Tree Falling: Directional Steering with the Back Cut

[ProArborJim]

The tree falls perpendicular to the back cut because the tree fibers break from the rear edge of the hinge ... not the front edge of the notch. The notch just allows a clear drop without any interference that might cause rolling on the way down. Use your sight marks on the saw for that final cut.

Good video murphy4trees, just needs a clearer thought process on the mechanics of how the tree is coming down when you are narrating.

[murphy4trees]

@ProArborJim Excellent post. Thanks for bringing some clarity and I agree with the reasoning, however I think that not all fall to the back cut, rather than the notch. Ive seen trees wobble back and forth as they start to fall, like a tug of war going on between the notch and the back cut. Ive seem little corner s of the hinge cut off that dramatically effect the fall in certain situations and no effect of the same in others, etc, so there are still some questions to be answered

[Apocalypsse]

Cutting through the hinge like that is asking for trouble, you LOSE control when you cut like that.

[murphy4trees]

@Apocalypsse good point, though this tree had a slight lean to the lay and a wide open LZ.. tough to get "in trouble" with any type of hinge. That said, I do need to make a beter example, brcasue I cut off too much of the hinge on this drop.

[eucman123]

Dan, I see what you were trying to do but you simply cut THROUGH your hinge on one side and the rest of the hinge failed as a result allowing the tree to fall in an uncontrolled manor!

[joshuarugg]

i was taught that you can angle the bar slightly in the back cut up or down. if the tip of the bar is pointing up slightly the hinge will move the tree in that direction. try it, it works.

[TheExtremetree]

Nice Vid.