut might be intuitive, but didn't see through the possibilities. 👍 All those words to say: wow I was wrong in my thinking and I'm here on the internet telling you that you're right. It feels so backwards compared to "what's normal" these daze. Thanks for teaching an old dog a new trick 😘
Wow! Spare bar and chain for a pinched saw! Pure genius! I've been using a chainsaw for many years, sometimes cutting log loads for firewood when I was younger... taking care of downed trees lately... learned a lot from your video... worth every minute 🙂
I really enjoyed your video. I have been operating chainsaws for years and I not only agree with your methods but I learned a bit as well. I am really happy that you addressed safety and escape routes. Safety is paramount with both the chainsaw and the tree or limb. Your demonstration on kickback was good but there is one additional concern. For anyone cutting small fireplace length logs for example, from a fallen tree or sawhorse. If they use the end of the blade and piece grabs the end when cut through it can throw it. I experienced that when I was young, although I was the helper, not the operator. Unfortunately I tried to hit the airborne fire log away from myself because it was coming at me. I knocked it down as my uncle tried to knock the wood down with the saw. All instinctual and accidental but I have the scars on my hand still today. I was lucky that it did not damage my hand more than it did. Chainsaws make for a messy cut. I use all kinds of machinery and respect every one for what can go wrong. Great video and I will recommend it to a lot of people that I know who definitely need to learn how to cut properly. Thanks!
I put a road cone on the ground just past where I want the top of the tree to land. I find it makes me try harder to keep the felling accurate and helps keep other people and tools etc away from the high risk areas.
As a homeowner who supplements my heat with a wood burning stove I've been felling trees for 20 years but learned some new stuff from this video. Very informative. Noticed you ripped some large logs down the middle. Whenever I do this it seems to quickly dull the chain but it didn't seem to bother you. Is there some secret to that? Also been a SimpliSafe user for about five years. It is a great system.
Saw power and sharpening angle. From memory it's around 5° (can remember if the rakers need to go down more...it's been a loooong time, but I'm sure someone will correct me)
John there really is no trick to ripping long ways other than read the grain of the piece and try to cut as perpendicular to the grain as possible. If your splitting up a stump or large crotch cut from the face down don't lay the piece down and cut from the side. If you needed to constantly rip with grain you would likely have to file the teeth down and leave the rakers up so each tooth is just making thin long chips. It also stretches the chain alot and causes clutch wear. I'm no expert but I have 10 yrs sawmill experience and 25 years of cutting firewood and sawlogs. I still learn everyday thats why I'm watching this. Goodluck and be safe in the woods.
Look into milling logs with a chainsaw - the Alaskan chainsaw mill to be a bit more specific. I use a ripping chain which is the same as a regular full chisel chain only the angle the cutters are sharpened to is 10 degrees. It's actually a crosscut chain since that's what we are doing. I picked up a new Husky 395XP late last year with a 36" bar and ordered a ripping chain to go along with it. It's a powerful saw and that's no joke. Once set up on the slide I let the saw just do its magic and guide it through the logs. I could easily use a longer bar and the saw wont bark at me but that's a future purchase if needed. Chaps - most definitely!!!
A little tip; when you get your bar stuck, after you get the bar out of the trunk or limb you should check the bar for pinches in the chain 's track! (This happened to me a couple of times!) What I did to fix the problem was to insert my scrench into the groove and pry it apart then check for burrs. If you find one, a little file work will fix that situation!
Amazing video! I’ve cut wood with my husband for years, he did the falling. I’m now on my own with wood heat in a forest. Now that I’m doing it alone and can’t just ask him a question, I value videos such as yours more than you know. Thank you for all the great safety and trades knowledge! I have a couple good summers with my saw (and husband) and did not know those teeth were for leverage, nor how to unstick my blade in a bad jam! Also I would’ve probably tried unsticking it by putting a jack or lever to lift from the bottom of the tree, I see how the wedges create the same effect! Thanks again!
In Jeff Jepson's book "To Fell A Tree" he suggests that when cutting a notch, to make the cut on top first (meaning if you are doing a conventional notch, cut the angled cut first, if you are doing a Humbolt notch, do the horizontal cut first) that way you can look down the kerf when doing the bottom cut to help avoid a bypass cut into the hinge. There is a lot of great info in that book. Great video! I agree, I think conventional notches are easier to get right.
The biggest issue I see with cutting a sloped back-cut is the base of the tree breaking through the hinge slipping off of the stomp. Now the base has moved but the top still has inertia and now the whole tree is potentially leaning exactly in the opposite direction to what you wanted.
I definitely recommend chaps. I had a chain come off the bar and hit my legs. The chaps saving me from going to the hospital. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to react to it.
I am a wildland firefighter and safety is the first priority. This video is a reminder that you always have to keep learning. And there is a right way and a wrong way. I'm a "swamper," I have to keep my sawyer safe,so I maintain the saw , keeping it sharp and in good working condition. Thank you for your video.
Even though the techniques in Central Europe are a little bit different, I can 100% agree regarding the horizontal backcut. In addition I use the bore-cut on nearly all trees, because the shape of the hinge is very important. Using the bore-cut I have all the time I need, to carefully build a proper hinge for the given situation as for example side-leaning trees.
Unless I missed it. One of the first things to do when looking at were the tree is going to fall is make sure there’s no dead limbs in it.Also try and determine if the tree could be hollow. Some trees look solid and are not.
I would recommend wearing chaps during the limbing process as well. In my experience that is a much more dangerous time with the saw pointed down at odd angles and navigating downed branches and tension cuts. Otherwise great video. Appreciate all the detailed explanations and supplemental video footage.
I couldn’t agree more. Wearing proper protection, at all times, is important when operating a chain saw. Those cotton pants offer no protection. So unless you’re next to an operation room with a team of surgeons who can stop a femoral artery bleed…don’t chance it. Wear chaps. And a chain saw with a short bar is more dangerous than a chain saw with a long bar. A kick-back happens so fast with a shorter bar you’d be lucky to stop it. It can cut into your arm or face in a split-second and can cause death or serious injury. Ask how I know.
I agree with M Fren, just because its a little top handle saw doesn't mean it wont do damage.....2 hands on the saw! top handle saws kick back / cut flesh too.
Good for you for showing your mistake and for fixing it. I too find the humbolt more difficult for both the reasons you’ve detailed here. And I typically revise it (when I use it-mostly when I need to lay the tree down a little more gently, as the base always hit first) with the open-faced notch as well. Like you, I prefer the conventional notch (or farmer’s notch, as I call it) as I’m just cutting firewood or taking out dead trees. I did a felling video recently and I too despise this back cut technique. Unfortunately I see it all the time around here, even by park maintenance believe it or not. Like you said, it’s easy to get away with when the lean is in direction of the lay and when the tree isn’t that big. I also think it just makes it harder to aim your cut. Now you’re adding another angled kerf and have to estimate it to end up an inch or two above your undercut-just more to wrong, if you ask me. Another great video. Just subscribed!
I recently saw a bunch of stumps that had an angled back cut. Only thing I could figure is that maybe they had used a crane even though there would've been no reason to use a crane in that particular area.
I, have never used a chainsaw, I'm sure that should I ever need to do so, your videos would save me a lot of hard lessons. The Chaps, are such an invaluable piece of safety equipment and I think a worthwhile investment. I, was surprised that you were not wearing the chaps when you were cutting the felled tree into logs, as that process appears to be quite hazardous. Thanks for the education 👍
The part ~10 minutes in about the back cut is spot on. I had 32 trees on my property and as they aged, a few grew in ways that made them unsafe to be around, then 5 80+ foot tall trees got bores. And, unfortunately, they were all adjacent to a public building's parking lot that borders my property. I had to pull them down. I had neighbors who are engineers come and consult me on how best to direct the falls. One was particularly difficult because it was between outbuildings and a small fruit orchard. I didn't want to lose any. I'm an old man, and the engineers are young, which is why they were there. I can't do physical labor like I could even 10 years before. In my life, I've learned a few things, and understand physical properties of wood, metal, and the world in general. I knew how that tree had to be cut to miss everything. The engineers wouldn't do the cuts unless I signed a release that I would be responsible when the tree hit something I didn't want hit. I had no problem signing, but did have a problem with their insistence. They did exactly as I said, and the tree landed within 6 inches of where I told them it would. Another tree, they ignored my warnings. Since no buildings were involved, and a temporary fence and an ornamental pear tree were the only potential casualties, I let them do as they thought. They broke the pear, and badly damaged a golden delicious apple tree. The fence was crushed for 15 feet. No big loss on the fence. 2x4" hardware cloth can be straightened out. But, the pear tree is now a worktable at the edge of the orchard, and comes in very handy. The tree would have been nicer. It was the only ornamental we had in that part of the property. The apple? I cut everything off above the graft (dwarf), and surprisingly, it came back. We got 2 bushels of good apples off it last year. It's been 7 years since it was damaged, and that was the first decent crop. What's the moral of this story? Trust old people. They aren't stupid.
Well, I'll gladly trust an old lumberjack or farmer when it comes to felling trees, but I'd much rather trust myself when it comes to PC repair. Stupidity is less about someone's ability to think and more about where their knowledge-base lies. A 70-year-old train engineer shouldn't tell a 25-year-old plumber how to fit a sink, a 65-year-old car mechanic shouldn't tell a 30-year-old electrical engineer how to wire a house, a 45-year-old glazier shouldn't tell a 40-year-old horse trainer how to break a wild horse, a 30-year-old butcher shouldn't tell a 50-year-old farmer how to corral cattle... Ya see where this is going? It's less about age and more about where someone's skillset resides. True intelligence stems from capacity and willingness to learn rather than how much someone already knows.
ABSOLUTELY! I'm 69 now and can TELL someone else HOW to do the job, but, there is now way I can do it, myself! We didn't GET to be old people by being stupid!
