Jim, Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, When is the best time to hinge maple trees? We have had about a 30% success rate in hinging maple trees over 8". I totally agree with you on the dangers of hinging large maple trees. We are using felling wedges and taking a long consideration for the lean and weight load of each tree. My extreme habitat partner and I both have a large amount of maple trees on our property and have come to the conclusion if they don't hinge well they are still more productive on the ground by letting the sunlight hit the forest floor. I just have to say thank you for taking the time teaching us safe, practical ways to turn our acreage into a deer hunting hot spots.
+Jason Cook Thanks James. I cut maples any time from January through mid-August. They are difficult trees to keep intact but it can be done a percentage of the time. Techniques is far more important than time of year in my opinion.
@@danielweston9188 I am not a fan of it. Most hinge cutters are occasional saw users and a vertical plunge cut is dangerous for the average guy. In fact, it could exacerbate the likelihood of a barber chair if they do it towards the soft center of the tree. Better to cut quickly through the danger zone reducing strain, and stopping about 70-75% of the way through, creating a semicircular hinge that has about the same surface area as a typical hinge between a face cut and back cut in conventional felling.
@@sireliot2149 I have only ever seen it suggested in one place, Quality Whitetails magazine. I wrote the editor and told him I thought it was unsafe. Basically, it involves a vertical hinge cut so the operator is standing in line with the bar instead of lateral to it as he would be doing with a conventional plunge cut.
@Extreme Deer Habitat: people are being unnecessarially critical of you. I had thought of a push or pull pole but then I saw this video and you have a short one. I think for small trees under 8 inches you are reasonably safe. For larger trees and in general you could be aided by some combination of a power pole saw, a 33000 lb ratchet strap around trunk 6 feet above your cut, and use of arborist throw line and rope techniques to place a rope high in larger trees. Extension hook poles can also help place ropes. For barberchair risks stay away from putting straight back cuts behind forward lean, and especially dont stand around behind the stump. Straight back cuts in a back lean situation are better but I dont want to call it safe. For forward lean I would recommend bore cutting the center out, then leaving a rear trigger to cut with a pole saw or break with rope advantage (read: pre tied z rig). I can't recommend a bore cut above your head either but if you are cutting above your head anyway, it is up to you. Good on you for being creative, but having a tree land on top of you would destroy credibility.
I agree with the many arborists on here, you never want to be directly in front of or behind, and NEVER want to be under, a falling tree. This product is going to kill someone. Buy a rope come-along, a couple hundred feet of rope, and a snatch block. Tie a choker or a slip knot around the tree. Push the rope up as high as possible with a long forked stick. Find a tree in the direction you are felling. Hook the snatch block/pulley to the bottom. Run your rope from the tree, through snatch block, back behind and off to the side of the tree you're cutting, attach comealong at chest hight to tree in the safe-zone. Now you can safely pull the tree over and if it snaps and kicks back you wont be killed or injured in the woods away from help. Even if this hook was labeled "only for use on 2" trees or smaller", you know someone is going to use it on a bigger tree and get hurt or killed!!
I found this very hard to watch as an aborist. The techniques you are showing in this video are very dangerous and it only a matter of time until someone is killed trying to do this. I understand why this is done, but you need to understand the risks when dealing with trees, especially small trees, they are usually the ones that injure the most people. (If you want to see why this is dangerous search barber chair, not to mention that you are pulling a tree over by hand on top of yourself.)
Thanks for the comments. Thousands of guys all over the country are doing hinge cutting, which is inherently unsafe and dangerous, so I am trying to at least get them to do it as safely as possible. It is inherently unsafe. But then, so is climbing work, during which activities are done that are not something you would do on the ground, such as cutting with one hand or cutting above the head. Eventually standards will be developed because I can guarantee you this approach is not going away because it is extremely effective for habitat improvement, and will likely be done commercially in the future. Meantime I am trying to get people to understand the mechanics of how to do it as safely as possible.
Good stuff Jim!
Jim, Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, When is the best time to hinge maple trees? We have had about a 30% success rate in hinging maple trees over 8". I totally agree with you on the dangers of hinging large maple trees. We are using felling wedges and taking a long consideration for the lean and weight load of each tree. My extreme habitat partner and I both have a large amount of maple trees on our property and have come to the conclusion if they don't hinge well they are still more productive on the ground by letting the sunlight hit the forest floor. I just have to say thank you for taking the time teaching us safe, practical ways to turn our acreage into a deer hunting hot spots.
