[Gabe Ayers]

I knew a fellow in Minnesota that was feeding silage to his horses several years back. Had one batch that had a pocket of botulism in it and he killed a dozen horses in one morning. I don’t think he ever recovered from this experience.

[Gabe Ayers]

Well, I may have to go back and look at what the Yale folks were doing too.

This is something best taught in person, on site. I may not be able to explain it well enough, coming to the woods is the best way.

There are variations on this method but the four cuts are usually about the same – in order and purpose. First let’s get terms clear.

The wedge piece of the tree is actually called the “open face“. The portion removed during the first two cuts, that create the open face and front of the hinge.

There is a line across the top and side of every brand of commercial sized chainsaw. It is at a right angle to the bar. This line is your aiming sight. When you follow this method the tree will fall in the direction the line is pointing (usually).

When making the first cut, the 60 degree one that goes about 10% through or into the tree cutting downward actually establishes the front edge of the hinge, you have sighted the line to be sure it is pointing where you want the tree to go.

We like to keep the open face shallow and have as much hinge as possible in the sapwood and as little of the valuable wood removed. So the second cut we use Geoff is horizontal or flat. The cuts meet as the second is made while looking into the first cut so the cuts can be matched up and level if you want the hinge to break when the tree falls, or the open face closes. The only reason to cut up on the second cut is if you wanted the to hold the tree to the stump all the way to the ground, like on a hillside and you didn’t want it to move away from the stump.

Now the third cut is a bore of plunge cut that is starting using the plunge force part the bar (lower edge of tip) and then cut so as to establish the back of the hinge at the appropriate width to control the tree without cracking the log or making a barber chair. Usually a hinge is about 1 1/2 inches on a straight poplar for instance. Before making the third cut or any cuts, an escape route is cleared off at a 45 degree angle from the safe side. Stick to the procedures… Each tree is a planned out process and done in a certain order.

But this third cut is also made as part of a procedure that accesses the safe and danger sides of the tree and the high and low hazards. The safe side is the side away from where the lean is or crown weight or the direction the tree would most like naturally want to fall because of it’s individual shape…. So the third cut is made and on most harvestable sized trees with a twenty inch bar you can cut about half way through. some folks plunge the bar all the way and work it back towards the hinge to establish a nice uniform width hinge. I find that much easier than controlling the saw to do all of those things at once, but some guys/people are definitely better than me. Remember I mentioned variations within a method.

So after you make your third cut, from the danger side, leaving at least half the tree and hinge still there, you drive your wedge (s) into the back of the tree exactly opposite of the hinge. Again this is a variation, I’ve seen people put their wedges closer to the hinge, but I like it in the back opposite of the hinge, so they are do the most to move the tree towards the direction of the open face.

Now that you have three cuts made the tree is standing with half the stem and hinge still intact. Go to the safe side, plunge the fourth cut in to establish the back of the hinge on that side and cut toward the back of the tree. The last remaining fiber on this cut is the latch that will hold the tree (usually – on a leaning tree it may break before you get cut all the way through, as in the video) and once completed the tree is ready to fall. If it is a nice balanced straight tree, the wedge inserted on the third cut keeps the tree from setting back on your bar and you can drive the wedge in and tip the tree toward the open face. Sometimes it may take more than one wedge and in some case multiple wedges and there are tricks to doubling up on wedges to get them to lift without jumping out. Place the doubled up wedges at a 90 degree angle with each other and they will stay in for driving and lifting the tree toward the open face. As the tree begins to fall, walk away five steps at a 45 degree angle and look up at a 45 degree angle to look for debris being thrown back from the canopy and flying up from the ground. Wait at least five seconds (count – 1001,1002,1003,1004,1005) before walking back to the tree to cut it into log lengths or limbing.

Obviously each tree is an individual, having characteristics of their own and using this technique with variations will work to have a safe controlled felling. Practice makes perfect so the more you do this the better you get.