@@hauntedshadowslegacy2826 Let me disagree. I'm 67 and know how to do everything you put in your comment, and better than any 20-something. In some cases, better than they'll ever learn to do. Why? Because I've done all those jobs. Being older doesn't just mean I've done them because I will never trust a 25-year motorcycle rider because 99% of them have the same experience 25 years in a row. Unfortunately, that's true of almost everyone in all skill sets. That's why doctors need liability insurance. Some of the most experienced doctors make the most stupid mistakes because they have repeated every year rather than learning. When I look for others to do things I'd rather not do, I study them and get the ones that have a good reputation, treat their underlings well, and have a sense of humor. Why that last one? Because a sense of humor shows intelligence. In my life, I've built large Unix servers, and tiny PCs. And fixed every one of them. I've wired an entire industrial building to 440V, 220V, & 110V. I've refined silver. I've made silver coins and bars. I've repaired watches and TVs. I've fixed my own car numerous times. In my old age, I make enough to pay others to do all those things. But, I didn't get stupid. I still understand the physics behind a PC, a Smart Switch/Plug, a 3-way light switch, a water heater and all the plumbing around it, how to prune a fruit tree for the highest harvest (did you know fruit trees, left to themselves, only bear fruit every other year without correct pruning?), ho9w to frame a home, not to mention put the plumbing and electrical in. I put solar panels on my home and saved $40k doing it. I know how to tow and better, back up a 30 foot trailer. I know how to launch a boat. No, I don't trust anyone to do anything better than i could, and that includes the surgeons who've performed any of the 26 surgeries I've had. No, I wouldn't operate on anyone. I'm not willing to change careers to get licensed. But I know I could have. I also understand spoirts as well or better thyan anyone I know. That doesn't mean I remember any players names. I was an official of football, basketball, and baseball. I turned down an invitation to officiate college football. My father had a photographic memory. He expected his sons to learn as much about as many things as they could. It's what he did. My older brother was hired to take the place of 3 engineers who were found to be negligent in their application of O-rings on the space shuttle called Columbia. He has a PhD in Physics. He's brilliant. He didn't get a masters degree. He knew enough without it to go from bachelors to PhD, and graduated with honors, though in that program they didn't really hand out honors like they do for bachelors degrees. One of the things I learned was how to sing. I was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when I was 18. In high school at the Music Educators National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ, I got a standing ovation for my performance of The Lord's Prayer (Albert Hay Malotte version). Okay, enough of this nonsense. I'm not bragging. Facts are facts, and I know this is a TL;DR post. But, my point is, those who know, really know. Most don't. They get good at one or 2 things, and that's it. They dabble ast other things. I had a huge numbers of choices I could have made and done nearly anything I wanted to. 2 things held me back: 1. horrible self image, 2. hemophilia. I really wanted to play football. That is a story by itself. I didn't need a doctor's permission slip to officiate, so that's what I did instead. That's why I had to have about 10 of my surgeries. One of them ended my officiating career a few years after turning down the college football offer. My apologies. Everyone has a Mount Moriah to climb. Health is mine. Thankfully I have a brilliant, but also a drop-dead gorgeous wife to make me smile and give life purpose. She pulled me through a triple bypass a few years ago.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video. Learning good technique is great, but your demonstration of how to recover from common errors is gold.
I've watched both of your tree felling videos and wanted to say thank you! I didn't realize the importance of a clean wedge, and had NO IDEA about making the back cut higher than the horizontal of the wedge cut. I used what I learned on two small trees yesterday. One 5" diameter and 30' high, the other 8" and 40'. Both were 7-10' from my cottage and had 80% of branches hanging on the cottage side. Used a rope with simply hand tension and they fell exactly where I wanted! Thanks again for your instruction! K
I've worked at a tree company and as the tree service crew leader for a major international airport. As you mentioned, the main thing is judging the lean, and knowing when or when not to fall a tree. Piecing a tree down is a pain in the butt, but nothing compared to losing your or your coworker's life or limb. Working at the airport, and having access to a bucket truck is a life-saver.
hiya Mr, i just found your tutorial and wanted to say THANK YOU! you've explained techniques very well, covered the " if buts and maybe's" and your extra clips of dummy examples really were helpful to be aware of how much it could hurt if done wrong. thank you for your wisdom and time involved to help others.
I had been cutting firewood to help a buddy for 5 or 6 years after retiring. After my brother mentioned using chaps and their benefits, I bought a pair. I didn't have them on for more than an hour when I brushed my leg with a running saw in a moment of inattention. I was a long way from town in a place with no cell service. Maybe a bit overstated, but I'm pretty sure that the chaps were some of the best money I've ever spent.
Our family used to have two small farms, and often we had a working-bee where all of us males turn up, work from dawn until about 1 and then the women have a big meal and it is a very effective way to get things done. Plus, there is usually firewood to take home.
One year my brother Steven had had a very profitable year in his business, so he spent about US$ 3000 on safety equipment, all sorts of things we had never had new, and things we had NEVER had.
Everyone got REALLY good gloves, chaps, REALLY good helmets that had ear protectors, plexan and mesh face guards, he had fire extinguishers, a couple of really good medical kits . . .
And we were really grateful less than two hours later. A felled tree hit a heavy fallen branch, twisted as it fell and hit our eldest brother right across the side of his head, he would have been dead for sure, it spun him around like a tumble dryer. He wasn't happy, and the helmet was a right-off but he survived.
And right as we were finishing, getting careless, a nephew reached out with the tip of a saw that was too heavy for him, to cut a small branch, *Clack* it rebounded the blade up and straight into the face shield and we got to see why the mesh is outside the plexan, stopped the blade dead. He just got a bloody nose. Would for sure have cut his head in half.
yup save bleed out
especially for the newbs. the chain saw is a wicked tool, unforgiving .
@@bdobson1616 You can't pull your punch with a chainsaw, for sure.
Your a lucky man my next buy will be chaps after reading you comment here.
I don't want to sound like a smart Alex , but it seems to me that the " Good money spent" was you listening to and acting on good advice. Good job.
Mid-70s and retired now, but logged and fought forest fires for decades. You're certainly right about sawing and felling being dangerous. Not quite as dangerous as being on Alec Baldwin movie set, but close.
Ought to make it mandatory. That you carry a million dollar insurance policy to be within 400 ft of him
@@daleslover2771 Maybe he carry that much insurance to walk around in public.
@@PornstarJerome 👍 life gets damn cheap around idiots...
awww, someone got their feelings hurt watching SNL. Sorry buddy. Trump is gonna be ok, he will enjoy jail
@@Horizontreecare NO ONE is more sensitive on the Internet than a Trump supporter.
Regarding escaping from the falling tree: Here in Sweden they teach chainsaw course students to make it a habit to use the chain brake as soon as they stop cutting. If you stumble and fall onto the running saw, nothing dangerous will happen.
same here in Canada. if you're taking more than 2 steps the brake should be on
We were tought to clear your escape routes both ways
Isn't it better to use the brake and then drop the chainsaw? That way, if you do trip, the saw won't be anywhere near you. A leg or arm is more expensive than a basic chainsaw.
@@hauntedshadowslegacy2826 I was once about 10 feet up in the tree when it came back at me, I pitched the saw as far as I could one way and jumped the other way, all ended up fine, neither the saw or me was harmed
This is 2nd nature to me. For safety, I always apply that brake.
I’m a homeowner who cuts down 2 or 3 trees/ year, and need all the help I can get. This is the best video I’ve ever seen to address all the issues I have or cause. Thank you!
I know absolutely nothing about tree cutting, watched the whole video and found it amazing. Common sense is not so common to a city guy with little to no tree cutting experience. At 70 yrs old I'm not planning to start now. Thanks so much for such an informative instructional video! 👍👍👍
70 wow still taking knowledge .. Good on you..😊
Great video. Another tip - I now make sure I have a peice of chalk with me and draw the wedge and the cut before I start cutting. Makes it a LOT easier to see where you need to cut.
Exactly. This works even better with leaners, snags, and other related widow makers, for getting the job done, and impressing the uninitiated.
Chalk is also a nice way of marking up a log to get fairly same length of wood cuts.
Also could be used by first responders to make an outline of your body if something goes terribly wrong!
I thought this as well, except I’d use spray paint.
I am a professional qualified arborist and this is an excellent video for home/garden people. Exactly as NPTC training / assessment (UK qualification) goes. Good job. My only criticsm is full PPE at all times, but very good video
I would add the step to the step cut. But for the rest i agree.
Great video. I try to keep my saw at a bit higher RPM and not let it bog so much if I can. Theory is it is less wear on the connecting rod and crank.
@@maxzzzie is there a YT vid that describes what youre referring to
I have been cutting for many years. I carry a spare bar and chain just in case like you do. I also take several limbs that I removed cutting the branches off. I place them under the trunk where possible. This gives me the ability to cut thru without hitting the dirt. Great video, thank you for confirming many of the techniques that I use.
I was thinking the same thing.
Love the fact that you don't hide your mistakes. You make them, explain them and then offer advice on how to correct them.
I don't cut professionally and only have a couple big, hardwood trees under my belt, so I know nothing about cutting compared to my knowledge of the saw itself.
Just a diyer with a major in mechanics.
Really amazed by and appreciate the knowledge you share for free for guys like me.
making mistakes can get you killed.There is no room for mistakes in my opinion.
@@GoldSeals Seems like his mistake was made with intent. Just to show the "difficulty" and the need for an exact cut.
I am number B. the messenger. do not kill the messenger, if you hate the message. why do you hate the message? brainwashed & programmed? or have you been told to hate the message? i hate satanist doG with big g i hate satanist dogs with small g i hate satanist doG = i hate satanist God i hate satanist dogs = i hate satanist gods(people who want to be a god) who was the original satanist (j c)? those rich satanist assholes who run this world, have brainwashed & programmed people from a young age. satanist prayer is for us to forgive those satanist assholes but our prayer is for us to punish those satanist assholes. why? for all the pain they have given us. i have too tell people about God & how people have been brainwashed in believing about their satanist doG = God. forgive= NO.. punish= YES
@GoldSeals lol ya maybe 1 in a million die from a mistake now getting injured is different that's more like 1-100
Everyone makes mistakes! That’s called being human!