+Jason Cook Thanks James. I cut maples any time from January through mid-August. They are difficult trees to keep intact but it can be done a percentage of the time. Techniques is far more important than time of year in my opinion.
Have you used a vertical bar cut to set the hinge thickness - we can drop Douglas fir without breaking the hinge .
Is there anywhere I could see a vertical bar cut demo? It sounds interesting sort of like Logger Wade's triple hinge.
@@danielweston9188 I am not a fan of it. Most hinge cutters are occasional saw users and a vertical plunge cut is dangerous for the average guy. In fact, it could exacerbate the likelihood of a barber chair if they do it towards the soft center of the tree. Better to cut quickly through the danger zone reducing strain, and stopping about 70-75% of the way through, creating a semicircular hinge that has about the same surface area as a typical hinge between a face cut and back cut in conventional felling.
@@sireliot2149 I have only ever seen it suggested in one place,
Quality
Whitetails magazine. I wrote the editor and told him I thought it was unsafe. Basically, it involves a vertical hinge cut so the operator is standing in line with the bar instead of lateral to it as he would be doing with a conventional plunge cut.
@Extreme Deer Habitat: people are being unnecessarially critical of you. I had thought of a push or pull pole but then I saw this video and you have a short one. I think for small trees under 8 inches you are reasonably safe. For larger trees and in general you could be aided by some combination of a power pole saw, a 33000 lb ratchet strap around trunk 6 feet above your cut, and use of arborist throw line and rope techniques to place a rope high in larger trees. Extension hook poles can also help place ropes. For barberchair risks stay away from putting straight back cuts behind forward lean, and especially dont stand around behind the stump. Straight back cuts in a back lean situation are better but I dont want to call it safe. For forward lean I would recommend bore cutting the center out, then leaving a rear trigger to cut with a pole saw or break with rope advantage (read: pre tied z rig). I can't recommend a bore cut above your head either but if you are cutting above your head anyway, it is up to you. Good on you for being creative, but having a tree land on top of you would destroy credibility.
I agree with the many arborists on here, you never want to be directly in front of or behind, and NEVER want to be under, a falling tree. This product is going to kill someone.
Buy a rope come-along, a couple hundred feet of rope, and a snatch block. Tie a choker or a slip knot around the tree. Push the rope up as high as possible with a long forked stick. Find a tree in the direction you are felling. Hook the snatch block/pulley to the bottom. Run your rope from the tree, through snatch block, back behind and off to the side of the tree you're cutting, attach comealong at chest hight to tree in the safe-zone.
Now you can safely pull the tree over and if it snaps and kicks back you wont be killed or injured in the woods away from help.
Even if this hook was labeled "only for use on 2" trees or smaller", you know someone is going to use it on a bigger tree and get hurt or killed!!
That hinge cut is way too high if your goal is improving deer habitat.
Excuse me for being ignorant but, what is the purpose of this exactly? how does a leaning over tree make a deer habitat?
Are you cutting this way so the deer can walk underneath the trees still?
Yes.
@@ExtremeDeerHabitat Why does it matter to deer to have bent over trees?
My unkca Bimer is in the hospital a cuz of this video.
Too high
I found this very hard to watch as an aborist. The techniques you are showing in this video are very dangerous and it only a matter of time until someone is killed trying to do this. I understand why this is done, but you need to understand the risks when dealing with trees, especially small trees, they are usually the ones that injure the most people. (If you want to see why this is dangerous search barber chair, not to mention that you are pulling a tree over by hand on top of yourself.)
Thanks for the comments. Thousands of guys all over the country are doing hinge cutting, which is inherently unsafe and dangerous, so I am trying to at least get them to do it as safely as possible. It is inherently unsafe. But then, so is climbing work, during which activities are done that are not something you would do on the ground, such as cutting with one hand or cutting above the head. Eventually standards will be developed because I can guarantee you this approach is not going away because it is extremely effective for habitat improvement, and will likely be done commercially in the future. Meantime I am trying to get people to understand the mechanics of how to do it as safely as possible.
@@ExtremeDeerHabitat One handing and cutting above the head are prohibited and widely used practices. I get your point though.