Felling

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Two lumberjacks at work on a tree on the Atherton Tableland, Queensland, Australia, 1890-1900 StateLibQld 1 89188 Two timber workers felling a tree on the Atherton Tableland, 1890-1900.jpg
Two lumberjacks at work on a tree on the Atherton Tableland, Queensland, Australia, 1890–1900
A completed undercut in a Sugar Pine tree in Madera County, California around 1911. Madera Sugar Pine Company fellers undercut 1911.jpg
A completed undercut in a Sugar Pine tree in Madera County, California around 1911.

Felling is the process of cutting down trees, [2] an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees is a lumberjack. A feller buncher is a machine capable of felling a single large tree or grouping and felling several small ones simultaneously. [2]

Contents

Methods

Hand felling

In hand felling, an axe, saw, or chainsaw is used to fell a tree, followed up by limbing and bucking in traditional applications. In the modern commercial logging industry, felling is typically followed by limbing and skidding.

Feller buncher

A feller-buncher is a motorized vehicle with an attachment which rapidly cuts and gathers several trees in the process of felling them.

In cut-to-length logging a harvester performs the tasks of a feller-buncher, additionally doing the delimbing and bucking. When harvesting wood from a felled tree, the recommended methods should be followed in order to maximize wood recovery. The suggested trend is to make deeper cuts and smaller openness when performing undercuts.[ further explanation needed ] [3]

Types of cut

The undercut or notch cut is the guiding or aiming slot for the tree and is a V-shaped notch placed on the side of the tree in the direction of intended fall. [4]

The back cut or felling cut is made on the opposite side of the tree of the undercut and is cut through the base of the tree severing the “hinge” holding the tree up. [4]

The Tongue and Groove cut is a type of cut that uses the tree as its own guide for where it will fall. This is commonly used by loggers when they need precision in their drop.

Boom-corridor experiment

This was an experiment conducted regarding felling trees and the continuous felling of trees in boom-corridors which might lead to an increase in harvester productivity. An efficient way to do this would be to use felling heads which would increase efficiency and fall time. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logging</span> Process of cutting, processing, and moving trees

Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In common usage, however, the term may cover a range of forestry or silviculture activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lumberjack</span> Worker who performs the initial harvesting of trees

Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled using hand tools and dragged by oxen to rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hewing</span> Method for converting a log into lumber

In woodworking, hewing is the process of converting a log from its rounded natural form into lumber (timber) with more or less flat surfaces using primarily an axe. It is an ancient method, and before the advent of the industrial-era type of sawmills, it was a standard way of squaring up wooden beams for timber framing. Today it is still used occasionally for that purpose by anyone who has logs, needs beams, and cannot or would prefer not to pay for finished lumber. Thus, homesteaders on frugal budgets, for example, may hew their own lumber rather than buy it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chainsaw</span> Portable handheld powered cutting tool

A chainsaw is a saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. Modern chainsaws are used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, cutting firebreaks in wildland fire suppression, harvesting of firewood, for use in chainsaw art and chainsaw mills, for cutting concrete, and cutting ice. Precursors to modern chainsaws were first used in surgery, with patents for wood chainsaws beginning in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rip cut</span>

In woodworking, a rip-cut is a type of cut that severs or divides a piece of wood parallel to the grain. The other typical type of cut is a cross-cut, a cut perpendicular to the grain. Unlike cross-cutting, which shears the wood fibers, a rip saw works more like a series of chisels, lifting off small splinters of wood. The nature of the wood grain requires the shape of the saw teeth to be different thus the need for both rip saws and crosscut saws; however some circular saw blades are combination blades and can make both types of cuts. A rip cut is the fundamental type of cut made at a sawmill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skidder</span> Type of heavy vehicle used in logging operations to pull cut trees out of a forest

A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. There they are loaded onto trucks, and sent to the mill. One exception is that in the early days of logging, when distances from the timberline to the mill were shorter, the landing stage was omitted altogether, and the "skidder" would have been used as the main road vehicle, in place of the trucks, railroad, or flume. Modern forms of skidders can pull trees with a cable and winch, just like the old steam donkeys, or with a hydraulic grapple either on boom or on the back of the frame (clambunk skidder).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cut-to-length logging</span>