With this one video alone, you have saved the life of everybody that watches this video about seven different ways, on the ground while felling a tree, or up on a ladder especially. Thank you for this masterclass in the basic do's and dont's.
Your teaching method is outstanding , especially demonstrating doing things wrong deliberately, and then showing us how to get out of it and then conversely, how to do it correctly in the first place. I can think of maybe one other guy on TH-cam for teaching as well as you, such valuable lessons in using a chainsaw. Thank you for the life-saving service you provide in teaching intelligent use of Chainsaw. Hopefully there will be no more TH-cam disaster videos of men getting smoked by a tree trunk or branch snapping off...
I said the same thing, I’ve been cutting for a while and buddy still helped me out, no telling how many lives he has saved by this simple video
To be fair, I don't think we should be attempting to educate anyone that would cut away the part of the tree his ladder is resting on....just saying!
Show me the 7 lives at least saved? 😮 The kid who eats the most marbles aint adding too the gene pool,😅 let them get mushed.
@@prestonian1066
Hey, he even said, "I don't know what to tell someone that does this..." LOL
there are probably seven other versions of me from the multiverse that already died by not watching this. I've done just about everything he said NOT to do, lol
I have watched dozens, maybe even hundreds, of chainsaw related videos, and this one is without doubt the best of them all.
The way you demonstrate how things goes wrong e.g, getting the bar pinched, and how to get out of those situations is of immense value to people learning the craft. Your explanations of the physics about tension and compression are perfectly clear and understandable.
You are a generous and natural teacher. Thank you for putting in so much effort.
I deal with fallen trees in all sorts of precarious positions, doing trail maintenance in the Rockies…and coming from an agricultural background…and working on oil rigs and in construction…common sense becomes ingrained with numerous trials and hopefully only a few errors. We all tend to fail forward on occasion…and for some of us our friends and acquaintances failed once too often??? Having taught physics before, retiring, it’s a good idea to take physics in high school. Learn the G word… Gravity, and learn about forces and vector components! W=F*d so no matter what type of physical work one is engaged in, consider the force and direction components. Some applied book learning can reduce trial and potentially deadly errors!
@@garyraab9887 Great advice. I like his chainsaw, some of the safety tips and the farm !
Leet's get cooking.
@@garyraab9887 Well said.
Now do a cut 30 to 40 deg angle and aim for 4 inches higher than hinge. Obviously a tree on a lean the way you want to go and cut wedge 50%
Stump will guard you from kick back. I've done trees 2 times that trunk with stihl wood boss
This is definitely not the “best of them all”
Thank you. I'm a first time home owner who decided to get a two acre property. Without folks like you I don't know what i would've done.
As someone who has only dropped three trees before, the tips in this video help me see where my past issues came from and what not to do in the future. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into this!
Great video. I used to clear lots for new homes in Michigan when I was 17 years old, in 1975,only wearing shorts, sneakers and the saw... What safety equipment??😅 We used to put a wood stake in the ground where I wanted the tree to fall, used to be pretty good, as I see here must've been doing it wrong cause I always cut on a angle from top down, instead of horizontal. I grew up with a chainsaw in my hands without any instructions. Made😊 it out alive😅. Chased many hurricanes in s Florida with saws jn hands. Old School baby!
@@rayray8840been there and done that before cleaned up after nine hurricanes and two ice storms and one wild fire that was in my home town .
As a 65-year-old woman with her first "lady sized" (not 36" bar) chain saw, I've found your instructions to be the clearest and best teaching of any of the many I've watched. I get more comfortable with my saw all the time and am feeling ready to fell my first trees. The info on cutting branches was also very helpful. I have 18 acres on an island in Maine and working with wood - cutting, stacking, and burning it - is my favorite thing to do. Wish I had started a few decades ago ...
Do you have a gas or electric saw? The electric saws are great for smaller sizes (up to 18" for Ryobi) and do not require the yanking so you can save your energy. My mom is 59 and loves the battery mower, string trimmer, and chainsaw I got her.
That Tree 🌳 Had To Of Killed Him
You go girl. I'm impressed. Love Maine.
what u need to find out is why all your trees are dyeing
I used to live in Maine too, "up river" (Winterport) on 11 ac. Loved to see the Bald Eagles population returning as they'd go Salmon fishing the the Penobscot River there. We heated (mostly) with wood (about 8 cord/yr). Plenty of trees up there, a-yup. Be safe (and everyone up there says, "stay warm").
I've been doing treework since 95, logged for years as well out of Seattle. Opened my own business in 01 and have ben running it ever since. I agree 100% with this video and am quite happy that someone has finally hit this subject. I've never personally seen a problem with an angled back cut but that's because I've never used one nor do I know any other professional tree or logging companies that do. Kudos to your video.
Can you explain why the pros use the Humboldt? I've heard them say they do it, but not why.
Also, is the reason that cut was bad was he didn't site the second cut right? It looks a lot like all my wedges, lol.
Nvrm on that first question, I see explained why pros cut with the flat side on the log instead of the stump.
@@dreamingrightnow1174with a really big bar saw it’s actually easier than a conventional cut, and i mean big like the 4 foot bar a pro can use the top side of the bar faster cause you can look right at it and more importantly, you can use your legs to pull the saw upwards instead of having to push it down into a big tree which uses more shoulders and back. if you watch a lot of pros do their humbolts with 4 foot bars, youll see them lean back and use their knees to keep it straight instead of hunching over the cut youre making. and then youve got the boss’s reason, like the guy said in the video the ends of your logs are parallel instead of having an angled cut on one end, makes it easier to measure and easier for machines at the mill to grab it and you gotta get every inch of lumber outta that tree
Saves more wood. The face cut is in the stump that no one cares about. The stem is preserved in full diameter. @@dreamingrightnow1174
Humboldt wedge was a good lesson in cutting and I agree with your argument with the angled back cut. Any instruction manual I have read has made it clear to cut across. I learned a lot in getting a chainsaw unstuck from watching your video, thank you.
I have been using chainsaws for 14 years and most of the video content was "self taught" through my own trial and error, and one minor accident involving a ladder and a chainsaw that could have been major. Wish I had seen this video many years ago. My technique for getting saws unstuck evolved from using a second chainsaw to not getting it stuck in the first place by learning to be a lot smarter about how to approach branches and logs under tension. I really like the idea of having a second bar and chain handy and would not have thought of that myself. I will definitely do that if I get stuck again.
I have been running a saw for 15 years (I am 66) and my dad ran a saw for 51 years. The trick about leaving a stuck bar in the wood and removing the motor is something I never thought about. I usually have 4 or 5 saws of different sizes with me so it is not a problem if I stick one. Thanks for making these videos; they are well done and informative!
Same here. It's so obvious and yet somehow wasn't obvious to me for the last 10 years. . .
It's not an option on all brands of saws. Pretty much impossible to do on my preferred brand of chainsaw. Husqvarna. It's definitely a big pro for a sthil.
@@JSRocker1776 I'm a Stihl guy, I have no excuse.
@@Munedawg ... Yeah we need to start stepping back and thinking outside the Box this is embarrassing thanks for sharing
@@Munedawg 🤣
Great explanation on why to keep your back cut horizontal. Blows my mind everytime I see a stump with that angled back cut. Also multiple reasons to use a Humboldt notch. If the bottom is open enough then the log lands flat all at once. This helps A) keeps the tips from digging into the ground or the top of the spar by the log all hitting at once. B) If your milling the log, it keeps the log from fracturing on uneven impact. There are a million ways but I'm an Isa certified arborist, so just wanted to give a little more insight. Great video with a lot of great information!
The “best” part of your videos is your willingness to show your mistakes, such as when you were not happy with the results of your first attempt to cut the wedge from the base of the tree. Taking time to explain why you were not happy with those results was actually much more informative than if you had made the first cuts exactly right and then moved on to the next step.
Why do you put quotation marks on best
The best way to learn is through mistakes
@@penegakkeadilanpembasmikej5022 but not your own.. because some mistakes kill..
@@bele28
Some not all.
Its called life.
LIVE n learn.
Fear will get u in trouble just like being over confident.
I completely agree with taking time to show and explain a mistake. That alone adds so much more info
just bought my 1st chainsaw and am watching videos on how to use safely. Your video is by far the most helpful ,thank you
From someone with over 40 years of experience around chainsaws and tree felling/removal, excellent advice, and job! When that stump starts to dry out drill some holes in it and soak it occasionally in some diesel/waste oil mix. Then when you burn it, it burns most of the roots along with the stump.
To aid in rotting the stump, drill lots of 3/4" hole using a long wood bit (long as you can get). Fill the holes with epsom salts and top off with water. Repeat a few times. Will rot most stumps in about 12 -18 months. This is preferred in-city where fire regs prevent burning the stump.
@@WarpFactor999, Great alternative tip, thank you!
We can't do that in fire country unfortunately even during winter! I have had friends do burn piles, the pile ignited the roots, burned underground and popped back up set a wood pile on fire and also a tree on fire!
Or..... Just get a stump grinding guy out and do it properly 😉
@@ryancockerill4484 DIY is fun though lol
Great Video. One critique.... wear the chaps through the entire cut. Cleaning up the trunk and and cutting up the trunk is probably more likely for a thigh bump
Agreed I noticed that too!
I also critiqued his removal of his safety apparel after the tree was on the ground! You are right on!! POMO
I have twice had to treat guys for thigh cuts... after the tree was down. It's easier to get complacent. Keep the chaps on.
Yes. You must always wear your PPE.
14:38 😅tom,Potter one shehadd@@margieoakes3092h76😅hi ..
Yes.
