Just For Kicks: Doing axe work with a machete.

I can see the argument for the front notch in this case, and I can see it without it as well, as I understand and can see the lean issue.

However much the lean, without the even the smallest front notch, you will get the barber chair.

So while it should of been done, you were aware, and made the obvious move away in ample time.

Amazing what you can do with a good blade tool, isn't it?
 
Only the base of the tree is going to be usable for anything, and firewood at that, so I wasn't too concerned about the barber chair--at least from the effect on the wood. Even at the stump where the wood was its best it was starting to see some moderate spalting, though the wood was still solid. On a note of interest, it had old barbed wired grown into it. You can't see it clearly in the video 'cause it blends in, but it was just a little in front of where I was standing. Notching in from the sides assisted in preventing much of a pivot on the remaining upright slab because it was brought so narrow relative to the width of the trunk.
 
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Old Axeman said:
You should ALWAYS put a front notch in the direction of fall before you put your felling notch. The barber chair that you created by only putting a felling notch can turn a felled tree into a killer in a split second. And if you ever do much felling of timber that size you will find out the hard way why you should ALWAYS wear a hardhat.
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FortyTwoBlades said:
While I understand and respect your opinion, the tree had so great a degree of lean to it that there wasn't any way it was going any direction other than where it ended up, and I was well clear of the area long before it went down.
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You don't fully understand his advice. If you did you wouldn't have felled the tree in that manner. That barber chair can happen suddenly before you're ready or aware if it. You can have a broken jaw faster than you can blink. Many fellers have experienced that surprise - hence the advice.

Trees with rot up high are usually left fall on their own. Stuff drops - sometimes a majority of the tree drops. Hard hat.

The safest way to fell a leaner is to cut a very wide mouth on the lean side. Keep enlarging the mouth and deepening it until the tree starts to move. You get a slow controlled fall this way. This is how I was trained and it works well.
 
Most of my cutting work was done with my body positioned well to the side of the cut and out of the way of any possible trebuchet effect, and I kept my ears open for the slightest sound from the tree. Hence why I made my final chops intermittently and cleared out of there as soon as I knew I'd done enough. The lean was significant enough that even if anything fell from the top it wouldn't have fallen in my direction.

Was it textbook technique? No. But it was a calculated risk based on the specific conditions with the given tree. It does make for a good opportunity to discuss those risks, though.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Most of my cutting work was done with my body positioned well to the side of the cut and out of the way of any possible trebuchet effect, and I kept my ears open for the slightest sound from the tree. Hence why I made my final chops intermittently and cleared out of there as soon as I knew I'd done enough. The lean was significant enough that even if anything fell from the top it wouldn't have fallen in my direction.

Was it textbook technique? No. But it was a calculated risk based on the specific conditions with the given tree. It does make for a good opportunity to discuss those risks, though.
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I like/respect you too much not to say I agree with axeman and pegs on this. I did not like the way it split at all without the front cut. If it split earlier, it could have kicked back and/or swung around.

PS deadwood is the worst because you never know how it is affected. Plus with a leaner, the center is probably off with unbalanced sides of tension and compression wool. I agree that caution and the slowness of the technique makes it a little safer, but it is an inherently dangerous felling operation even with whatever technique is used.
 
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I certainly would have made a front notch if using a saw or an axe. The very low comparative bite depth per blow and reach/method of effective swing (both of which affected where I could stand and still cut well) were the only reasons why I decided to forgo it in this particular case. I deliberately nibbled away at it until I could hear and feel the slightest signs of it starting to give and then got the hell out of the way and let gravity do the rest. It was fairly easy to bring it right to the brink without overshooting it and resulting in a more violent fall--though getting it to that point obviously took longer than other tools would have. Even with that ease of accurately landing on the tipping point, I stayed vigilant during the process. I do always get nervous dropping anything larger than saplings and look and listen attentively for any changes in the tree and usually ease off significantly on my force as I near completion of the cut.
 
You still dont seem to undestand either of my comments. The danger related to the barber chair is not about the direction of fall. The danger is a tree like you describe can slab (split) without a front notch, actually it can split even with a front notch with the heavy lean like your tree had. The split does not happen when the tree is falling but when you are still making your felling notch. Many year ago I was felling large sticks on a logging show where a faller was killed like this. I had a large oak split like this even with a front notch. The back half of the trunk split from the felling notch up about 25'. The split back slab kicked back straight behind the tree. I was standing to the side of the tree as I always do for this very reason. It happened in a heart beat. It just missed taking my head off. I had my old 075 stihl saw and moved very fast to escape to the side I was standing on, with saw in hand of course. But, it was still a 50/50 chance that the tree which now was falling without any control would kill me. There was no lesson for me to learn from this as I had done everything text book. ALWAYS put a front notch.
Second issue, the hard hat. Heavy lean and direction of fall have very little to do with this danger. Besides, the hard hat wont help you if the tree falls on you. The hard hat protects from widow makers- branches that fall on you as the tree is on its way to earth. You are thinking that this danger is from the branches of the tree you felled. That is a danger. But the bigger danger is from your tree knocking a branch off a standing tree in front of your tree as it falls. It can fling that branch in your direction no matter your escape route. On another text book example I was well away, the stick was almost on the ground, I saw or heard nothing. I was hit on top of the hard hat with such a branch. Knocked out and had to take the rest of the day off, but lived.
 
I do appreciate the insight, and will bear it in mind in future.
 
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