Week 2: Stump to Sticker

While the concrete grade beam cured under a blanket of plastic, the Natural Building students set about to the task of harvesting some trees on the Yestermorrow campus. The trees would then be milled in preparation for their delivery to the project site and use on the building. All of this excitement would be commandeered by Nick Zandstra, an experienced woodsman whom bears a slight resemblance to movie star Owen Wilson. Nick brought his portable, Woodmizer Sawmill (www.woodmizer.com), as well as many tools of the tree felling trade to the Yestermorrow. Just as importantly, he brought a flexible attitude which would serve well in trouble-shooting some of the tree-felling.

The class began with an overview of the characteristics of wood and the various tree species inhabiting the Northeastern United States. The students then took a tour of the Yestermorrow campus and worked on identifying different types of trees. Nick also pointed out many of the factors that should be taken into consideration when looking for a tree to fell. Some of these include the application(s) of the wood to be cut, the amount of potential knots in a tree from the branches, and being aware of the other trees or obstacles in the area that could be affected by or cause problems in the felling.

Next, Nick went into a brief overview of chainsaw safety and spoke about some of the different models available on the market. At this point, Nick showed the class a tree he had pre-selected to be cut down. However, in the time since deciding on the specific tree and teaching the class, one of the Natural Building students had set up their outdoor living space within proximity to the Eastern White Pine that Nick had his eye on. This posed a potential problem since Nick originally wanted to fell the tree in that direction. (I must interject here that I was keenly interested in this situation, since the above mentioned living space consisted of my Vanagon camper and a pop-up gazebo that I had erected). After some discussion and to my relief, Nick decided to drop the tree in another direction. However, I remained uneasy since the tree was leaning towards my unsuspecting van. In turn, this gave Nick a perfect opportunity to talk about how to control where a tree will fall.

Nick prefers a tree-felling method known as the open-face bore method, which may be referred to as the bore notch or simply, the open-face method. The important thing to remember is that this method involves leaving a “hinge” about a 1/3 of the way into the tree, and leaving a small section of the tree, opposite the open face notch, that keeps the tree from falling until this section is cut. This is often referred to as the “release” or the “latch”. This method offers several advantages over more traditional methods of tree-felling. Most importantly, this method allows for the sawyer to be in control of the tree until the last cut is made, given him or her one last chance to view the escape path and look for possible hazards. Since the saw is out of the tree for the final cut, rather than deep inside the trunk, this method allows the sawyer to walk away from the tree faster and with the saw in hand. By utilizing a hinge, a sawyer can control where a tree will fall and decrease the chance of a tree kicking back towards them, which is when a tree literally jumps off the stump and back towards the sawyer. As an added bonus, this method allows for obtaining the most amount of wood from the tree. More information on tree-felling methods and safety can be found in forestry books and on the internet. (A good description of this method is offered at http://www.groundsmag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_fell_tree_opennotchandbore/).

After deciding where he wanted the tree to fall, Nick demonstrated the notch cut, which is oriented in the direction of the fall path. This consists of a 70 degree cut down into the tree and meets up with a horizontal cut, about 1/3 of the way into the trunk, resulting in a tall, wedge-shaped notch. You want to cut the tree as close to the ground as possible, but also give yourself enough room to work with the saw. Next, Nick made a plunge cut into the heart of the tree to separate the fibers and prevent tear-out. A problem often associated with tree-felling is know as splintering, or tear-out. This occurs when the fibers in the middle of the tree pull out of the falling tree and remain on the stump. This can be remedied by making a horizontal plunge cut into the middle, or heartwood, section of a tree perpendicular to the open-face notch. By doing this, a sawyer can separate the fibers of the tree from the stump, but still maintain control of the tree. The next cut involved another horizontal plunge into the tree, this time from the sides (with the front being the side with the open-face notch). Once the bar of the chainsaw was completely inserted into the tree, he worked his way carefully toward the notch and left about a two-inch hinge between this cut and the notch. With the saw still in the tree, Nick cut towards the rear and made sure to leave a small section of the back of the tree in tact. This produces the latch, or release point, where the final cut is made. This step is integral to maintaining complete control of the tree. Finally, Nick took one last look for any possible obstacles and also made sure every one else was in a safe area. As Nick cut the latch and quickly walked away, the class witnessed an act of near perfection as the tree fell within a couple of feet of the chosen fall path. Meanwhile, I finally breathed a sigh of relief knowing my home on wheels was safe, at least for the moment!