😊😊😊.shehascances.stager😂🎉jas 14:38 😮😢 14:38 14:38 14:38 ev7 14:38 e
Prior to cutting main trunk into sections - fill the gaps under it with heavier previously cut branches (logs) before the trunk slumps to the ground - then when you cut trunk sections, they fall onto the logs, holding reminder of the trunk off the ground. You keep all your gaps, and never have to hit the dirt with your chain.
Yes !!!
I thought I’ve seen it all until my landlord hired the cheapest faller he could find .
I watched him stuff garbage wood into his fresh cuts all day to take down a 4 ft oak hanging over our house. Will never forget that trick and use it as a grading contractor to this day
I do that a lot. I also have old wedges from teh fire house that I crib from either side to take the tension.
Or having the chain bind. GREAT COMMENT!
Working smarter. Nice.
I do that too. When possible I'll raise the end of the log with a jack before propping it up. You don't get your saw in many pinches if one end of the log you're cutting is off the ground. Lets you cut easier and use smaller equipment .
I've been cutting trees for 55 years and I enjoyed your video good tips !
Me too 77 years and still cutting the odd one or two. This is a great refresher course thank you.
Been climbing and cutting trees for 35 years. This was a good refresher on some things and new information on others. Enjoying your videos! Thx!
My former bossman had been climbing and cutting for 44 years when he passed in 2021. .
I was his main hand for the last 12 of those years and learned alot from him.
Was able to go off with my own small crew of people under him and do jobs that didn't require climbing when we would get a hurricane or tornado come through down here.
He was still climbing at 65 when necessary or when our climber wasn't there.
With the money from hurricane Laura cleanup, we got a bucket truck with a 75 foot boom and he was actually in it cutting when he had a stroke in Oct 2021.
Miss the hell outta that guy.
Seeing your comment and how long you been climbing made me think of him.
All that experience, you guys know everything about the job.
I’ve been cutting for years now and have references from STIHL and ECHO and HUSQVARNA as well as forestry guidance and other arborist on TH-cam. This is the most thorough, comprehensive video I have seen. I wish I would have watched this first three years ago. You have a new subscriber!
A really informative video. I have been running my chainsaw for 11 years, but am always open to listening to other, you never know what you might learn. On this video the solution to having a pinched chainsaw was so simple and straightforward that I never thought of it. A second bar and chain… jeeze that’s brilliant. Thanks for that and the other tips.
Yep same for me. Like duh!
I agree! That was probably one of the main things I will remember from this video. *note to self, throw a spare bar in saw box...*
That, and hugging the tree to see which way she's leaning.
No matter which direction she's tilting, if there's a possibility of hitting something I really don't want her to land on, I'll rope it, and put some tension on it just incase. But I'm a novice tree guy. And I don't want to have to rebuild a fence or a gazebo bc I got in a hurry and missed my wedge by a couple of inches, and a gust of wind blew, just before she came down!
But this was a good video reminder of things to do to be safe.
But I would suggest keeping the chaps on after the tree is on the ground. That's when all of the injuries with a saw involved that I've actually seen happened.
The guy or gal gets in a hurry limbing, and doesn't remember there's a limb on the ground right behind them. The saw bucks or a small overhead limb falls toward you. You quickly step back, to avoid getting a little face slap, and trip over that 4" limb on the ground behind you.
Tripping or falling with a chainsaw running wot in your hand can make for a bad day!
Still best to anticipate and avoid pinching because it’s a time killer and can damage the blade and / or bar.
1st, Thanks. I’ve watched several of your videos. It’s been 25+years since I’ve used a chainsaw and even then very amateur. We just bought 5 acres in PA and I fell several trees using what I’ve learned from you. All went “textbook “.
I've been managing our woodlot for forty years and have learned a lot about cutting. It's not a task for the irrational and it helps to understand a little physics, tree structure and your own physical limitations. Chaps are essential along with eyes and ears. The 45 degree exit path is essential and it's good to have both of them clear. Your commentary on ladders is good. I kept a damaged 8' step ladder just to remind myself to never go up a ladder with a chainsaw again. Dead standing trees are good pre-dried firewood but they also want to kill you. Depending on the species they can rot near the top which comes back at you when the tree falls away from you. Ash trees are good barber chair candidates especially if they have indication of dying or rot near the bottom. Never do I start a tree project without a second saw nearby and make sure the backup saw is not a wimpy one. I enjoyed the entire video.
The one thing that I think is most often overlooked is the wind, especially for tall trees. The wind is the very thing I check for before I even grab my chain saw. Even a mild wind on the ground can be an overwhelming directional obstacle to controlling cutting tall trees, where the unabated wind at the top is moving much faster.
HELMET will help as you showed in the Husband and wife pine tree cut, his helmet got thrown off, so Chin Straps are smart , I wore a hard bell bicycle helmet when I worked cable TV and the boss smirked but it stayed on when a illegal AC service shocked me 16 feet off the ground and I fell to concrete after it shook me loose, I had just taken my lanyard off to climb down so my head missed a concrete step by less than 3 inches but the helmet stayed on and I barely cracked my heel bone. To this Day I wonder if I was set up on that install given the fake way the wires looked cut off on old brown glass insulators from probably the 1930s
@@tv10morehead It's beyond cuntish that some people will smirk when you are trying to be safe and sensible. Trust your own judgement and look after yourself, us older chaps know what it's like but I hate seeing younger guys not wearing PPE because some other cxxx thinks it isn't necessary. The dumbest thing is, if you aren't wearing PPE and get injured, then you aren't covered on the work's insurance. So if you trip and break your ankle on site and can't work, but weren't wearing a hard hat and that can be proven, then you are fxxxxx. And if I'm asked a direct question I will give an honest reply because I value my employment a lot more than some txxx passing through. Sorry for the swears 😉
I feel lucky to have been blessed with a substantial amount of inherited scaffolding so I was never taught from a very young age to use a ladder around trees and scaffold was set up to trim any lower branches but normally to set up a several inch wider nylon pull around the tree higher up to set up pull points on the ground to guide the tree on a path for felling. That way upper leverage of the tree is on my side and not simply any cuts made at the bottom. Other healthy trees have been used as guides with ropes and pulleys as well. We commonly only cut unhealthy or dying trees and like to keep lives ones and maintain a healthy woodland where critters from deer to possums to beavers in the pond live. We just don't want unhealthy trees taking out livestock, buildings, or fencing.
Completely agree to check the tree tops for wind as even what you believe is a wind free day may not be when you look at the tree tops and how they bend back and forth which on taller trees can have a big impact. The difference between driving a car and a semi on a windy day, very different.
Love your input bro💪💪
Just stumbled on to your video, great work. I've been cutting trees of all sizes for over 50 years now, but it is always good to observe other folks and pick up on new things or reinforce old lessons learned. One suggestion I would offer is to keep the chaps, steel toe boots and head gear on throughout the whole cutting process, especially when limbing and bucking the tree. When working in and around the tangles of branches, you can easily trip or the chain can catch and either throw you or the saw off balance with serious consequences; a lesson I learned the hard way long ago. I also regularly use the chain brake when I am moving around with the saw still running. I'm going to go hunt up your other videos. Thanks.
Good point Michael. I've never been cut by a chainsaw after a thousand trees, but the chaps I was wearing were cut right across the quadriceps once, with no harm to me. I wear my chaps and safety equipment.
Very good point. I agree 100%. What's the point of taking off the PPE just because the tree is on the ground? It's as dangerous laying down as it is standing up. Bit like my wife 🤣🤣🤣
Yes, me too. I'm going to binge watch all your related videos. Thank you a lot for your teaching.
As an amateur tree cutter and a retired Engineer, I always learn something from your tree cutting videos. Mostly safety related things that I learn but even seeing you discussing tension & compressional forces indicates that tree cutting can involve a large amount of "science" and/or Engineering. With your advice, I have completely changed how I make my back-cuts and also improved my notching techniques.
I am a professional arborist so I may over think what you said, it is in our blood because we only get one opportunity to get it right. Nice Notch. I like how you did not any have kerf bypass and the notch is clearly defined and no cuts into the hinge wood. The humbolt was created out west so the gaint wedges or notches would fall out instead of having to be pushed out like a conventional notches and to a degree marketable ends. The notches out west can weight upwards of 300lbs. I prefer calling it a notch over a wedge because I drive wedges and removes some confusion when communicating with some crew members.The reason the tree can come backwards over a stump is because a ramp has been created.
As a seasoned tree chopper I give this a thumbs up. Only thing you forgot is an important one... always check for wildlife up the tree before you begin. I'm had a large porcupine almost land on me, and once a baby sasquatch which turned into quite the scary ordeal so i always advise looking up and checking best you can !
What I learned was hire a professional. 😂
A baby sasquatch???
@@chaoticadventure more of them out there than is generally known.
Baby Sasquatch?! That’s hilarious.😆
@rikityrik hilarious for you, but traumatic for me!
One trick I was taught to save your chain is when cutting close to the ground, chip the bark off the tree with an axe or hatchet first, as the bark contains a lot of sand and dirt near the ground. Great video!
Yeah, and the sand/dirt makes micro-fractures in your chain, if you look closely, that takes about 20 or 30 good pushes with your file to get out. Usually have to file out a 32nd or 16th of each tooth to get it sharp again... what a pain in the rear!!! :)
Up in Vermont, I've been cutting with chain saws a long time, landowner not pro, and I'm learning a lot from your videos. I like very much that you've done extensive research (saving me the time) and distilled it down to what you describe and demonstrate. Please keep 'em coming!
You cut to deep, go in 1/3, back cut leaving 3” until you use your wedges. Once the wedges are slammed in, finish the cut.
It you cut in to far at first, you wedges might interfere.
