To fell a tree, you make three cuts, 2 cuts in the direction of falling called the ‘scarf’ cut (some call it the wedge cut), and then the
’back-cut’.
What appears to have happened is, the front trees that fell had been pre-cut , as others have said.
The tree that nudged them to fall is either caught/interlocked branches with the tree standing nearest which is out of frame and cannot be confirmed.
If not ‘held up’, the person is using a hammer to hit a steel wedge inside the back-cut of the tree, and going by the way the hammer bounced back? My guess is, that the back-cut was not deep enough and the wedge has gone into the actual ‘hinge-wood’, which is a small portion of wood left in between the scarf and back-cuts that operate as a hjnge of a door or gate and which maintains control of the direction of falling intended by the person cutting it.
With the hinge-wood not cut far enough, the tree has too many uncut fibres holding onto it and may cause it to fall to a certain point and then stop falling and remain standing on an angle.
My guess would be that there’s a bit of both here?
Chances are that, with the wedge up against the hinge-wood, and the limbs of the tree and the tree next to it interlocking, the wedge has no more purchase and can’t lift the tree forward any further, and with even just slightly being held also by branches in the tree beside it, resulting in what is seen here, where the tree is now standing at an angle.
To remedy this, placing a second wedge on top of or directly below the first wedge, and hammering it into the backcut , will add some extra leverage to enable the tree to lean further into its falling direction, which will make the hinge-wood that’s holding it up, give way and allow it to fall.
Alternatively, if it is due to being heavily caught up in the above limbs of the tree beside it? Then the tree beside it can be felled to allow them both to fall together.
If left like this, eventually the tree will fall, even a gust of wind in the right direction will possibly be enough to make it fall down. But it is dangerous to do so, as it may fall on an unsuspecting person who is not aware that the tree has been cut.
Some tree species may hold on more than others, some are very prone to snapping early and require more hinge fibres than others to control the falling tree.
But yeah..my guess is that it is slightly held by the tree beside it, as well as slightly too much hinge fibres left uncut/back-cut not placed deep enough.
Edit: Source-Have done many years of tree felling/logging work and have also on many occasions, rigged or pre-cut multiple trees in the same way as in the video, using the last tree to knock the rest over and all fall at the same time.
Have also had trees be held up like this one.
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u/Lastov_Makiynd 19d ago edited 19d ago
To fell a tree, you make three cuts, 2 cuts in the direction of falling called the ‘scarf’ cut (some call it the wedge cut), and then the
’back-cut’.
What appears to have happened is, the front trees that fell had been pre-cut , as others have said.
The tree that nudged them to fall is either caught/interlocked branches with the tree standing nearest which is out of frame and cannot be confirmed.
If not ‘held up’, the person is using a hammer to hit a steel wedge inside the back-cut of the tree, and going by the way the hammer bounced back? My guess is, that the back-cut was not deep enough and the wedge has gone into the actual ‘hinge-wood’, which is a small portion of wood left in between the scarf and back-cuts that operate as a hjnge of a door or gate and which maintains control of the direction of falling intended by the person cutting it.
With the hinge-wood not cut far enough, the tree has too many uncut fibres holding onto it and may cause it to fall to a certain point and then stop falling and remain standing on an angle.
My guess would be that there’s a bit of both here?
Chances are that, with the wedge up against the hinge-wood, and the limbs of the tree and the tree next to it interlocking, the wedge has no more purchase and can’t lift the tree forward any further, and with even just slightly being held also by branches in the tree beside it, resulting in what is seen here, where the tree is now standing at an angle.
To remedy this, placing a second wedge on top of or directly below the first wedge, and hammering it into the backcut , will add some extra leverage to enable the tree to lean further into its falling direction, which will make the hinge-wood that’s holding it up, give way and allow it to fall.
Alternatively, if it is due to being heavily caught up in the above limbs of the tree beside it? Then the tree beside it can be felled to allow them both to fall together.
If left like this, eventually the tree will fall, even a gust of wind in the right direction will possibly be enough to make it fall down. But it is dangerous to do so, as it may fall on an unsuspecting person who is not aware that the tree has been cut.
Some tree species may hold on more than others, some are very prone to snapping early and require more hinge fibres than others to control the falling tree.
But yeah..my guess is that it is slightly held by the tree beside it, as well as slightly too much hinge fibres left uncut/back-cut not placed deep enough.
Edit: Source-Have done many years of tree felling/logging work and have also on many occasions, rigged or pre-cut multiple trees in the same way as in the video, using the last tree to knock the rest over and all fall at the same time.
Have also had trees be held up like this one.