Not only do we take the worst individual trees first, we go to the back part of the job to start and work back toward the landing so the brush is left behind us and we have less cleaning up the skid trails along the way to get the logs to the roadside or landing, sawmill site or next step in the process of turning them into money…

Hope this helps, sorry for the delay in finishing it, this is not easy to explain in words compared to actually doing it in the woods with someone right there to watch. Many folks learn best from seeing and that is a good way to teach this skill as well as horsemanship.

[Gabe Ayers]

Joel and other DAP folks,

No sir, you are not getting it.

The four cut hinge and latch method is the most important technique I have ever learned in developing the skills to do this work safely for the operator and to be gentle on the residual timber.

I have written many descriptions of this felling technique in the past and we have a chart with step by step directions but can’t get the file to open at the moment, so I did a search on Game of Logging and came up with the photo display from Yale at the address below. Maybe this series of photos will make it easier to see how this works.

This method was an Epiphany for me when I first saw it. It was an “aha” moment where understanding was a clear delightful experience. Again, I think this method is best learned in an instructional setting as part of the understanding of the reactive forces of chain meeting wood and as a development of understanding and using those reactive forces to create a controlled procedure to fell and buck or cut trees into logs. It is very different from the Humboldt or what we call the Hillbilly stump jump felling method.

It is amazing that so many folks that work in the woods don’t know this method since it is being promoted by the professional trainers at the “Game of Logging” school and many state forestry departments. That statement is not a criticism of anyone or any region, because it seems to be the same everywhere.

In Virginia there is a serious effort by industry to resist “licensed logging” or over regulation of one of the largest industries in the state. The inclusion of this timber felling method in all training courses does reduce insurance cost, by reducing accident rates and therefore operating cost as mentioned earlier. This may lead to another thread?

I also understand how it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks, for I was an old dog that had been running a chain saw since I was a kid and thought I knew enough to get the job done and not get killed in the process. I didn’t.

However, when I first read about Soren Erikkson and his “Game of Logging” course the one main thing that made me attend was a statement Soren made to the effect of: “The main reason he wanted to come to America and teach his techniques was to share and increase the ‘dignity’ of being a woodsmen”. That got my attention. He went on to say that being a woodsmen in Europe was a reveled honored profession that was seen as a serious important occupation not done or capable of being done by just anyone. After meeting him and attending his training he also was very supportive of the horse logging we were doing and said that in his country there were certain public lands that were only allowed to be logged with animals by law. Attending this course changed my life through developing these chainsaw skills particularly when added to modern draft animal powered techniques and restorative forestry silviculture that we promote and practice.

Since that time we have trained hundreds of folks in the Swede cut timber felling methods along with his forces of the bar principles and it has surely
increased safety to many folks working in the woods.

Hope this photo series are helpful. We also have detailed video demonstrations of this technique on our Chronicles of the Biological Woodsmen DVD and in several other videos we have produced. Again attending a course is not usually free. So spend the money and invest in your own safety/skills if you are going to do this work.

http://www.yale.edu/schoolforest/Galleries/GOL.html

You may be able to do some other searches to find out more about this method of timber felling.

I too am close to retirement and one of the most rewarding things about my work is all the young people that have came through my life and are continuing this work. The good horses I have had the pleasure to work with are pretty satisfying also.

[Gabe Ayers]

Maybe this last post by Geoff would be a candidate for retitling to “Funny Stories” because it is really a funny story. Hard to imagine that government folks – even the ones at a weigh station are that stupid….but funnier things have happened than officials being stupid….

It would be an additional task for someone to follow these threads and reassign or title stories appropriately. I can’t imagine Carl having that extra time.

Thanks for sharing that story.

[Gabe Ayers]

Hold your lines however suits you to keep good contact with your horses and not step on them or have them get under the load. I am simply much stronger with only one line in my hand at a time. If for whatever reason I have to let go, I can, the loop over my wrist will slip off if needed, but we are working well trained horses – so they stop when asked.

The tree filmed in this demonstration had a clear hard lean in one direction, which is one of the “Nature’s Tree Marking Paint” indicators defined on our web site under that title in the HHFF documents section. It takes three indicators to establish that a tree is truly in decline and therefore ripe for harvesting. Sometimes they are over ripe for harvesting, but that is how our system of “worst first” single tree selection works.