@@mcmuskie2563 I have made that mistake, to the point that the wedge was no effect cause it actually hit the hinge, I have also learned that wedges that are too long can be more trouble than needed too, that is why I carry wedges of 4 different lengths, 4, 6. 8 and 12 inches,
I am number B. the messenger. do not kill the messenger, if you hate the message. why do you hate the message? brainwashed & programmed? or have you been told to hate the message? i hate satanist doG with big g i hate satanist dogs with small g i hate satanist doG = i hate satanist God i hate satanist dogs = i hate satanist gods(people who want to be a god) who was the original satanist (j c)? those rich satanist assholes who run this world, have brainwashed & programmed people from a young age. satanist prayer is for us to forgive those satanist assholes but our prayer is for us to punish those satanist assholes. why? for all the pain they have given us. i have too tell people about God & how people have been brainwashed in believing about their satanist doG = God. forgive= NO.. punish= YES
Grandparents had a farm near Shoreham years ago. Felled my first three there 50 years ago. I miss them and that farm . . .
@@mcmuskie2563 😂
I have safely used a chainsaw for many years, but I learned a lot from this video! Especially about using chaps to protect the legs! Thank you !
You’ve safely used a chainsaw for years but you just discovered the importance of chaps from this video? Thats luck, not safety.
An important feature of the Humboldt is that the base of the tree falls off of the stump before the tree lands flat. This produces a much more gentle landing than with the Conventional. Loggers prefer the Humboldt because they get fewer breaks and shakes with it. (A full treatment on notches can be found in "The Fundamentals of General Tree Work" by G.F. Beranek.)
Here we dont use Humboldt just because it falls of the stump. We want it to not break of the stump due to safety
Excellent advice I thought I was the only one that knew about humble thank you
I did I firewood for 7 years for room and board, that's why I know a little bit about falling trees and never touch the chainsaw just the mall, I got to watch it all.
… and more merchantable log
I live in the south East and I clear right of ways, nobody here uses a humboldt. Maybe it’s because we deal with mostly pine trees down here and the occasional live oak. I definitely see the perks of the cut for logging though.
Good effort. Don't keep cutting when the tree starts to fall, you run the risk of having your hinge fail before you want it to. If you want to reduce splitting, gut your hinge from the front, leave two pegs of hinge, then do your back cut.
There was a visible change in the bark texture where you were deciding to out your back cut. There is an imperfection there and that could have been a point where the trunk might have split, it didn't, but once it fell you could see the internal change in that area as indicated by the weird bark on the outside.
I've probably cut down hundreds of trees in my life time. Always used an angled back cut. 2 days ago I cut down 8 trees. One was 24" diameter Oak. The horizontal back cut makes much more sense once you explained it. It worked perfectly. All the other trees came down as expected. Thanks for the education, I'll never use an angled back cut again.
Other disadvantage: you have to go through more wood with an angled back cut.
I have little tree-felling experience and never even considered anything other than a horizontal back-cut. That angled cut makes no sense. Why make a 12" cut when a 6" cut will do? The problems pointed out in this video was evident enough to me, plus a chain-saw is a cross-cut saw, and not really meant to rip-cut.
With an angled back cut you have NO LEVERAGE TRYING TO LIFT A TREE WITH A WEDGE Therefore the flat back cut , I’m a retired Faller from on the coast and mostly fell old growth timber be safe Brother
Think maybe easier to line up with scarcf or face cut when horizontal.
Best all round starter video on the subject that I have seen. Many thanks and stay safe. I lost a good friend a few years ago. He went to help a guy cut back some branches overhanging a driveway on a Saturday morning (there was a ladder involved), the guy left him to it? and allegedly came back later to find my buddy lying in the road with head injuries. He got airlifted to hospital but was dead within 10 days. RIP mate 🙏
I have not used my chain saw to cut any trees lately, but I like to stay up to speed on tree felling safety. This video has been one of the best. In addition to teaching the correct way to use your chainsaw safely, I love the included clips on what can go wrong if you don't think before you cut. I will more than likely watch this video right before I cut my next tree. Thank you for the time you took to film this excellent video.
❤❤q1 by
As a former logger in the northeast, I rarely used a Humbolt notch but I mainly cut hardwoods. Loggers in the northwest cutting conifers on hillsides would be more apt to use them. One thing I would do differently, other than using a typical face cut, would be to do a plunge cut first to set up my hinge and then work towards the back of the tree and leave some holding wood as a trigger. At that point I throw a couple wedges in and then cut the trigger when I am ready to release it.
Cutting hardwoods close to the ground a traditional notch wastes less wood than a Humboldt notch that's for sure.
There are reasons to use both, when Cutting a Humboldt I tend to use the top of the bar to cut the notch out and almost never dog the saw, get more control that way.
For some reason I never thought to do the plunge cut before the face cut, but it makes good sense. The first time I tried a plunge cut I misjudged and cut through my hinge, which trapped the bar. Not very good
@@carrollsanders9376I also prefer starting with the angled cut when doing my face cut. This allows me to vary the angle and depth of my cut as needed to cause the log to do different things. Also it makes it a lot easier to complete the cut when you finish with the horizontal.
I have been a tree climber for 6 years now and have mad limbs and logs do all sorts of crazy things to land exactly where I want them
You're so right about ladders. I HAVE gone up them and climbed on up beyond the top of the ladder, and logged trees from the top risking knocking the ladder out with falling wood. If you really must do that, you have to have a good guy there to put the ladder back, if it's still usable. I'm 71,and stopped doing stupid stuff like that two years ago, while I was still living.
👀 Hey Mr. Fenton glad you're still with us 😁💪
@@EyesWideOpen2 thanks, Ms Flower, me too. You reminded me to stop looking at those pines I was just looking at.
@@stewartfenton7660 😁👍
It's the worst. I've only done it a few times and I always put myself on red alert for the bad things that could happen.
I'm from Grays Harbor Washington and have been felling big conifers since I was 16 years old. (37 years experience). I love to use the Humbolt face cut. You are absolutely correct about horizontal back cut. If you're really worried about barber chair you can wrap a log chain around a few times use bungie chord to hold chain. Great instruction. 👍🏽
Why do you prefer the Humboldt? I have only ever played around w a conventional notch
@@JadensRedemption mainly so I can remember, and talk about the old timers and their old ways😂 They say that you get more usable wood when you use the Humbolt. I'm sure that it was a factor when trees used to be as big around as your house, but nowadays it's mostly vanity. Especially in my case, I only fall residential trees. It's so I can get asked by the customer, "why'd you cut it like that?" And I can answer, "That's a traditional felling technique that I learned in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest and it will make more usable wood for you." Then I will appear smart and conscientious😂😎
@@anthonybrakus5280 Awesome answer! Thanks man! 😂😎
A couple of safety comments I'd like to add:
I was taught to always use a cant hook on the end of the log, if you use it in the middle your escape route is very limited. Cant hooks can loose their grip if your standing close to the end you can take only one step to safty. I've 1/2 cut an entire rather straight log into firewood lengths, rolled the log to finished the cuts.
Since I'm smaller person, I lock my upper arm straight when cutting as much as possible to help prevent kick back.
Thank you for the great video, great work I learned a lot too.
@0100101 010101 that was not ''such a bad hinge'' but he pointed it out his mistakes, I have seen a few of buckin' billy ray, logger wade,and steve billow who are all accomplished tree fellers have some troubles too, watch a few more vids that feature barber chair, most of what I have seen are a result of rotton tree, or too deep a facecut, real heavy on one side, heavy leaners, none of which applied to what this guy was doing. but to agree with you on the moment it began to fall, he should have been in his safe spot several seconds before the tree had any real fall angle to it.
It takes less effort when you hook the end too. It's usually harder work rolling from the middle.
My husband cut trees for over 20 years. He tried bringing the bottom half of a tree down with wedges. Why? I have no idea. He always cut wedges out first. Tree slid down and came back on him. He was killed instantly. Only 49. Listen to this man. NEVER SHOVE WEDGES IN A TREE TO BRING IT DOWN!! That was 2 1/2 years ago. Feels like yesterday.
Wedges are necessary many times
Uh...professionals do this all the time
Im so sorry
Sorry for your loss.
They are called felling wedges for a reason woman.
Good safety tips. As an FYI, there are differences in how the tree falls with a Humbolt cut as opposed to a standard notch cut: with a Humbolt cut, the base of the tree will contact the ground first, resulting in more accurate placement of the tree and less movement back towards the faller; great for steeper slopes or when more accuracy is required. The standard notch cut forces the tip of the tree to contact the ground first. Not really an issue in an open area, but it can cause the butt of the tree to move/bounce to the side. That said, as you mention in the video, the notch cut is easier and is perfectly fine. Just make sure you have a good clean escape route.
On this side of the pond, I've never seen the Humbolt taught, only the 'conventional' bird's mouth cuts. Been running saws for nearly 40 years with 5-yearly updates to keep our vigilant safety elves happy. Thanks to you and the poster, I now know what the Humbolt is for. Despite the apparent waste of wood in the stump (small island here, not many trees unless you go conifer harvesting) there is logic there. Thanks, Jeff.
@@anemone104 Technically they are called a Humboldt (not Humbolt) face cut, with a D, as the technique is named for the cut made into redwoods in Humboldt county California. This face cut method saved loads of boardfeet over the last century due to the massive diameter of redwood trees. Also the early fellers were falling from springboards lodged into the the trunk above the stump swell, and the face cut was often made with a double sided axe. The Humboldt cut allowed the feller to make the face cut (after the initial horizontal start cut) without having to go higher on the trunk than already achieved.
@@RudiBega Thanks. This is all new to me as I'm UK based and we just don't get trees like redwoods! Makes sense.
I've noticed that on a lot of vids on YT showing people felling with the conventional gob, the gob is far too small and too narrow so it closes up and the butt pops up off the hinge. Especially when they don't put a step in behind the hinge. The step is supposed to stop the butt end sliding backwards off the stump. Narrow gob and no step makes for a potentially interesting life..... Narrow gob on a big, clean-grained tree can also cause a barber chair - also 'interesting'.