Cut-to-length logging (CTL) is a mechanized harvesting system in which trees are delimbed and cut to length directly at the stump. CTL is typically a two-man, two-machine operation with a harvester felling, delimbing, and bucking trees and a forwarder transporting the logs from the felling to a landing area close to a road accessible by trucks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feller buncher</span> Type of harvester used in logging

A feller buncher is a type of harvester used in logging. It is a motorized vehicle with an attachment that can rapidly gather and cut a tree before felling it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvester (forestry)</span> Type of forestry vehicle employed in logging operations

A harvester is a type of heavy forestry vehicle employed in cut-to-length logging operations for felling, delimbing and bucking trees. A forest harvester is typically employed together with a forwarder that hauls the logs to a roadside landing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosscut saw</span> Type of saw optimized for cutting across wood fibres

A crosscut saw is any saw designed for cutting wood perpendicular to (across) the wood grain. Crosscut saws may be small or large, with small teeth close together for fine work like woodworking or large for coarse work like log bucking, and can be a hand tool or power tool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-man saw</span> Saw designed for use by two sawyers

A two-man saw is a saw designed for use by two sawyers. While some modern chainsaws are so large that they require two persons to control, two-man crosscut saws were primarily important when human power was used. Such a saw would typically be 1 to 4 m long, and sometimes up to 5 m, with a handle at each end. In some cases, such as when felling Giant Sequoias, sawblades could be brazed together end-to-end in order to create longer saws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limbing</span> Process of removing branches from a tree trunk

Limbing or delimbing is the process of removing branches from a standing or fallen tree trunk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chainsaw safety features</span>

Chainsaws and chainsaw operations have specific risk control methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Log bucking</span> Process of cutting a felled and delimbed tree into logs

Bucking is the process of cutting a felled and delimbed tree into logs. Significant value can be lost by sub-optimal bucking because logs destined for plywood, lumber, and pulp each have their own value and specifications for length, diameter, and defects. Cutting from the top down is overbucking and from the bottom up is underbucking.

Axe ties are railway ties that are hewn by hand, usually with a broadaxe. There are 2,900 ties per mile of track on a first class railroad. The early railways would not accept ties cut with a saw, as it was claimed that the kerf of the saw splintered the fibres of the wood, leaving them more likely to soak up moisture causing premature rot.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and guide to forestry:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lumberjack World Championship</span>

The Lumberjack World Championships are held annually in Hayward, Wisconsin. The event began in 1960 and is held at the Lumberjack Bowl. There are 21 events for both men and women to compete for over $50,000 in prize money. Contestants come from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The events include sawing, chopping, logrolling, and climbing to test the strength and agility of over 100 competitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chainsaw mill</span> Type of sawmill incorporating a chainsaw

A chainsaw mill or PortaMill or Logosol sawmill is a type of sawmill incorporating a chainsaw, that is used by one or two operators to mill logs into lumber for use in furniture, construction and other uses. Although often used as a generic term, Alaskan Mill is a registered trademark of Granberg International.

The European Championship in Forestry Skills is a competition in forestry skills among students from European forestry and agricultural colleges, staged each year since 2002. The students are formed into teams and tested in various disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand felling</span>

Hand felling is the process of cutting down trees using a tool operated with the hands, such as an axe, saw or chainsaw.

References

  1. Johnston, Hank (1968). Thunder in the Mountains: The Life and Times of Madera Sugar Pine. Trans-Anglo Books. p. 11. ISBN   0-87046-017-X.
  2. 1 2 "Feller" def. 2. and "Felling", def. 1. Oxford English Dictionary 2nd ed. via CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press. 2009.
  3. Borz, Stelian Alexandru; Ignea, Gheorghe; Vasilescu, Maria Magdalena (2014-10-02). "Small Gains in Wood Recovery Rate when Disobeying the Recommended Motor-Manual Tree Felling Procedures: Another Reason to Use the Proper Technical Prescriptions". BioResources. 9 (4): 6938–6949. doi: 10.15376/biores.9.4.6938-6949 . ISSN   1930-2126. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  4. 1 2 "Felling, Limbing and Bucking Trees". extension2.missouri.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  5. Bergström, Dan; Bergsten, Urban; Hörnlund, Thomas; Nordfjell, Tomas (July 2012). "Continuous felling of small diameter trees in boom-corridors with a prototype felling head". Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research. 27 (5): 474–480. doi:10.1080/02827581.2012.663404. ISSN   0282-7581. S2CID   85271790.