This tree was a chestnut oak which is a species notorious for being full of wind shake, grease worm and very brittle wood. These characteristics contribute to the difficulty of felling them. Having reliable integrity of fiber in the tree helps control the direction of the fell and is very important. Currently it is impossible to know all of the interior characteristics so one must stick with the principles of safe timber felling and hope for the best result from following those principles. One may learn these principles by attending a course like the “Game of Logging” or our private instructional course.

Given that amount of lean, the tree definitely went where he wanted it to go and just about the only place it could have been put with any timber felling method.

We do use the four cut, open face, hinge and latch timber felling method. It is commonly called the Swede cut. The lean was so great that the tree did break the latch before it was cut completely through. This can not be helped or stopped with any other timber felling method on a tree with a hard lean.

The important part is to recognize all this before felling in a proper procedure which includes having an escape path cleared and be prepared to walk away at a 45 degree angle from the direction the tree fell. Because of the speed that a leaning tree falls when severed from the stump, the hinge – which must be adequate and substantial enough to control the direction of the fall – may give up holding the tree to fall in the controlled direction and break wood up the side of the log. But the amount that broke off in this demonstration would not constitute a barber chair in my opinion and experience. A barber chair is much more likely to occur when back cutting a leaning tree and it falls before enough hinge is removed to prevent splitting up the log. When a tree “barber chairs” it usually shoots the log or entire tree back toward the opposite direction the tree is falling and can be very dangerous, even deadly. As you also may notice the amount of wood lost from the butt cut is small and on the outside of the largest portion of the conical shaped log – so it will be removed in the slab at the sawmill (as noted by Carl)…read – no damage done…

This is the safest way to fell timber period…. It is recognized by the insurance industry as a required method to be certified by the state agencies and is taught in all logger certification classes of which I am and have been an instructor for years. Using this method through a certification program actually lowers workmen’s comp rates.

I actually trained with Soren Erickson that developed this method many decades ago. It is slower and that is a fair price to pay for operator safety and limiting the manufacturing defects created by the timber harvester.

[Gabe Ayers]

Well it is hard to communicate the subtle ways we all handle our lines, all the words in the English language don’t always give us clear understanding of each others methods. I don’t think there is a perfect way to do many things in life, but getting things done is important and lots of folks on here seem to do exactly that.

I have carried my lines (looped or coiled) in one hand or the other over the years, usually the stronger hand or the side that the horse was softer on. But a few years back I started tying an eyelet in the end and putting that big eyelet over my wrist to keep the lines up and out of the way so I could just have one line in each hand allowing for sensitive contact by only having the one line in each hand instead of a handful of coiled or multiple layers of the lines. This is shown in the two photos attached somewhat. I certainly don’t want to be tied to the horses in case I would perhaps fall while walking behind them so the eyelet is big enough to allow the line to slip off if needed or to allow the driver to hold on if wanted. It is just something I started to keep it neater and just have one line in each hand while driving on the arch, forecart or from the ground. Given that the default command is whoa and it works, the method of handling lines is a minor detail and not a big deal, just a style and personal preference.

Jen, hope you see the little technique and understand how it looks and works.

I also will provide a u-tube link to a piece some Realtor put on the net from our little open woods day event. We are working on one of our own without the real estate sales spin, please excuse that aspect and know that I am not trying to sell anyone land down here in the Appalachians. But it is also interesting that these folks are using the cultural presence of this type of community based forestry and forest products industry to appeal and attract
potential buyers of land in our area. They are somewhat of a version of what we have come to call “culture vultures”, or people that use the culture for there own goals and purpose with no real connection to the culture themselves. Hope you all enjoy the images nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcTZ5x3TZ78

[Gabe Ayers]

Well, good form would include having the excess line gathered in some way to keep it from being stepped on as Joel suggests accurately as a possibility. I won’t be to particular about how one does that, although we tie a large eyelet in the end of the lines and loop one over my wrist and carry the excess that way and grip the lines in a through the palm position when walking on the ground.