@@anemone104I never knew that's what the step was for! If Id've realized this I would have done it every time (always went flat because It was marginally easier for me to see how much hinge was left, but clearly a step can be life saving!)
@@saintapoc4031 1-2" is good. Go too high and if the grain in the butt end is wild, the hinge may snap off without acting as a hinge and you lose the benefit of the step.
I cut trees on my ranch in the NC Smoky mountains…..many have fallen due to natural causes. I have learned the hard way how much tension can exist in limbs contacting the ground. My “go to” tool for questionable limbs under tension is a Greenworks Pole Saw. This gives me “standoff distance” from potential face slappers under tension. This distance adds a lot of safety. Also, I always wear chaps….especially when limbing up felled trees…..this is when most leg cuts occur….my wife was an ER nurse and dealt with saw accidents weekly.
Awesome video. I’ve cut down enough trees and cut up the tree on the ground afterwards often enough and I just fumbled my way through it and I’ve been lucky to not get injured. Lots of great tips in this video. I feel like I’m going to be more prepared for the next one. I appreciated all the thoughtful discussion
The main reason for the ' Humbolt ' cut, is to prevent the valuable timber log from hitting the groung top first and splitting. As your tree fell, you could see it slide down the bottom spoping cut of the ' Humbolt '. As you stated, the bottom cut ideally could have been a little steeper for a perfect drop. Kind regards,
Tony Marsh.
Yep - the humbolt essentially makes the bottom of the tree hit the ground first, avoiding fracturing the trunk
Some additional tips, use hearing protection. The chain brake is a crucial safety tool that should be engaged when you let go of a running chainsaw. It's not just for kickback. Make a habit of wrapping your thumb around the handle of the saw so when it kicks back, the chain break will automatically be engaged by your wrist. Also, the term wedge for a face cut is problematic because a wedge is a tool to keep the tree from leaning back and pinching your bar in the back cut. Use a wedge in this felling situation, put it in the back cut as soon as there is room. Even if you know where the tree is going to fall, put a wedge in because often one can be wrong about the lean.
I learned about wedges the hard way! Got my saw stuck, fired up my backup saw and that got pinched too, trying to cut the first saw out lol.
Smart! Never thought of it that way . Basicly just for kickback is all I ever thought of.
Keep your force arm straight as a board helps to... less kickback possible
Should talk to somebody about that idiot "Glasses Poillievre" running ads on your channel.. lol.. amazing tutorials kind sir
U can be right about the lean but thevwind pushes the tree back once was cutting these big mofos that were blocking our billboard i cut it as soon as it started to fall the wind picked up caught it an pushed it back the other way almost fell on my buddy who was on traffic duty he got hit by sum small branchs he was mego lucky it didnt kill him
i had a big limb fall off a tree in my backyard today, so i had to use a chainsaw for that- didn’t realize how much the little details helped. this is about as comprehensive a guide as i could have ever asked for, and it was still engaging. thanks man, you’re saving my feet out here 🙏
I grew up cutting trees with my grandpa and my recently deceased father and never was formally trained. Appreciate learning some of the right ways to do this. I think my #1 piece of advice is to have someone with you on a fell like this. Escape path always on my mind. Overhead rotten branches are probably the worst thing I've had to deal with.
You are so right about the overhead rotten branches breaking off, there is so much that could happen with a tree you never know, I appreciate someone taking the time and teaching us what they know, and comments like yours I had not thought about that part in a while and that is when I get into trouble. you don't get second chance with a tree. Thank you for all your comments. My father-in-law was on a ladder cutting a tree at 45 yrs old, he fell and he is paralyzed from the legs down and has been in a wheelchair for 55 years and just turned 100 years old 2 days ago.
Yes, I'm generally pretty safe, but I've tripped a few times, trying to back off through brush. Keep your path clear ...
Thank you for the excellent content! Growing up my father and I cut wood for heat but did not do much tree felling since there was always plenty of downed ash trees along the river. My wife and I now own some property with a number of acres of trees which have not been well maintained and I find I have a lot of standing dead and overly dense young trees. What has helped me become better a felling trees is practicing my face and back cuts on trees which would not, necessarily, require that sort of attention. I've gotten much better at meeting up the notch and back cut to create a useful hinge and manipulating the holding wood in the hinge to guide a tree to fall where I want it in spite of adverse weight and lean. Even trees as small as 4-5 inches in diameter give some good practice and are relatively less dangerous to practice on for when you need to take down something more significant.
Good job I live on a farm like you. I cut trees to mill for projects around here most in the 20 to 32 inch diameter. I learned several good tips in the video. I am always trying to learn to be safer. Unfortunately a year ago we lost a family member due to a tree accident. He was a 30 year experienced logger here in Oregon. So it is now a thought I have every time I look at a tree. Thank you!
Stuff can get Real hairy Real Quick, I cut a 100 footer down that was hit with lightning and survived a tornado ,it actually “Jumped “ up off stump like a tendon was severed but it fell exactly as planned luckily
Those of you seeing the whole video through, will undoubtedly have learned a lot good stuff concerning safe working when cutting down a tree with chainsaw. Showing the wrong way, and not only the right way, shows good educational skills. Overall, it is one of the best chainsaw videos I have seen.
Great educational lesson. I learned a lot out of it. I only noticed by counting your cutting time how much percent you are wearing leg protection. Most injuries happens doing the small work. Stay save and thank you for your effort.
Putting a wedge in the cut when doing your back cut is helpful just to give you an easy indicator that the tree is starting to fall (the wedge droops and gives you a visual indicator right next to your saw where you're actually looking). It's more of an issue when you're dropping 100'+ trees or something prone to barber chair like an alder where you want to get back quick.
No doubt that works Mike, honestly your head should be up watching the crown for movement most of the time.
I have to say, the explanation of the negative effects of a sloped back cut was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have time to watch the whole thing, but you were right on, regarding the implications of which angle the force exerted on the hinge is coming from. Kudos.
The tree can also slide down like that and then Fall backwards away from the hinge.
@@mattschmitt4038 - Absolutely.
I have taught Chainsaw safety classes, but that was many years ago. Last year I fell a 30-inch diameter living cottonwood tree using a Caterpillar 16-inch bar and 60V battery powered chainsaw. The tree was leaning to the North over a township gravel road, and I did not want it to fall across that road, so I made a notch on the East side of the tree so it will fall across my driveway. I cut the flat straight from the West side stopping at about 3 inches for the hinge. Then I got my tractor loader raised up about 10 feet and put pressure on the West side of the tree, because my house was about 40 feet to the West. After this I started cutting the hinge on the North side, leaving the South side hinge a little wider. When the tree started to fall it twisted toward the heftier hinge and landed nearly straight East where I wanted it to go! Your videos really helped me plan that felling.
Great video. As a tree cutter with forty years in the craft, I agree with not using the angled back cut to fall a tree. If the tree needs to be controlled by a wedge in the back cut it will push the tree more than lift the tree and make the hinge more prone to break and the tapered area is weaker than the base of the tree causing the wedge to be less effective. Here in North Carolina, the Forestry Service teaches the bird mouth technique which is a top and bottom wedge cut. This allows the tree to stay attached to the stump longer for better control of the tree as it falls. As for working up the log, a wedge in the top of the cut will hold the cut open not allowing the bar to be pinched. This is important when severing a group of cuts from the rest of the trunk. I will admonish you for not wearing your safety gear during the clean up portion of the job, especially when cutting off the stump. You speak of dirt dulling the chain and even stop to sharpen your chain. Dirt in the inside of the stump will dull your chain and can cause a kick back faster than you can control it. I have scars on my thigh to prove it.
Might be a tall ask but could you film your technique you describe here?
@@CaptainRonAhoy at this time I am unable to use a saw due to injuries from bicycle. The gentleman in the video does a good job of explaining about the cutting technique. Search for wedging and bucking trees and you can find some good videos.
I'll check out more videos, thanks for replying...@@headgrinder-t7s
Good overall video. You should try using your wedges when cutting down through a log that is supported on both ends. Cut down through log like normal. But before the kerf starts to close and pinch your saw, insert a plastic wedge into the kerf above the saw with a few light taps of a hammer. Then continue your cut. You’ll be able to cut all the way through without your saw pinching or risking contact with the dirt attempting a up cut. It just makes the job so much easier.
The one subject that I believe more attention should be given is the cutting of storm damage/downed trees and how they pose a greater risk of injury. Storm trees can often be difficult to determine where the compression and tension are located. And extra precautions should be taken.
Good job on the information you provided.
We keep a piece or 2 of tapered cedar siding for that
i don’t own a chainsaw, and i don’t have any trees to cut down, but i’ve watched this whole video twice. you’re doing a good job.
You have saved lives by making this video, well done.
3 million new chainsaws sold a year,
250 people a year die to chainsaws.
30-40 thousand visit the hospital.
Those are only the USA numbers.
6.5 million views on this video.
Hospitals hate this man's one weird trick.
Be safe.
@@uristmcaryI had no idea! A lot of novices probably think the machine will handle the work, all the time.
I've been felling and bucking for over 20 years and I'm always learning. One other advantage of the Humboldt cut is that the main trunk will usually have less dropping distance from the stump and will usually do less damage to the ground. I learn and practice a lot of different techniques and every time I fell a tree, I'm nervous and try to completely assess as many possible ways things may go wrong before I even start my saw and hopefully avoid them all. Tree work is a science mixed with an art because every tree is different.
I seem to think I heard humboldt cuts were cut on very steep terrain as well
Humboldt cut allows tree base to hit ground before the top, thereby significantly reducing probability of damage to the top when hitting the ground, or breaking off part way up; a not uncommon occurrence when using the conventional face cut.
@Cassie Harry I suppose it can, however, confidence and pride is what I usually see causing fail videos on TH-cam.
@Cassie Harry I read the word nervous as aware and alert, not cavalier and just another tree.
