Felling Very Large Trees

Pertains to gasoline-powered saws only. Small gas powered saws and electric powered saws should not be used to fell very large trees. Only those that have been trained to cut very large trees should attempt these techniques.

WARNING! Call a professional tree-felling service to handle jobs that are beyond your abilities and knowledge. This includes large trees, trees that are near power lines, homes, buildings and public roads.

Timber of a diameter exceeding the length of the saw blade can be felled by using one of the following methods. To fell a leaning tree, see “Felling Extreme Leaners” below.

DRAW-ACROSS METHOD

DRAW-ACROSS METHOD - Standard procedures are used here, except that the cuts have to be extended from one side to the other when the blade doesn’t fit across the trunk.

Start the lower cut of the notch by pivoting in from one corner to a depth of 1/3 trunk diameter. Then reverse the saw direction, reinsert saw in cut, and draw it across to the other corner. Complete the cut on that side. Do the same thing to make the intersecting top cut. Be careful to keep your body out of the kickback path when making this angled top cut. Remove the cut wood wedge.

For the back cut, start at the corner at least 2 inches (51 mm) above the intersection of the notch. Plan to leave 10 to 12 percent of the trunk diameter uncut as a hinge. Pivot the saw from the back towards the hinge. Reverse saw direction, reinsert saw into the cut, and draw it across the back of the tree. Cut the other side to complete the felling cut and the hinge. Follow standard felling procedures from this point.

PLUNGE CUTTING METHOD - This method uses the same steps for notching and felling cuts as described in the “Draw-Across Method.”

WARNING! Plunge cutting entails boring inside the tree. Be aware that there is always a chance of kickback even when the plunge cut is expertly done.

NOTCHING CUTS

FELLING CUTS

WEDGES

START OF

PLUNGE CUT

OR BORE

After notching the trunk, stand at the left and aim the saw at the middle of the notch intersection. Throttle up to a slow chain speed. Make contact at the middle with the bottom edge of the bar, NOT THE BAR NOSE!

Pivot the saw in to a depth of at least 6 inches (15 cm) before smoothly increasing speed to full throttle. Then gradually shift cutting angle and pressure to bore straight into the trunk. When all the way inside, hollow out the trunk. But do not cut away any more of the hinge wood than necessary. Now make the back cut to fell the tree.

FELLING EXTREME “LEANERS” - Do not assume that the lean makes notching for directional control unnecessary. The notch is needed, but should not be as deep as the standard 1/3 diameter notch. Before back cutting, make some notches through the sapwood on both sides of the trunk to relieve some of the stress, which causes splitting. Stay on the alert for possible splitting, because a splitting tree is dangerous.

COMPLETION OF BORE

FELLING CUTS