But I think good driving form is the same as riding. Elbows at a right angle, forearms parallel to the ground or level – with the flexibility of the arms being able to move beside the body to steer the horses while having sensitive control. The flying arms are not as easy to keep a steady sensitive contact and this was a response to the new horse moving out quickly on this very heavy load. Again, it is easier to keep good contact through good form. I think the reaction of the driver in this particular photo is appropriate to keep contact and his form is usually much better, particularly when riding the arch. The young mare really moves out and on this heavy load it is important to allow her freedom to move forward, but of course still requires some steering so the movement of the arms to the side was a reaction to accomplish that steering in a very rapid experience. Rapid meaning this was a fast effort by the horses and not much time was available to make things exactly right, particularly when moving a really heavy log. Allowing a horse to honestly try hard means giving them their head and just staying in contact enough to steer them.

Good form includes keeping the perfect tension and sometimes no tension to steer and pace the horses. Usually good posture and balance by the driver will translate directly to the horses once they learn how to use themselves against serious resistance by the load.

I appreciate Joel’s comments, and want this to be a teaching experience for anyone interested, but this is an art that requires practice, by team and teamster. Nice to practice while working and making a little money along the way.

The most important aspect of this photo series is that the work is getting done and it was not easy work. That level of performance earns some regard from a serious student or accomplished teamster. We are all still and hopefully continuing to learn.

[Gabe Ayers]

Joel,

30+ years and you still wrap your lead lines around your hand….??

That is certainly a teachable moment…I don’t recommend wrapping your lead lines or your driving lines around your hands.

Blane does have some poor form and his lines are not handled the way I do mine with the ends dragging along on the ground… but he has sensitive contact and is guiding them on an extremely heavy log, (a 300 board foot red oak butt log) coming out of a little depression or drainage. The left mare or lead had been working about a month….quite amazing when you consider that. He was just setting it out of the hollow so we could get the front team hooked on for heading up the long grade to the landing.

Geoff,
The lead team is hooked with our long log chain that is run through the center slot on the lead arch to the hole below the breast yoke and over the top of the tongue, back to the center slot on the load arch, which was attached to the log with a cradle hitch.

It is simple quick and a tandem arrangement that will work. It requires that the horses all start and pull evenly since the load is direct to each pair. We all use the contact/command/release simultaneously method and the lead team starts them as the back driver watches and makes his contact/command/release at the same time. Then pacing them to keep them moving no faster than necessary to move the wood over whatever ground you have to work on. This really helps in uphill skidding and we do it frequently, especially big logs on long skids. Once we get to the landing we take the chain off and head back for the next log.

We call it an “Appalachian Tandem”. It isn’t really a four up, just a hillbilly make do simple fun deal. The Cradle hitch lifts the big logs from the bottom so even when they are taller than the slot bar on the arch they can be suspended on the front end when the teams move forward.

You do have to swing the lead team on the outside of the skid trail in a curve and keep the power smooth and not frantic.

[Gabe Ayers]

Any device that provides front end suspension of the log will reduce impact on the forest soil, lessen erosion, increase operator safety and increase the tractive capacity of the draft animals. Cheaper is better for equipment for sure. Most of the log arches we have are made from recycled steel with components made from what is available. The key factor is the cantilever of the load in front of the centerline of the axles in order to keep the tongue from rising from the resistance of the log.

Part time logging? Well given the reality of working outdoors year round we only get about 185 days a year anyway, so there are many that would say that is part time logging itself. When it is to wet, to windy or there is falling weather of any kind (snow, hail, sleet) we stay out of the woods. It is a matter of safety for the operator as well as sensitivity to the environmental conditions resulting from the harvesting activities.

The fact that we have diversified activities (other forest products related work and farming) that allow us to be sensitive to weather and ground conditions makes the work superior from an environmental perspective, which is the element of the services that make them better than conventional mechanized extraction.

[Gabe Ayers]

I don’t know, give him a call at that number on the previous post and ask him if he did. He is in NY State now and could probably connect up with anyone up there.

Thanks for networking.