I watched a professional show me how he did it about 5 years ago. He cut a bars-width slot straight through the middle of the trunk horizontal. Then he did a downward facing wedge on the opposite side, not enough to cut into the middle cut, but enough to create the hinge. Then finally a short cut, angled slightly down, I think, towards the middle bar area from the opposite side, again leaving about an inch. He said "That tree is safe now. It'll stay there like that all day until you're ready to fell it. And then just cut out that remaining 1 inch and push away." He worked as a professional logger for many years.
As one of the professionals mentioned earlier on, I wouldn't recommend stepping up on your back cut with a humboldt notch. It functions better if you come in even with the apex, using wedges to push it over, and the underside of the cut should be 45 degrees or more.
Deeper face cut, get into the heartwood, don't step a Humboldt. With proper cutting and wedging you get a green tree to go anywhere. Keep in mind the limb weight can supercede lean weight. Also trees don't kick back unless you're falling it into another tree..
This is one of only 2 videos I continue to refer to when I plan on felling trees. I've watched dozens of instructional videos; yours and the other are the only ones I need to do the job safely and effectively.
In my twenties (ancient history), I worked in demolition and WISH I had the knowledge you impart! Really outstanding video, and thanks much for producing it! I know for certain that you have made felling trees much, much safer for me, and very likely for others, and I appreciate this immensely!
P.s. never cleared the brush or limbs , just walked all over them😅. Lucky for sure
Homelite and McCullough back in the day 😅
This IS the best video I've seen on basic tree cutting. I live on an acreage and have been cutting trees, small scale, for years, and I learned a lot from this. Thanks!
Great video. As others have stated and I am not trying to pile on , but wearing safety PPE cant be over stated. When on the ground you would think you would be safest but I see more areas for chain injury cutting a downed tree than when felling a tree. The possibilities for misdirected chain motion just increases, other than that awesome video. I do appreciate the different approaches to certain obstacles. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, lol. Keep the videos coming.
Excellent, very thorough, professional explainer!
I especially like you doing things the wrong way (as a lesson), but still in a safe manner, for the man, tools, and surroundings involved. Great job!
For the layperson (like most of us): much of this should come to you naturally if you put safety and cleanliness before rushing the job.
Practice doing it wrong🤣
You will do it wrong enough without intentionally going there
That’s foolish intentionally doing tree work wrong will bite your ass!
I enjoyed that moment where the camera got hit-- the camera looked as if it was far back enough, or off to the side enough that it wouldn't get hit, but then the tree went, "Surprise!" and the camera went spinning.
It's a good reminder that if you think you're far back enough, keep going.
The whole video has excellent ‘failures’ to represent the risk
Excellent video, very educational. As a novice to the chainsaw this will keep me out of the ER 🏥 and prevent me from wrecking my equipment.
I like this guy. Knows a lot of stuff, goes to the effort to spread the love. He's my go-to for 70-year-old outboard motor repair! As for Simpli-safe... it's simple and it's safe. I've had mine since 2012. Don't use it anymore but several batteries are still working. I'd definitely buy it again, if home safety were a priority. Surprised Google and Ring/Amazon just didn't buy them because they're so much better than either of their offerings!
Thanks so much for explaining the danger of angled back cuts. I’m an amateur and have been doing it for about ten years successfully, but I lately started doing slight Nike back cut but your explanation od why it doesn’t do what I thought it did makes perfect sense. From now on, straight back cuts for me.
Very nice and informative video. I definitely learned a few things and I have been cutting trees for over 40 years.
I do have a few things that I found helpful over the years.
When cutting smaller limbs, it is helpful the have the wood closest to the motor to eliminate throwback.
When a tree falls and there is airspace under the trunk, I use smaller logs to put under the trunk to keep it from hitting the ground as it is bucked.
When starting my saw I have the blade brake engaged, especially while holding it in the air.
Thanks for the video and I will look for more.
THANK YOU. I seriously appreciate the fact that you are HIGHLY HELPFUL AND NOT JUST SEEKING THE DOLLAR. YEAH EVERYONE LIKES TO GET PAID BUT HONESTY, CLARITY. YOU ARE DEFINITELY ONE PERSON I WILL TAKE ADVICE FROM.
I fell a couple hundred trees in the late 80s & would have sworn by the high angle back cut based on my own experience. I've convinced a few tricky trees to fall where a gal or guy wouldn't think possible. Now that I have an engineering degree, I can completely understand your explanation and how the high angle back cut might be intuitive, but didn't see through the possibilities. 👍
All those words to say: wow I was wrong in my thinking and I'm here on the internet telling you that you're right. It feels so backwards compared to "what's normal" these daze.
Thanks for teaching an old dog a new trick 😘
Wow! Spare bar and chain for a pinched saw! Pure genius! I've been using a chainsaw for many years, sometimes cutting log loads for firewood when I was younger... taking care of downed trees lately... learned a lot from your video... worth every minute 🙂
I really enjoyed your video. I have been operating chainsaws for years and I not only agree with your methods but I learned a bit as well. I am really happy that you addressed safety and escape routes. Safety is paramount with both the chainsaw and the tree or limb. Your demonstration on kickback was good but there is one additional concern. For anyone cutting small fireplace length logs for example, from a fallen tree or sawhorse. If they use the end of the blade and piece grabs the end when cut through it can throw it. I experienced that when I was young, although I was the helper, not the operator. Unfortunately I tried to hit the airborne fire log away from myself because it was coming at me. I knocked it down as my uncle tried to knock the wood down with the saw. All instinctual and accidental but I have the scars on my hand still today. I was lucky that it did not damage my hand more than it did. Chainsaws make for a messy cut. I use all kinds of machinery and respect every one for what can go wrong. Great video and I will recommend it to a lot of people that I know who definitely need to learn how to cut properly. Thanks!
I've ran a chain saw for over 44 years this video is good to teach those that haven't used one at all or not much thanks
I put a road cone on the ground just past where I want the top of the tree to land.
I find it makes me try harder to keep the felling accurate and helps keep other people and tools etc away from the high risk areas.
As a homeowner who supplements my heat with a wood burning stove I've been felling trees for 20 years but learned some new stuff from this video. Very informative. Noticed you ripped some large logs down the middle. Whenever I do this it seems to quickly dull the chain but it didn't seem to bother you. Is there some secret to that? Also been a SimpliSafe user for about five years. It is a great system.
Saw power and sharpening angle. From memory it's around 5° (can remember if the rakers need to go down more...it's been a loooong time, but I'm sure someone will correct me)
Can always sharpen/replace the chain, it's just a part of chainsaw ownership.
John there really is no trick to ripping long ways other than read the grain of the piece and try to cut as perpendicular to the grain as possible. If your splitting up a stump or large crotch cut from the face down don't lay the piece down and cut from the side. If you needed to constantly rip with grain you would likely have to file the teeth down and leave the rakers up so each tooth is just making thin long chips. It also stretches the chain alot and causes clutch wear. I'm no expert but I have 10 yrs sawmill experience and 25 years of cutting firewood and sawlogs. I still learn everyday thats why I'm watching this. Goodluck and be safe in the woods.
Also, if you plan to do more than occasional ripping, special rip chain is available.
Look into milling logs with a chainsaw - the Alaskan chainsaw mill to be a bit more specific. I use a ripping chain which is the same as a regular full chisel chain only the angle the cutters are sharpened to is 10 degrees. It's actually a crosscut chain since that's what we are doing. I picked up a new Husky 395XP late last year with a 36" bar and ordered a ripping chain to go along with it. It's a powerful saw and that's no joke. Once set up on the slide I let the saw just do its magic and guide it through the logs. I could easily use a longer bar and the saw wont bark at me but that's a future purchase if needed. Chaps - most definitely!!!
A little tip; when you get your bar stuck, after you get the bar out of the trunk or limb you should check the bar for pinches in the chain 's track! (This happened to me a couple of times!) What I did to fix the problem was to insert my scrench into the groove and pry it apart then check for burrs. If you find one, a little file work will fix that situation!
Yup.
Amazing video! I’ve cut wood with my husband for years, he did the falling. I’m now on my own with wood heat in a forest. Now that I’m doing it alone and can’t just ask him a question, I value videos such as yours more than you know. Thank you for all the great safety and trades knowledge! I have a couple good summers with my saw (and husband) and did not know those teeth were for leverage, nor how to unstick my blade in a bad jam! Also I would’ve probably tried unsticking it by putting a jack or lever to lift from the bottom of the tree, I see how the wedges create the same effect! Thanks again!
In Jeff Jepson's book "To Fell A Tree" he suggests that when cutting a notch, to make the cut on top first (meaning if you are doing a conventional notch, cut the angled cut first, if you are doing a Humbolt notch, do the horizontal cut first) that way you can look down the kerf when doing the bottom cut to help avoid a bypass cut into the hinge. There is a lot of great info in that book. Great video! I agree, I think conventional notches are easier to get right.
Always do your angle cut on the notch first. Then bore cut the center out. I've been dropping them for forty years
The biggest issue I see with cutting a sloped back-cut is the base of the tree breaking through the hinge slipping off of the stomp. Now the base has moved but the top still has inertia and now the whole tree is potentially leaning exactly in the opposite direction to what you wanted.
I definitely recommend chaps. I had a chain come off the bar and hit my legs. The chaps saving me from going to the hospital. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to react to it.
That is my worst nightmare.
All accidents happen faster than anyone can move. Some people think I will get out of the way. Never going to happen.
@@5GreenAcresIs it really?
@@Icutmetal Yes, when my 72 yr old husband is out cutting wood.
I am a wildland firefighter and safety is the first priority. This video is a reminder that you always have to keep learning. And there is a right way and a wrong way. I'm a "swamper," I have to keep my sawyer safe,so I maintain the saw , keeping it sharp and in good working condition. Thank you for your video.
Thanks for your hard work brother
Even though the techniques in Central Europe are a little bit different, I can 100% agree regarding the horizontal backcut. In addition I use the bore-cut on nearly all trees, because the shape of the hinge is very important. Using the bore-cut I have all the time I need, to carefully build a proper hinge for the given situation as for example side-leaning trees.
Unless I missed it. One of the first things to do when looking at were the tree is going to fall is make sure there’s no dead limbs in it.Also try and determine if the tree could be hollow. Some trees look solid and are not.
I would recommend wearing chaps during the limbing process as well. In my experience that is a much more dangerous time with the saw pointed down at odd angles and navigating downed branches and tension cuts. Otherwise great video. Appreciate all the detailed explanations and supplemental video footage.
I couldn’t agree more. Wearing proper protection, at all times, is important when operating a chain saw. Those cotton pants offer no protection. So unless you’re next to an operation room with a team of surgeons who can stop a femoral artery bleed…don’t chance it. Wear chaps.
And a chain saw with a short bar is more dangerous than a chain saw with a long bar. A kick-back happens so fast with a shorter bar you’d be lucky to stop it. It can cut into your arm or face in a split-second and can cause death or serious injury. Ask how I know.
I would add the helmet and face shield at all times while cuting.
I agree with M Fren, just because its a little top handle saw doesn't mean it wont do damage.....2 hands on the saw! top handle saws kick back / cut flesh too.
@@andrewc.323 Top handle saws are more dangerous than regular saws, my local stihl dealer wont sell them to home owners.
Agreed! I do this nearly every day PPE is Vitaly important
This is an excellent video to help one who has none or little experience using a chainsaw. Thanks for sharing your time and professional skill.
Good for you for showing your mistake and for fixing it. I too find the humbolt more difficult for both the reasons you’ve detailed here. And I typically revise it (when I use it-mostly when I need to lay the tree down a little more gently, as the base always hit first) with the open-faced notch as well. Like you, I prefer the conventional notch (or farmer’s notch, as I call it) as I’m just cutting firewood or taking out dead trees. I did a felling video recently and I too despise this back cut technique. Unfortunately I see it all the time around here, even by park maintenance believe it or not. Like you said, it’s easy to get away with when the lean is in direction of the lay and when the tree isn’t that big. I also think it just makes it harder to aim your cut. Now you’re adding another angled kerf and have to estimate it to end up an inch or two above your undercut-just more to wrong, if you ask me. Another great video. Just subscribed!
I recently saw a bunch of stumps that had an angled back cut. Only thing I could figure is that maybe they had used a crane even though there would've been no reason to use a crane in that particular area.
I, have never used a chainsaw, I'm sure that should I ever need to do so, your videos would save me a lot of hard lessons.
The Chaps, are such an invaluable piece of safety equipment and I think a worthwhile investment.
I, was surprised that you were not wearing the chaps when you were cutting the felled tree into logs, as that process appears to be quite hazardous.
Thanks for the education 👍
The part ~10 minutes in about the back cut is spot on. I had 32 trees on my property and as they aged, a few grew in ways that made them unsafe to be around, then 5 80+ foot tall trees got bores. And, unfortunately, they were all adjacent to a public building's parking lot that borders my property. I had to pull them down.
I had neighbors who are engineers come and consult me on how best to direct the falls. One was particularly difficult because it was between outbuildings and a small fruit orchard. I didn't want to lose any.
I'm an old man, and the engineers are young, which is why they were there. I can't do physical labor like I could even 10 years before. In my life, I've learned a few things, and understand physical properties of wood, metal, and the world in general. I knew how that tree had to be cut to miss everything. The engineers wouldn't do the cuts unless I signed a release that I would be responsible when the tree hit something I didn't want hit. I had no problem signing, but did have a problem with their insistence.
They did exactly as I said, and the tree landed within 6 inches of where I told them it would.
Another tree, they ignored my warnings. Since no buildings were involved, and a temporary fence and an ornamental pear tree were the only potential casualties, I let them do as they thought. They broke the pear, and badly damaged a golden delicious apple tree. The fence was crushed for 15 feet. No big loss on the fence. 2x4" hardware cloth can be straightened out. But, the pear tree is now a worktable at the edge of the orchard, and comes in very handy. The tree would have been nicer. It was the only ornamental we had in that part of the property. The apple? I cut everything off above the graft (dwarf), and surprisingly, it came back. We got 2 bushels of good apples off it last year. It's been 7 years since it was damaged, and that was the first decent crop.
What's the moral of this story? Trust old people. They aren't stupid.
Well, I'll gladly trust an old lumberjack or farmer when it comes to felling trees, but I'd much rather trust myself when it comes to PC repair. Stupidity is less about someone's ability to think and more about where their knowledge-base lies. A 70-year-old train engineer shouldn't tell a 25-year-old plumber how to fit a sink, a 65-year-old car mechanic shouldn't tell a 30-year-old electrical engineer how to wire a house, a 45-year-old glazier shouldn't tell a 40-year-old horse trainer how to break a wild horse, a 30-year-old butcher shouldn't tell a 50-year-old farmer how to corral cattle... Ya see where this is going? It's less about age and more about where someone's skillset resides. True intelligence stems from capacity and willingness to learn rather than how much someone already knows.
ABSOLUTELY! I'm 69 now and can TELL someone else HOW to do the job, but, there is now way I can do it, myself! We didn't GET to be old people by being stupid!
So you didn't get old by being dumb..Hmmm!.. Nature sometimes weeds out the dumb ones.
@@hauntedshadowslegacy2826
Let me disagree. I'm 67 and know how to do everything you put in your comment, and better than any 20-something. In some cases, better than they'll ever learn to do.
Why? Because I've done all those jobs. Being older doesn't just mean I've done them because I will never trust a 25-year motorcycle rider because 99% of them have the same experience 25 years in a row. Unfortunately, that's true of almost everyone in all skill sets. That's why doctors need liability insurance. Some of the most experienced doctors make the most stupid mistakes because they have repeated every year rather than learning. When I look for others to do things I'd rather not do, I study them and get the ones that have a good reputation, treat their underlings well, and have a sense of humor. Why that last one? Because a sense of humor shows intelligence. In my life, I've built large Unix servers, and tiny PCs. And fixed every one of them. I've wired an entire industrial building to 440V, 220V, & 110V. I've refined silver. I've made silver coins and bars. I've repaired watches and TVs. I've fixed my own car numerous times.
In my old age, I make enough to pay others to do all those things. But, I didn't get stupid. I still understand the physics behind a PC, a Smart Switch/Plug, a 3-way light switch, a water heater and all the plumbing around it, how to prune a fruit tree for the highest harvest (did you know fruit trees, left to themselves, only bear fruit every other year without correct pruning?), ho9w to frame a home, not to mention put the plumbing and electrical in. I put solar panels on my home and saved $40k doing it. I know how to tow and better, back up a 30 foot trailer. I know how to launch a boat.
No, I don't trust anyone to do anything better than i could, and that includes the surgeons who've performed any of the 26 surgeries I've had. No, I wouldn't operate on anyone. I'm not willing to change careers to get licensed. But I know I could have. I also understand spoirts as well or better thyan anyone I know. That doesn't mean I remember any players names. I was an official of football, basketball, and baseball. I turned down an invitation to officiate college football.
My father had a photographic memory. He expected his sons to learn as much about as many things as they could. It's what he did. My older brother was hired to take the place of 3 engineers who were found to be negligent in their application of O-rings on the space shuttle called Columbia. He has a PhD in Physics. He's brilliant. He didn't get a masters degree. He knew enough without it to go from bachelors to PhD, and graduated with honors, though in that program they didn't really hand out honors like they do for bachelors degrees.
One of the things I learned was how to sing. I was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when I was 18. In high school at the Music Educators National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ, I got a standing ovation for my performance of The Lord's Prayer (Albert Hay Malotte version).
Okay, enough of this nonsense. I'm not bragging. Facts are facts, and I know this is a TL;DR post. But, my point is, those who know, really know. Most don't. They get good at one or 2 things, and that's it. They dabble ast other things. I had a huge numbers of choices I could have made and done nearly anything I wanted to. 2 things held me back: 1. horrible self image, 2. hemophilia. I really wanted to play football. That is a story by itself. I didn't need a doctor's permission slip to officiate, so that's what I did instead. That's why I had to have about 10 of my surgeries. One of them ended my officiating career a few years after turning down the college football offer.
My apologies. Everyone has a Mount Moriah to climb. Health is mine. Thankfully I have a brilliant, but also a drop-dead gorgeous wife to make me smile and give life purpose. She pulled me through a triple bypass a few years ago.
@@KLP99 So I guess when he said, “ya know where this is going…” you didn’t. Lol
I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video. Learning good technique is great, but your demonstration of how to recover from common errors is gold.
I've watched both of your tree felling videos and wanted to say thank you! I didn't realize the importance of a clean wedge, and had NO IDEA about making the back cut higher than the horizontal of the wedge cut. I used what I learned on two small trees yesterday. One 5" diameter and 30' high, the other 8" and 40'. Both were 7-10' from my cottage and had 80% of branches hanging on the cottage side. Used a rope with simply hand tension and they fell exactly where I wanted!
Thanks again for your instruction!
K
I've worked at a tree company and as the tree service crew leader for a major international airport. As you mentioned, the main thing is judging the lean, and knowing when or when not to fall a tree. Piecing a tree down is a pain in the butt, but nothing compared to losing your or your coworker's life or limb. Working at the airport, and having access to a bucket truck is a life-saver.
Anything near or over 10 ° ,never try to fell
Somehow trees and airports don’t play well together!
hiya Mr, i just found your tutorial and wanted to say THANK YOU! you've explained techniques very well, covered the " if buts and maybe's" and your extra clips of dummy examples really were helpful to be aware of how much it could hurt if done wrong. thank you for your wisdom and time involved to help others.
I just bought the Stihl ms 382 and this guy is giving so many advices! Love it!