[Gabe Ayers]

Just a few short comments on this good thread. As with Carl’s comment we use a combination of signals to connect with the horses. The way we get the horses to always start together is through a series of connections starting with contact or taking up the slack and feeling the horses in hand, which means – Attention, then following the subtle contact, not enough to make the back up but to have them in hand we speak “come up” to start them and then release the pressure a little to allow them to move forward. This use of voice and contact command release simultaneously is a multiple signal system to the horses and makes it a sure thing through this series. It is subtle and requires some quiet calming whoas some times while moving the lines around getting to the point of contact/command/release.

Now, anyone that saw our last segment on Rural Heritage RFD (probably not many since it aired a midnight and 5:00 am) we had the opportunity to show the horses operating by remote control or just voice only. This is not a trick horse show or anything of the sort, just the fact that the horse do learn the signals by voice only and often in the woods working alone we use their intelligence and willingness to please to move them around without touching the lines by repeating the five basic commands of come up, whoa, gee, haw and back. They will do all these things upon request particularly when we are alone in the woods and no other conversation is taking place. We don’t talk to the horses much when working alone and they definitely know the difference between casual conversation with another human. I think this is because we have trained them that line contact means “I want your attention please” and no contact means the ultimate reward of rest… multiple signals to start increases safety.

However they do get blurred sometimes and last Saturday when at the landing and talking with some visitors to our open woods day event I was standing behind the team after unhooking a log and chatting with the folks.
During the conversation I said the words “come up” in a sentence about coming up to visit the folks forest soon and the younger horse that has his ears back paying close attention started to walk off. Of course a quiet whoa stopped him, but it is amazing how much they can pick up certain words out of a conversation. In fact – we often, when talking around them actually spell out the words so they don’t hear them in their amazing obedient ways. So far they haven’t figured out how to spell…. yet – thankfully…

So just thought I would add that to the stories on this thread.

That was a lovely looking gathering in Washington State, what nice land (soil) and beautiful work animals. They were all busy as bee’s alright and happy with their work.

[Gabe Ayers]

This is an addition to Carl’s comments on the front trace/tug.

The front tug on the D-Ring has came 21 inches from Peach Lane Harness on our first few conversion packages. We requested that they shorten it to 19 inches, since our Suffolk horses are shorter all over and they did that for us.

What they didn’t do was lengthen the side backer straps or the back tug to compensate for the shorter front piece, so now those don’t fit right….just make sure if you order them to get what you want by giving precise measurements for each component.

[Gabe Ayers]

Pirate Farmer,

I thought he said he took him to the Auction? This means let the buyer beware.. that nobody knows much about what they are buying….which is why I always recommend buying a horse through private treaty, from a private individual…even if you have to pay a little more, you have a better chance of getting what you pay for. If you buy it from someone privately they can at least have a chance of telling you any bad habits they have. If they don’t you can go back to them about what you experience. If you buy at an auction you should know you are taking a chance at buying someones culls.

I have only bought a horse from an auction about 40 years ago and they were such outlaws, and sick with shipping fever that came back to the farm with them…. that I never made that mistake again…. Since then I have always thought of an auction as just a place to dump horses…. and of course the killer market – so they may have some value as food for someone…

This is private opinion from me, again – not an HHFF post….

[Gabe Ayers]

Good call on your part. If a horse ever bites me it would be war and they learn that from an early age. If you buy a mature horse that has this habit it may be hard to break. There are more horses out there today than there are people that want to work them, so just get another one and get back to work.

Good luck.

[Gabe Ayers]

Jen,
Invent your pasture drag to be made of something besides old tires. I have read that when tires wear they leave cadmium in their paths and that is not something you want in your ground or environment in any amount. I have seen nice ones made out of old chain mail type fencing or I have seen guys use an old bed spring, or a drag built of locust post that would also serve to drag plowed ground to level it before disking.

We use a flexible tine Fuerst Chain Harrow and it does an excellent job, but is not or was not cheap twenty years ago or so when I bought it. It’s the one we pull around every spring singing “I’m a turd buster in my head, to the tune of I’m a girl watcher….lovely tool to wake up the pasture in spring, level ground, cover seed shallow, overseeding, and of course breaking up manure from the winter as well as using it in between pasture rotations in the growing seasons.

Glad you are having some fun working Peanut….he looks like a pretty good sized goober to me…..

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